DEVELOPING ARTISTS (2018 Vassallo Award)

Meet the recipient of our VASSALLO AWARD for 'Outstanding Educational Outreach Program'  Previous recipients included Stella Adler Studio of Acting's Educational Outreach Program (Tom Oppenheim) and Hi-ARTS (Kamilah Forbes).  We hope you'll join us on Saturday, November 17th, 2018 at SVA Theatre in NYC as we honor DEVELOPING ARTISTS for their amazing and important work with our youth community!  

TIXS NOW ON SALE for our Fall Gala & Vassallo Awards featuring special guest artists and more.  Sponsors include ALCHEMIQ Catering, Golden Road Brewery, ZYR Vodka, & OH! Nuts!

For tickets and further information please visit:  
https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/cal/34621 
& https://facebook.com/barefoottheatreco or call 212-802-8305.

DEVELOPING ARTISTS MISSION ​Developing Artists is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 1999 dedicated to providing opportunities for underdog (underserved) teens to reach their full potential through a practical application of the performing arts. We help students find their place and their connection to their community through participation in the arts. ​Developing Artists offer top-notch training for students from culturally diverse and socioeconomically underserved backgrounds to proclaim themselves as artists and to create a supportive young artist community through our innovative signature program REBEL VERSES Arts Festival. Developing Artists bridges the disparity of arts education for students from underserved communities by providing youth between the ages of 13 through 19 who attend High Schools in New York metropolitan area the opportunities to study performing arts at the highest level. We impact students by creating a forum to navigate life's increasing challenges; to find their voice in dealing with issues like rage, fear or frustration; and channel that energy into self-expression and self-confidence. Over 95% of our students go on to graduate college. Jill DeArmon (Artistic Director/Board) / Jinn S. Kim (Executive Director/Board).

History

Developing Artist Theater Company (DA) was founded in 1999 as a youth acting school and performing company by the Artistic Director, Jill DeArmon.  DA was established because Jill taught at numerous places in NYC and was astonished by the lack of freedom her students were given to create. These young artists were censored and patted on the head. They were 16 year olds being treated not as artists filled with imagination, but as 4 year olds whose opinions did not matter.  Jill started DA promising her students a place where they could be heard, where they could create original work and be taught how to produce it for themselves. She swore to empower them through their art, to give them the skills to say what is important to them and to provide the tools to listen and grow from other people's experiences. The goal of DA is to provide opportunities for youth in finding and refining their artistic voice and proclaim themselves as artists.  The lessons learned through our process - focusing on the collaborative nature of art - translate not only to one’s artistic growth, but directly impacts one’s sense of confidence that empowers the individual’s understanding and connection to the community in which they live. We believe that learning and teaching go hand-in-hand: We embrace the importance of passing along the evolving knowledge to the next generation. DA’s season included Fall, Winter & Summer classes as well as our annual arts festival.  In 2001, DA began New York's first youth theater festival called REBEL VERSES (2001-Present). The festival gave the company the opportunity to collaborate with many other youth theater organizations to showcase new young writers, actors and directors. We are extremely proud that RV is based on an idea that came straight from our teen members to invite other youth theater & dance companies from around the city to perform in our festival. Where the trend in performance for youth companies was that each company stands alone, DA recognized the need to bring these companies together and put the emphasis on learning from one another. The festival provides a place for our youth artists to create and connect to the larger artistic community by creating an environment where everyone involved is exposed to and educated on different diversities, religions, races, traditions and cultural backgrounds. Moving forward, DA plans to bring the most innovative youth companies from around the world to perform together under one roof annually

 Jill DeArmon (Artistic Director/Board)

Jill DeArmon (Artistic Director/Board) started teaching theater at public elementary schools while she was still attending Baltimore School of the Arts. After studying dance and theater at Philadelphia University of the Arts, she co-founded the theater department of the still thriving Young People's Theatre Company (YPTC) in Maryland where she directed 10 shows in four years. In 1995, Jill moved to New York City where she was a proprietor of Center Stage NY, taught at ps11, Rebels With Applause, and The Lee Strasburg Institute. She was the Managing Director of LAByrinth Theater Company (Artistic Directors: Philip Seymour Hoffman & John Ortiz) from 1999-2002, and she is co-founder of Developing Artists Theater Company. Some of Jill's New York choreography credits include: STOPLESS (LAByrinth theater Comapny, Artistic Directors: Philip Seymour Hoffman & John Ortiz), Erin Cressida Wilson's Trail of Her Inner Thigh (Center Stage, NY), John Patrick Shanley's, A Winter Party, A Taste of Honey (Theatre 22), and Vanessa Hidary's Culture Bandit (Nuyorican Poets Cafe). Some of her directing credits include: Mikael De Oliveira’s The Constitution (Saudade Theater Company), Craig SirmuMsila Grant’s LOVENESS, Megan Mostyn Brown's We Said Out Loud, Bree O’conner’s SAM's Club (The Craine). Developing Artists' REBEL VERSES Education Revelation (Hi-ARTs)  and ARTIVISM (Vineyard Theatre), and Webb Wilcoxen’s The Fairy Tale Project (LAByrinth Theater Company at The Public).

Jinn S. Kim (Executive Director/Board)

Jinn became a member of LAByrinth Theater Company member in 1995. In the subsequent years, he was elected as the first official President of the company, where he helped lay the foundation for its growth and success. He produced three LAByrinth productions: Where's My Money? by John Patrick Shanley, Culture Bandit & Darwaza by Vanessa Hidary & Ajay Naidu and Our Lady of 121st Street by Stephen Adly Guirgis.  At the close of 2002, he left his administrative position at LAByrinth to focus his attention on Developing Artists as Executive Director. As an actor, Jinn’s theater credit include: QUEEN LATINA & THE POWER POSSE VS THE EVILS OF SOCIETY; RACE, RELIGION & POLITICS by Stephen Adly Guirgis (co-starring Philip Seymour Hoffman); THE FAIRY TALE PROJECT; DISORIENTED; LOVENESS, RISE AND FALL OF A TEENAGE CYBERQUEEN (NYIT Award Winner for Best Original Production), Sarah Rulh’s THE OLDEST BOY (West Coast Premiere at Marin Theater Company). Film and TV credits include: GRAVESEND, HURRICANE STREET, OZ, LAW & ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT, HOW TO MAKE IT IN AMERICA, POWER, THREE GENERATIONS, BULL, FEED THE BEAST, JESSICA JONES, GOD FRIENDED ME.

Critically acclaimed and award winning ensemble

BAREFOOT THEATRE COMPANY

proudly presents the 

VASSALLO AWARDS

On Saturday, November 17th, Barefoot Theatre Company celebrates the third annual Vassallo Awards with a Fall Gala beginning at 8pm at the SVA THEATRE in NYC on 333 W 23rd Street in Manhattan.  Actor David Zayas (Showtime’s DEXTER, FOX’s Gotham, OZ on HBO); acclaimed writer, Hilary Bettis (FX’s Emmy Award winning, The Americans), Actress Shirley Rumierk (NBC’s RISE) are among those honored for artistic achievements.  The ceremony, hosted by Actor and founder of Barefoot Theatre Co., Francisco Solorzano and ensemble member, Christopher Whalen, also honors mentorship and educational outreach to a younger generation of artists in memory of Ed Vassallo, whose artistic career spanned 20 years and included work producing for the LAByrinth Theater Company and volunteering with the 52nd Street Project. 

RED-CARPET CELEBRATION VIP TICKETS: $150 (tax deductible) includes VIP COCKTAIL HOUR - 6:30pm. -7:30 pm.  General Admission: $75 - 7:30 pm (includes drinks & presentation). CURTAIN:  8pm.  Running Time (presentation & awards ceremony) - 75 mins. For tickets and further information please visit: https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/cal/34621 & https://facebook.com/barefoottheatreco or call 212-802-8305.  

The one-night only event features Live Music from Mexican-American singer-songwriter and activist, Renee Goust (Joe’s Pub, Lincoln Center) with an opening act by the Brooklyn based female fronted alt-pop project, The Rungs  and Performances by Special guest artists from Broadway, Film and Television.  Accepting the award for Educational Outreach will be Jill DeArmon (LAByrinth Theater Co., Vineyard Theater) and Jinn S. Kim (LAByrinth Theater Co., Hi-Arts)  for their work with DEVELOPING ARTISTS.  Past recipients included Kamilah Forbes with Hi-ARTS and the Stella Adler Educational Outreach Program, Anna Chlumsky (EMMY Nominee, VEEP), Lynn Cohen (Spielberg’s MUNICH, Sex and the City), Pulitzer Prize winner Stephen Adly Guirgis and Daniel Talbott.  The event is sponsored by Alchemiq Catering, Golden Road Brewery, ZYR Vodka, and Barefoot Studio Pictures.

Barefoot founded the awards after Vassallo lost a two-year battle with cancer in 2014. The company was inspired to recognize Vassallo's dedication to the arts, which included work producing the TENN99 and NYNY festivals for the LAByrinth Theater Co as well as feature films which saw release at the Tribeca Film Festival and IFC/Sundance Selects. Vassallo's passion extended to work as a mentor with the 52nd Street Project, which pairs New York City children and teens with professional theatre artists. For this reason, the awards acknowledge not only artistic achievements but also educational outreach and mentorship that engages the next generation of artists.

BAREFOOT THEATRE COMPANY / BAREFOOT STUDIO PICTURES is an award winning, critically acclaimed multicultural collective of actors and filmmakers specializing in the development and incubation of new work and the cultivation of new attention for lesser-known works by well-established authors, with a vital, thought-provoking eye toward themes of diversity and inclusion.  Barefoot Theatre Company’s most notable production includes the first ever Off-Broadway stage adaptation of the Academy award winning film, Dog Day Afternoon.  The company has developed and produced over 150 new plays staged at INTAR; RATTLESTICK; THE FLEA; CHERRY LANE THEATRE; IRT THEATER; HERE ARTS CENTER; THE BRICK; LABYRINTH THEATER CO., THE ACTORS STUDIO, THEATRE ROW THEATRES, THE NEW OHIO THEATRE among others. Recent Barefoot Theatre Company collaborations with award-winning writers include Jose Rivera, Dominique Morisseau, Jesse Eisenberg, Kristoffer Diaz, Mando Alvarado, Ed. Cardona Jr., Mike Reiss, Daniel Talbott, Hilary Bettis and with actors Chris Cooper, Ethan Hawke, Bobby Cannavale, Gina Gershon, Richard Kind, Mickey Sumner, Caitlin FitzGerald, Annabella Sciorra, and Michael Stuhlbarg to name a few.  In film, Barefoot Studio Pictures’ work has been recognized with the Barcelona International Best Short Film Award, World-Fest Film Festival Best Short FIlm, at Hollyshorts Film Festival and many others.  Barefoot Theatre Company was founded by actor, Francisco Solorzano in 1999, who is currently Producing Artistic Director with Christopher Whalen as Producing Director.