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Bend
Theatre for Young People's MISSION:
To enrich the lives of
Central Oregon
youth by offering affordable
and accessible education in the art and craft
of theatre.
BTYP strives to
provide:
* Acting & performance opportunities for students regardless of
experience.
* Affordable classes for youth
between the ages of 7 & 17.
* Financial scholarships to
families in need.
* Internship opportunities for
experienced and graduate students.
* Theatre experiences to
engage the imagination, stimulate the mind & touch the
heart.
BTYP classes offer opportunity for an experience that builds confidence
and promotes self-discipline while
reinforcing responsibility & good communication skills.
BTYP was established in 1997 and hosts year round after school programs
which combine theatre education with enjoyable and interactive performing
arts. Popular with students of all ages, activities include speech,
movement, pantomime, improvisation, theatre games and performances. Each
program includes an eight-week after school class and we also offer an extensive
Conservatory Session every summer.
A child’s first
engagement with an art form can lead to lifelong fulfillment.
SPONSORS & DONORS:
Friends
& Corporate Sponsors
Our thanks to these fine businesses for
helping BTYP pass on the tradition
of live theatre to the next generation
of actors!
Cascade
Theatrical Company
First Presbyterian Church
Strictly Organic Coffee Company
Sisters Community Church
Abby's
Pizza
Albertsons
Amity
Creek
Elementary School
BeBop Biscotti
Bend Experimental
Art Theatre
Costco
Fred Meyer
Little Caesars Pizza
Newport Avenue
Market
Pak-it-Liquidators
Pappy's Pizza
Ray's Food Place
Round Table Pizza
Safeway
Seven Peaks
School
Wild Oats
Bend Theatre for Young
People is a non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation and an equal opportunity
employer providing programs and services without regard to age, color,
creed, ability, gender identity, height, membership in any labor
organization, national origin, parental status, political identification,
race, religion, sex, sexual orientation or weight.
BTYP
Board Meetings are open to the public and held the first Monday of each
month, 6:00 pm. Please email for location information.
DIRECTOR BIOS:
Gary
M. Bowne -
Instructor/BTYP Artistic Director
Gary
began performing with the Magic
Circle Theater (MCT) of Central
Oregon
Community College
in 1972. A few years later he
worked with Gene Reinbold in creating the Community Theatre of the
Cascades (CTC), where he worked as an actor, stage manager, prop master,
assistant director and finally, Artistic Director. He left the area in
1988 and completed a graduate-level directing course while earning a
teaching credential at Western
Oregon
State
University
in 1990. He left the area in the
fall of 1990 and performed and directed plays at the University
of New Mexico
while completing a Masters
Degree in multi-cultural education. In 1992, while teaching a full
compliment of classes in the humanities and directing plays for the
Albuquerque Public Schools, Gary
performed in various plays with
the Riverside Repertory Theatre.
Following a nine-year absence from Bend, Bowne returned to the CTC stage
where he has performed and directed various dramas. In the fall of 1996,
during the production of A Doll's
House, he met Wayne and Rachel Mitchell, who were forming the Bend
Theatre for Young (BTYP) People.
Gary
helped the Mitchell's run the
popular BTYP summer programs for three seasons and became the company's
Artistic Director in 1999. He has since produced scores of plays for BTYP
after-school programs as well as the annual summer conservatories. Local
stage credits include A Doll’s
House, Anatomy of a Murder, Enemy of the People at CTC, The
Greeks for MCT and The Playboy
of the Western World, where he directed the Cascade Players and
produced Celtic Revelry, a celebration of Irish folk traditions.
Gary
is currently working as
instructor of theatre arts and teaching roots music for the award-winning Americana
Project at Sisters
High School. This season marks Gary's 10th year as BTYP Artistic
Director. He has been
producing live theater in Central Oregon
for
over 25 years.
Kellie
Jones
Kellie was born and
raised in beautiful
Bend
,
Oregon
. She returned to
Bend
in 2003 after spending time abroad and completing her degree in
anthropology from
Oregon
State
University
. Like many kids, she grew up cultivating a love for music and playing
piano; she translated her love of music into a love for dance when she
first began ballroom dancing in the
Netherlands
in 1998. Throughout college she studied and taught partner dancing,
focusing on ballroom, Lindy Hop and West Coast Swing. Her love of dance
has taken her up-and-down the West Coast and throughout
Europe
.
Upon returning to Bend, she became involved with Working Wonders
Children’s Museum and helped to open its doors in 2004. In 2007, she
transitioned from the Children’s Museum world and took on a position
with the Cascade Festival of Music.
She began working with BTYP in 2004. BTYP offers her the opportunity to
combine her love of music, movement and theater while working to challenge
herself and inspire the youth of
Central Oregon
. She has choreographed several shows for BTYP and directed the 2007 BTYP
Summer Conservatory elementary play Cinder-Riley.
Diane
Turnbull Luckett -
Instructor
Diane began her acting
and teaching right here in Bend, Oregon while attending High School at
Mountain View and taking classes at Central Oregon Community College. She went on to work as an actor in Portland, Seattle
and
New York City
where she attended the National Shakespeare Conservatory on a scholarship.
Upon graduation from the Conservatory she worked as the Director of
Admissions for the school and later went on to complete her Bachelor’s
Degree in Theatre at State University of New York at Binghamton. Diane returned to
Central Oregon
in 2006 and Coordinates a behavioral and early intervention program for
young children through the High Desert Education Service District and
sings with Contemporary Gospel Choir of the Cascades. Diane is mom to two children who have enjoyed many BTYP productions
as audience members, actors and costume and prop assistants.
She began working with BTYP in the summer of 2006 and hopes to
continue her work with young actors for many years to come.
Michael
Najjar
– High School Program Director
Michael
hails from Albuquerque
where he received his Bachelor
of Arts in Theater from the
University
of New Mexico. It was there that he met BTYP
Artistic Director
Gary Bowne
where they collaborated on many
projects including Betrayal, Look
Back In Anger and Road, all
produced by Riverside Repertory Theatre. Michael was the founding artistic
director of Riverside Rep from 1992-1997. He attended York
University
in Toronto, Canada, where he received his Master of
Fine Arts in Directing in 1999. That same year, Gary
invited him to teach and direct
with The Bend Theatre for Young People. Michael has continually challenged older students with classic and
contemporary dramas including Shakespeare, Strindberg, Chekov, and Eugene
O’Niell. For the 2004 summer
season, Michael directed The Laramie
Project, setting a new standard for excellence in contemporary drama
on the BTYP high-school stage. He
teaches advanced classes in acting, stage combat and scene analysis. This season marks Michael's eighth with BTYP. In Los Angeles, Michael directed the world
premiere of Voices on the Wind
at the American Renegade Theatre. He
is currently professor of Theater at
Portland
Community College
where he has directed A
Doll’s House, Winter’s Tale, Urinetown, and
The Man Who Had All the Luck which he toured in the tri-county Portland
area this spring.
He is currently working on a PhD. in Theatre & Critical Studies
at UCLA.
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