The 52nd State

Neighborhood kids in Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen may grow up just a few blocks away from Broadway, yet most of them will never see a show. But thanks to the 52nd Street Project, hundreds of local children have written and starred in their own plays during the 25 years since the Project was started by playwright Willie Reale. His revolutionary idea was to help Hell’s Kitchen kids gain self-esteem and increase their individual potential through the medium of theater.

Much like Chicago‘s Velma Kelly, Reale — now a two-time Tony Award nominee for his work on A Year With Frog and Toad — couldn’t do it alone. The program has always depended on the kindness of both regular people and famous folk, including Angela Bassett, Billy Crudup, Edie Falco, and James Naughton, who give their time and talent to nurturing youngsters. Next month, popular comedian Lewis Black, a longtime Project volunteer, will host a benefit screening of his new film Unaccompanied Minors on Tuesday, December 5. And The Power of Ten: Ten Plays That Count by Ten Year Olds, a series of free play readings that will run December 8-10 at The Public Theater, will rely on the participation of such stars as Oscar winner Frances McDormand, Peter Dinklage, Mary Testa, Ned Eisenberg, and Nancy Giles.

“I grew up in Queens and went to public schools, and I often wonder what I might have been like if only there had been something for me like the Project,” says Giles, a volunteer since 1988 and a regular contributor on CBS’ Sunday Morning. “This time, I’m in a play with Lizbeth MacKay; it was written by Mari, who’s nine years old. I enjoy working with these kids because they’re so honest. At one rehearsal, a boy said, ‘Why are you saying that? I didn’t write that!’ I just love it. It’s better than therapy!”

In 1981, Reale was a struggling playwright-member of Ensemble Studio Theatre. The Police Athletic League, which was located right across the street from EST, was looking for someone to teach drama to kids in the neighborhood, and Reale volunteered for the job. He never imagined that he’d spend the next 18 years with the Project or that he would receive a coveted MacArthur Fellowship in 1994 for his efforts. In 1998, the Project won a “Coming Up Taller Award” from the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities. The award was actually named after a statement Reale made: “I have seen the joy in their eyes and have heard it in their voices and I have watched them take a bow and come up taller.”

While the Project began in the PAL facility and later operated from an assortment of nearby offices and classroom spaces, it now occupies the second floor of a building on 52nd Street off Tenth Avenue. In 2008, however, it plans to move into a brand-new, nearby building that will also house two theaters. “We made a site visit in October and it was thrilling just to be in the space!” says artistic director Gus Rogerson, who first came to the Project as a volunteer in 1991. “We’ve always been an itinerant theater company, performing at whatever venue we could find from the Public and Signature to Playwrights Horizons and of course, EST. But it’s been costly and debilitating, taking time that would be better spent on the kids. So this new theater will be like ending up at the Ritz for us.”

The Project has many ways of teaching drama by helping children create theater. The first step is the “Playmaking” series, where the kids spend a summer weekend in the country — often in the homes of actors like McDormand or Sam Waterston — and learn how to write a play. Later on, each play is given a weekend of free public performances with a professional cast and director. There are several other programs for the kids as they grow into their teen years, including a Shakespeare project and a “senior trip” to Europe, where they also present their works.

Also essential to the Project are the “One-On-Ones,” in which one adult is paired with one child and the adult writes a play for the pair to perform in a legitimate theater. “I miss the One-On-Ones most,” says Tony Award winner Robert Sean Leonard, a longtime 52nd St. Project volunteer. “But my real favorite was when the kids had to write the plays. They really became empowered by the interaction; that’s beautiful to see. And the adults always got as much out of it as the kids did.”

Actress Shirley Rumierk, now a Board member and volunteer tutor, began with the program when she was just 11 years old and has since made it to Harvard and to Broadway, where she appeared last season in Latinologues. “When I was a kid, I was in a classic, over-crowded city classroom with no real stimulus,” she recalls. “With the Project, I was taken to see my first play, my group leader was Jim McDaniel, and I studied acting and writing with Lewis Black.”

The Project currently has a staff of six — including two former 52nd Street kids — plus its executive director, Carol Ochs, another volunteer-turned-staffer. “I came to see a show, fell madly in love with the whole concept, and eventually left my job at Lincoln Center Theater to work here full-time,” says Ochs. “So much has changed since then, and so much is happening right now.”

For more information, visit www.52project.org.