Dear Friends,

As we announce our upcoming 2020-2021 season, everyone at YAA— leadership, staff, and board members— reaffirms our commitment to excellence and racial equity. 

Through our artistic programming, community collaborations, and organizational culture, we strive to champion high caliber storytelling that gives young artists opportunities to explore themes about race and disparity that challenge non-dominant norms. 

However, the events of the past few months have shown us that we must do more. We commit now to clearly calling out racial injustice and communicating the actions we will take to help build an anti-racist community. 

Specifically...YAA affirms unequivocally that Black Lives Matter, and that we must do whatever we can as an organization to bring an end to systemic racism. In the coming year, YAA will take specific actions— some new, and some which are already part of our organizational DNA. Click here to learn more.

Against this backdrop we are pleased to announce:

NEW SCHOLARSHIPS FOR STUDENTS OF COLOR

YAA’s incoming board President Ollen Douglass has generously created a new scholarship fund specifically for students of color, which will be administered in partnership with specific schools in our community.

FALL PRODUCTION

SOPHISTICATED LADIES, celebrating the music of DC’s own Duke Ellington and the Harlem Renaissance. This innovative digital production will feature YAACompany in collaboration with: ArtsCentric of Baltimore, and Capitol Tap of Washington, DC, and Divine Dance Institute of Capitol Heights, MD.

YAA is committed to continuing our work of amplifying BIPOC voices, and we are proud that the production will be principally led by an amazing team of black teaching artists from our local theatre community. YAA acknowledges and fully embraces the renewed conversation in the theatre community that telling black stories, like the legacy of Duke Ellington, should be led by black creatives. We are thrilled to be collaborating with renowned dancer and actor, Baakari Wilder (Original Broadway Cast of Bring in ‘da Noise, Bring in ‘da Funk) who will direct and choreograph the production, as well as two of DC’s great music directors, Victor Simonson (National Tours of Memphis & The Color Purple) and Mark G. Meadows (Jazz at Lincoln Center, Signature Theatre).

SPRING PRODUCTION

INTO THE WOODS: YAA joins the greater theatre community in celebrating the 90th birthday of the legendary Stephen Sondheim with our production of this iconic coming of age fairy tale. Stay tuned for more exciting details about this production in the near future!

YAAjunior PRODUCTIONS

This is neither the beginning, nor the end, of YAA’s stand against systemic racism. As we work to give students the highest quality musical theatre training and performance opportunities, we promise to prioritize YAA’s racial equity initiatives for this season...and for all seasons in our future!

Sincerely,

Ollen Douglass, Board President
Lisa Larragoite, Executive Director
Rolando Sanz, Producing Artistic Director
Kristofer Sanz, Music Director
Terry Eberhardt, Associate Artistic Director