25 Years of TADA!
In 1984, TADA! co-founders Janine Nina Trevens and Linda Reiff produced the company's first shows with a budget of $1,500 and lots of support from friends and family. Since its founding, TADA! has become the leading producer of professional-quality youth theater and renowned Arts Education programs in New York City. Today, TADA!'s budget is over $1.8 million and the organization reaches 50,000 children and families annually through its mainstage musical theater productions, arts education and youth development programs.
For 25 years, The Drama Desk and Coming Up Taller Award-winning TADA! has been providing young people of all different backgrounds, including a large number of disadvantaged children and families, the opportunity to explore and perform musical theater together in an educational, supportive, and professional environment. Every year, TADA! produces three original musical theater productions with a discounted ticket program; free pre-professional training and youth development opportunities through the Resident Youth Ensemble composed of over 65 NYC kids ages 8-18; renowned Arts Education in-school residencies and after-school programs that are subsidized by our funders; and theater classes for kids of all ages taught by professional teaching artists and for which need-based scholarships are readily available.
TADA!s mission is two-fold: to provide high-quality musical theater productions performed by talented kids for family audiences and to provide a safe, creative and nurturing place where kids can harness their inherent energy, build their self-assurance and realize their true potential through the unique collaborative art form that is musical theater. Through TADAs high-quality work, young people gain confidence and learn commitment, responsibility, communication and teamworkskills that are critical to their success both in school and in life.
Creative artists (composers, writers and Ensemble members) who developed their trade at TADA! include: Josh Peck (The Wackness, Nickelodeon's "Drake & Josh" and Drillbit Taylor), Kerry Washington (Lakeview Terrace, I Think I Love My Wife, The Last King of Scotland), Mizuo Peck (Night at the Museum), Ricki Lake (The Business of Being Born, "Ricki Lake" show), Jeanine Tesori (Shrek, Thoroughly Modern Millie), Jordan Peele (MadTV), Eric Rockwell (The Musical of Musicals: The Musical), Winnie Holzman (Wicked), and Jason Robert Brown (Parade, 13).
Significant Achievements: TADA! and its co-founder, current Executive and Artistic Director Janine Nina Trevens, have received many honors and awards including American Alliance for Theater Education's 2002 Anne Flagg Multicultural Award, selection as a semifinalist for the 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2008 Coming Up Taller Award by the President's Committee on The Arts and The Humanities; winner of the 2008 Coming Up Taller Award, the NEA and NEH; Family Circle Magazine's 1st Annual Halo Award; and Parenting Magazine's 10th Anniversary Ten Parenting Leaders. We are also thrilled to share that in 2009 TADA! took home a prestigeous Drama Desk Award for "providing an invaluable contribution to the future of the theater." Most recently, TADA!'s Resident Youth Ensemble won five National Youth Theatre Awards, which honor outstanding work in youth theater. This year more than 170 productions, from over 90 different theatres located in more than 60 cities spanning 23 states, competed for the youth theatre awards.