J*Company 2008-2009 Season Highlights

• The award winning J*Company Youth Theatre showcased over 400 children and teens who developed self-confidence and self esteem as they pursued their dreams of performing on stage.
• Over 4,000 school children attended a J*Company production during the 16th Anniversary Season. Thanks to funding from the Samuel I. & John Henry Fox Foundation and Union Bank of California we were able to invite 600 lesser-advantaged students from outlying schools to attend performances at no cost to them.
• The 16th Season theme “J*Company Goes Green – Reuse, Recycle, Revive!” has been a wonderful success teaching the young artists ways to appreciate and take care of their environment through the arts.
• J*Company supplemented performance preparation with the following education and outreach elements:

• Pocahontas: J*Company partnered with the San Diego County Water Authority. The entire cast took the “20 Gallon Challenge” saving San Diego County 550,500 gallons of water just this year. The young cast from 7-12 also learned to present an entire song in American Sign Language for the show.
• Into The Woods: J*Company partnered with thesecomefromtrees.com, an organization which creates washable stickers encouraging people to think and conserve when utilizing paper products. The cast took the stickers, with permission, to businesses around San Diego County placing them on paper towel holders and the like saving the world 4,000lbs of paper just this year.
• Disney’s High School Musical 2 (Southern California Premiere): J*Company taught the cast of DHSM2 about arts advocacy. The young artists wrote letters to major California officials and even President and First Lady Obama advocating for the arts and the great work the Commission for Arts and Culture has done securing fund for the arts in San Diego and asking for the funding to continue and increase. The students on their own decided to create a birthday card thanking the Commission for 20 years of service to the arts.
• Fireflies: The Story of the Artists of Terezin – Featuring the original children’s opera BRUNDIBAR (World Premiere): J*Company brings creative artistic conservation (A term J*Company created.) to the cast of Fireflies. The young artists are asked to create a piece of art. However they are only given a piece of paper and limited art supplies that the young artists of Terezin might have had. This is teaching not only creativity but the understanding of conservation.


• J*Company welcomed National Television Director - Hal Grant (HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, ABC’s The Bachelor, Beauty and the Geek, The Biggest Loser and more) as well as President of Disney Theatricals – Thomas Shumacher (Producer of Broadway’s The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, Aida, Tarzan, Mary Poppins and The Little Mermaid as well as best selling author for “How Does The Show Go On?”) to present theatre master classes for the young artists of J*Company.
• J*Company is working in tandem with Camp Jaycee to bring an exciting new theatre experience to high school students. This summer we will partner with Broadway San Diego to bring a two week theatre training intensive to the JCC. This annual theatre intensive will be taught by Broadway professionals and will connect young people with Broadway stars and culminate with a trip to see Wicked, a backstage tour and talk back as well as a master class taught by one of the stars.
• J*Company ON THE TOWN, a performing ambassador group was created and performed for high profile events such as The Opening Ceremonies of the 2009 Maccabi Games, Starlight Theatre, Susan Egan – The Belle Of Broadway and the honor of being selected as the first group in history to represent a Jewish organization singing Hanukkah songs on KUSI’s annual Holiday Concert.
• J*Company created a new student run, theatre-based, community service group entitled ATA (Artists Taking Action). The members of this organization find inventive ways to give to the community or those less fortunate. This year alone ATA raised over $2000.00 in funds for charity’s such as Aids Walk San Diego and the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and reaching out to The Riley School bringing the arts to underprivileged youth in San Diego.
• Next Season J*Company will be bringing the joy of live theatre into the schools. In this tough economy where the arts are being cut in schools across the United States J*Company is creating and implementing a daily theatre curriculum at the San Diego Jewish Academy. Bridging artistic gaps and cooperating with other entities has been one of Joey Landwehr’s goals since being hired as J*Company’s Artistic Director four years earlier. Since then J*Company has partnered and worked closely with the Agency for Jewish Education, Broadway San Diego, KUSI, KNSD & SD4, San Diego Junior Theatre, North Coast Repertory Theatre, Mo’olelo Performing Arts, La Jolla Playhouse, The Old Globe, The San Diego Humane Society & SPCA, The San Diego History Museum, The San Diego REPertory Theatre and more.

07-08 Season Highlights