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View From the Tracks: The Light Rail Plays
Rising Youth Theatre, a new theatre company that creates socially relevant original plays with youth will present the world premiere of View from the Tracks: The Light Rail Plays on June 6, 7, and 8, 2014 on the Valley Metro Rail system. Eight short plays will be performed on the trains and at the stations from Roosevelt/Central Ave. to Central Ave./Camelback, and explore the idea of “how Phoenix moves from place to place.” Performances will happen throughout the evening each night, from 6:00 – 8:00pm.
The site-specific project pairs young people and adults together, one-on-one to create the performance pieces, which utilize a wide variety of style, thematic content, and structure.
Eight adult performers: Liliana Gomez, Cody Goulder, Anthony Kelley, Kim Manning, Elizabeth Polen, Julie Rada, Tomas Stanton, and Charlie Steak are paired with eight youth perfomers: Clare Emmert, Monica Essig-Aberg, Za’Nea Jackson, Bridget Marlowe, Xavier Ramirez, Stephanie Santa Cruz, Alex Tuchi, and Colt Watkiss to develop the plays. Professional designers Samantha Bostwick, Anastasia Schneider and Joey Trahan work alongside youth designers Victoria Arora, Maria Ramirez and James Tanner to create the aesthetic of the plays in an alternative performance environment. Even the stage management follows the youth/adult pairing model, with stage manager Rachel Solis working alongside youth stage manager Lyric Jackson.
Rising Youth Theatre received funding for this project from the Arizona Commission on the Arts as part of the Art Tank funding program. The project received $10,000 (the highest level of funding) at the Art Tank West event.
RYT has worked in close partnership with Valley Metro to develop the project, and looks forward to exploring what theatre on light rail can look like in Phoenix.
If you would like to reserve a “ticket” to View from the Tracks: The Light Rail Plays, you can reserve your spot and a free transit pass at lightrailplays.eventbrite.com (limited availability). You can also attend the show without pre-registering, enjoying any combination of the eight different plays.
Photo courtesy of Rising Youth Theatre’s Facebook page.
