ABOUT THE FOREST THEATER GUILD
The Forest Theater Guild is a local non-profit 501(c)3 organization dedicated to promoting the performing arts in our community. Originally founded in 1910 by Herbert Heron as the Forest Theater Society, the Guild’s mission is to present quality performing arts and to foster growth and appreciation of the dramatic and allied arts among the broad community utilizing community talent with emphasis on youth.
The purpose of the Forest Theater Guild is to uphold the heritage and integrity of Carmel’s historic Outdoor Forest Theater through stewardship, preservation of its unique character, and enhancement of the facilities. The oldest outdoor theater west of the Rockies, the Forest Theater was built in 1910 by Herbert Heron and Carmel’s Bohemians to provide an open-air theater where plays could be produced by “locals, who would also have the fun doing the acting, directing, lighting, costuming, and staging.” (Personal letters of Herbert Heron). The Guild continues this tradition and the shared vision that community theater is an essential societal value.
Annual Productions at the Forest Theater
Each year, the Forest Theater Guild presents quality productions annually at the historic Outdoor Forest Theater in Carmel, California. Recent productions include the widely acclaimed Fiddler on the Roof (2006), My Fair Lady (2007), and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Broadway blockbuster CATS (2007) - presented for the first time by a community theater in California – and Camelot (2008) and EVITA (2008).
The All-Star Student Outreach Programs
Several years ago, the Guild established the All-Star Student program to fill the need for performing arts in public education. The program recruits students from throughout the County, with productions often representing as many as 20 separate middle and high schools. Productions are presented entirely by students, including actors, musicians, and technical crew with the support of certified instructors, also representing different educational institutions. The result is a healthy diversity of talents blended to create an outstanding theater experience for performers and audiences alike. The All-Star Youth Outreach program is a proven model for pro-active outreach in the live performing arts to youth throughout Monterey County.
The Guild’s All-Star program is also unique in its commitment to delivering culturally relevant material in a manner that is consistent with the State Education Standards for the Visual and Performing Arts. Moreover, the program focuses on developing student participation in all three aspects of the performing arts; i.e., the performers, the technical stagecraft, and audience participation. The All-Star program also offers assistance with transportation to bring middle and high school students to witness the performances. The Goals of the program are described as follows: 1) To enhance cross-cultural interaction among youth; 2) To expose under-served high schools students to the performing arts; and 3) To strengthen collaborative relationships that increase audience diversity and broaden participation in the arts.
The Apprentice and Mentor Programs
The Guild’s Apprentice and Mentor program was established to train students in the art of stagecraft, effectively providing an outlet for youth not wishing to be on-stage, while supplementing the need for stage technicians to support the “backstage” requirements of Guild productions. As with the All-Star Productions, the apprentice and mentor program is based on the state standards for education in the visual and performing arts, ensuring that the students are responsible for meeting established levels of academic rigor in return for college credit. New for 2008-09, and dependent on available funding, is a collaborative project with the World Theater at CSU Monterey Bay and El Teatro Campesino to establish a Live Event Production Academy for middle school and high school students. The concept for the Academy, a leadership academy in theater arts, is based on the Guild’s longstanding and highly successful apprentice and mentor program for training youth in the art of stagecraft.
Preparing for the 2009 Season
In 2009, the Guild is proud to present the Broadway musical FUNNY GIRL, directed by Walt deFaria and starring Gracie Poletti as Fanny Brice. Our second musical production will be a children’s classic and we are currently negotiating royalties’ contracts for ANNIE or TREASURE ISLAND. Our All-Star program will continue its collaboration with Luis Valdez to present material that is both provocative and culturally relevant to our region. And, we plan to expand the popular Films in the Forest series to include an extra day each week for families to enjoy classic films at an affordable price.
Major Accomplishments for 2008
Youth Development. In 2008, the All-Star student program directly impacted more than 1250 students. The program was exceptional in that efforts to increase recruitment for performers and audience diversity were hugely successful, drawing individuals from King City, Soledad, Greenfield, Gonzales, Salinas, and Watsonville to the All-Star productions. Moreover, several students from South County also performed in the summer musical productions at the Outdoor Forest Theater in Carmel; thus increasing audience diversity in the Carmel venue.
Youth Scholarship Award: The Guild established the Michel Willey Youth Scholarships in memory of a beloved board member who was deeply committed to youth development in the Arts. In 2008, three scholarships were awarded to talented students selected from the Guild’s youth programs. The students are currently attending local colleges and the goal is to provide ongoing support for them through their four-year academic careers.
Summer Musical Productions: The 2008 production of Camelot was hailed as one of the most beautiful productions, in terms of set design, lights, and costumes ever mounted by the Guild, and EVITA was a gusty interpretation of a great woman in history, when women are taking center stage in American politics.
Films in the Forest: In addition to the two productions each Summer, the Guild produces the annual Films in the Forest series and the F.T. Renner Student Short Film Festival. Widely popular, the series features classic films on the big screen. In 2008, the Guild acquired a new screen and projector for the series.
How you can help?
Maintain the Vision!
The Forest Theater Guild is a viable cultural and economic force in our community, and we invite you to be a partner in our Mission and our programs. Please consider joining us today. Giving is easy. We offer several levels of membership and we provide generous benefits. Most of all, you will know that you are being pro-active in preserving the cultural, economic, and historical values that define our special home on the Central Coast.
Luis Valdez has special authority when he states, “Community creates theater, but theater builds community.” We count on you to help us build this special community. For more information, please visit the website at www.foresttheaterguild.org.
THANK YOU!
2009 Board of Directors
President
Dr. Barbara Mossberg
Vice-President
Brian Grossi
Vice-President
Safwat Malek
Treasurer
Kate Faber
Loretta Davi, Chair, Membership Committee
Dennis Dolley
Kathleen Hendricks
Dr. Ron Kroll
Dr. Darcie Kroll
Robert Rosenberg
Joanna Tupman
In Memoriam
Michel Willey
Staff
Jane De Lay, Principal Volunteer
Hamish Tyler, Special Projects Consultant
