February 6, 2024 • 14 mins
TADA!, co-founded in 1984 Nina Trevens, is a unique, award winning NYC non-profit theater, producing original musicals by and for young kids and teens. Nina Trevens and Director of Education Katy Knowles talk about their upcoming shows and getting kids prepared to perform. Based in Chelsea, Tada Theater is online at tadatheater.com.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:02):
Welcome to Get Connected with Nina delRio, a weekly conversation about fitness,
health and happenings in our community onone oh six point seven light FM.
Good morning, and thanks for listening. To Get Connected. Going backstage at
TODA, the unique New York Citynonprofit theater producing award winning original musicals by
(00:23):
and for young kids and teens.Our guests are Nina Trevens, co founder
and executive and producing artistic director ofTODA, and TODA Director of Education Katie
Knowles, will talk about the programsand their upcoming shows. Nina and Katie,
thank you for being on the show. Thank you for having us.
You can find out more about everythingat TODA at Todatheater dot com. And
(00:45):
actually, let's go right in totalk about on one of the shows that's
on stage now. Before we dothe backstory of TODA right now, I
have to tell you all my moststressed dreams in the world are about being
lost on the subway. So Ilove the backstory for Bosch, and you
know, why don't you start andtell us a little about it. Yeah,
So, Batch is a musical forfamily audiences and takes place really on
(01:08):
a subway platform. But then alsounderneath and in the tunnels and underneath the
whole city. And it's about seventravelers who hear an announcement that their train
is not coming, and then theyhave to go and they have to do
this, go this way, thisway, this way, this way,
and then find our train. Andso they all go in different directions,
(01:30):
and we have two of them endup meeting three rats who are one is
an artist who likes to paint picturesof cheese and all the junk that's around
and the rats, and one isdressed in a pizza slice, like the
pizza rat that we all got tolike on like TikTok, And and then
(01:52):
you have another two that go andend up in the basement of the Metropolitan
Museum of Art, and they meetthree mummified people who end up singing and
dancing about their lives when they werealive in Egypt. And then you the
(02:15):
last group are tourists that have cometo the city from Buffalo, New York,
and they meet a group called BOTCH, which stands for the Bureau of
Turmoil, Chaos and Headaches, whichis a group of kids that has been
hired by our Mayor Eric Adams tohave New York be what we all know
(02:38):
and love about New York, whichis the chaos and turmoil and fun and
all the different things that make NewYork what it is. They're all safe,
no one gets hurt, and they'veall had fun and they all end
up going their merry way and havinga good time. That's a good ending
to a transit nightmare. It doessound like a lot of fun. Botchies
(03:00):
on stage through February eighteenth, Friday, Saturdays, and Sundays. Tickets to
all shows at TADA are available atTada Theater dot com. How do you
choose the shows at Tada? Thisone feels like it was written really recently.
How do you find them? Well, this one's actually written in the
nineties. Like the first time itwas done was in nineteen ninety one and
at that point Jordan Peel, whois the Oscar Award winner, he was
(03:25):
in the show. He played oneof the tourists from Buffalo. It was
commissioned from the writers Dan Fagelsen andJohn Age. They came to me they
wanted to write a piece. Weworked on this show and we've done it.
This will be the fourth time thatwe've actually produced it. The last
time was in twenty ten, sothings have changed. One of the lyrics
(03:49):
is about how much it costs toride the subway, and so we had
to change it now to two dollarsand ninety cents because in twenty ten it
was less than that. And wealso have a companion guide that when you
come and see the show, youhave a QR code and you'll be able
to get to our resource guide whichhas articles about being on the subway,
(04:14):
the rats in New York, andmummified people, and it also talks.
We have games you can play anddifferent things you can do. Glossary of
terms, theater terms as well aswords that are used in the musical.
Since you mentioned Jordan Peele, JordanPeel, Kerry Washington, Ricky Lake,
you've had lots of Broadway veterans comethrough TODA when they were younger. This
(04:39):
is one of the things about TADAthat makes it unique. Kids get to
work together who might not have otherwisecrossed paths. Right from the very beginning,
it has been the mission of todayto bring kids from all different boroughs,
all different economic backgrounds, ethnic backgrounds, cultural religion preferences, bring them
(05:00):
together and have them work together.But also their families get to know each
other, and so families from differentneighborhoods also get to know each other.
When I moved to New York,I thought, you know, New York
this big melting pot. Everybody iseverywhere, and everybody shares everything together.
And New York is a lot ofdifferent neighborhoods, a lot of different places,
(05:21):
and a lot of different communities.And for those kids that really love
performing and are talented and have thetime to dedicate, today's a place for
them to come and do these thingsafter school and on weekends, and they
can stay in the program from thetime they're eight till they're eighteen, and
(05:41):
it's a totally free program. We'reactually having auditions for teenagers Ruary eighth.
Our guest is Nina Trevins. Sheis co founder and executive and producing artistic
director at Toda, the nonprofit theaterin the city, producing original musicals by
and four young kids and teens.We're also with director of Education at Tada,
(06:04):
Katie Knowles. You're listening to getconnected on one oh six point seven
light FM. I'm Mina del Rio. You can find out more about their
schedule at Tada Theater dot com youcan find out more about their classes,
Katie. Regarding classes, they're focusedon musical theater training, You're focused on
different ages of kids. What isthe focus in general? And I wonder
(06:25):
how you get started or approach whatyounger kids are focused on versus older kids.
Yeah, absolutely so, we youknow, work with students ages four
to five, six to eight,and eight to twelve primarily on site at
today and you know, all ofour classes, our upcoming classes are winter
and spring classes are really focused onkind of introducing students to the skills of
(06:47):
musical theater. And I think weget a wide variety of students, some
who are really timid and shine havenever done it before, while we have
other kids who are like ready forthe stage. And it's really great because
I think we get to again workwith a group of students and kind of
meet them where they're at and introducethem to skills maybe that are new,
(07:10):
challenge them in different ways. Andwe're always you know, trying to keep
our ear down to the student's interestsand making sure that we're kind of getting
an idea of what they might bereally interested in so that we can choose
material that's going to really excite themand that they're going to have a lot
of fun for But yeah, ourclasses are a great way again, I
(07:30):
think for introducing them to musical theaterskills. They get to kind of do
theater activities that help build their selfconfidence, that connects them with other students,
that also really allow them to makeconnections with kids from all over the
city that they end up, youknow, taking away from this experience and
becoming friends with them for the restof their lives in some ways, which
(07:51):
I think is really kind of powerfuland fantastic. No matter the age of
a performer, it can be reallyheady to get up on stage to be
yourself. You also want to tryand new things, you want to experiment.
So what kind of atmosphere do youtry to create behind the scenes,
Katie, Yeah, absolutely so.I think one of the things I often
talk to teaching artists is about gettingreally silly quick And I think one of
(08:16):
the things that I really love isthat we have a team top model,
So we always have a director,choreographer and a music director in the space.
And one of the things that theydo is they're walking into that room
and it's a major shift from aclassroom setting, right, so they get
to be silly, They get tokind of do things that they might at
first be a little timid and shyabout, but then they're like, oh
my god, these adults are alsobeing silly or being themselves. Other kids
(08:41):
are doing this. Oh my god. Now I feel like I have this
safe, brave space so that Ican kind of be who I am.
So I think a lot of ouractivities are rooted in kind of creative play,
imagination, creativity, and that reallyquickly becomes a fabulous way for students
to go, oh wow, Ican kind of be who I am because
not only am I seeing other students, you know, be themselves, but
(09:03):
I have these two adults who areyou know, pretending that there's candy on
this ceiling, you know, duringa stretch, or you know, getting
to kind of make different emotions whenfacial expressions. And so I think that's
a really important switch. And Ithink thing that we do really well to
now that makes kids feel super comfortableand they like to just have a lot
of fun. And you know thatmany of these kids are not going to
(09:26):
make a career in theater or acting. What do they get or what do
you hope they take away from takingclasses and performing. I think it's true
for both the kids in the educationclasses and camps. You know, in
the camps are you know, weeklongs where they really can explore and perfect
things in a different way. Inthe when you're part of the resident youth
(09:48):
ensemble and you're performing, it's thesame feeling of you know, delving into
your character and being with like mindedpeople, you know, being in a
brave space. It's about working together, you know, it's about teamwork.
It's about commitment, it's about responsibility. It is building self esteem, it
(10:11):
is accepting who you are being creative. A lot of times, you know,
even now with kids young, veryyoung, they have to test well,
they have to score well. Whenyou're in school, it's about the
result. And yes there's a resultin terms of a final sharing or you're
when you're doing the performances and audiencesare paying. There is the result.
(10:35):
But their success is there because theyhave had the training to be ready.
They're ready for the audience. They'reready to do it, and they feel
good about what they're doing and it'scoming from within them. They're creating.
And whether you stay in theater ornot, being creative, thinking outside the
box, being able to work withpeople of different backgrounds, in different ages,
(10:58):
having ideas. Those are things youneed for almost every job that you're
going to take, you know,especially in this global world that we're in
and who knows where it will beby the time they're grown up, you
know, but you have to youhave to be able to try things and
explore things, and sometimes you're aleader and sometimes you're a part of the
(11:20):
ensemble, and that is part ofwho you are. Before we wrap,
we only have a couple of minutesleft. So Botch is on stage through
February eighteenth. Next up is CommonGround that's on stage April twentieth through May
eleventh. You want to say alittle bit about that show. Common Ground
is for a little older audience,So Botch is really for our family audience,
you know, two to three upall the way through adults. One
(11:43):
of the things that I love aboutthe work that we do is that kids
enjoy it on one level and adubtadults can get the comedy or the different
level of things being adults. CommonGround is really for middle and high school
and adults. It's a more seriouspiece. It's the first two act musical
that we're going to produce, andit is about immigrants as well as a
(12:07):
couple of New York teens and howthey find their way together, how do
they deal with what makes them different, how do they you know, what
makes them the same, you know, and what it's like to be in
America. So you've mentioned Botches foryounger kids, common Ground is for little
older kids in general for parents,how long are the shows? So Botch
(12:31):
is about fifty minutes five zero andcommon Ground would be about ninety five minutes
and so longer. And price ranges. Our price range we have our adult
tickets are thirty dollars a ticket.Children's tickets which is fifteen and under is
(12:52):
fifteen dollars. But we also doto be equitable and really try to bring
as many people as we can intothe theater. We offer pay what you
can so ticket pricing starting at adollar for you know, So we want
people to be able to come andsee what we do, and we also
want people, you know, tobe a part of today. If you
know a kid interested in performing andthey're talented, they can audition for the
(13:18):
free program, they can take classes, and there's also financial aid and scholarships
for our classes and camps on site. There is much more on the website,
which is Tadatheater dot com. Youcan find out more about the classes
and more about the shows on thewebsite. Our guests have been Nina Trevins
and Katie Knowles of Tada Theater.Thank you for being on Get Connected.
(13:39):
Thank you so much. This hasbeen Get Connected with Nina del Rio on
one o six point seven light Fm. The views and opinions of our guests
do not necessarily reflect the views ofthe station. If you missed any part
of our show or want to shareit, visit our website. Were downloads
and podcasts at one oh six toseven lightfm dot com. Thanks for listening.
Welcome to Get Connected with Nina delRio, a weekly conversation about fitness,
health and happenings in our community onone oh six point seven light FM.
Good morning, and thanks for listening. To Get Connected. Going backstage at
TODA, the unique New York Citynonprofit theater producing award winning original musicals by
(00:23):
and for young kids and teens.Our guests are Nina Trevens, co founder
and executive and producing artistic director ofTODA, and TODA Director of Education Katie
Knowles, will talk about the programsand their upcoming shows. Nina and Katie,
thank you for being on the show. Thank you for having us.
You can find out more about everythingat TODA at Todatheater dot com. And
(00:45):
actually, let's go right in totalk about on one of the shows that's
on stage now. Before we dothe backstory of TODA right now, I
have to tell you all my moststressed dreams in the world are about being
lost on the subway. So Ilove the backstory for Bosch, and you
know, why don't you start andtell us a little about it. Yeah,
So, Batch is a musical forfamily audiences and takes place really on
(01:08):
a subway platform. But then alsounderneath and in the tunnels and underneath the
whole city. And it's about seventravelers who hear an announcement that their train
is not coming, and then theyhave to go and they have to do
this, go this way, thisway, this way, this way,
and then find our train. Andso they all go in different directions,
(01:30):
and we have two of them endup meeting three rats who are one is
an artist who likes to paint picturesof cheese and all the junk that's around
and the rats, and one isdressed in a pizza slice, like the
pizza rat that we all got tolike on like TikTok, And and then
(01:52):
you have another two that go andend up in the basement of the Metropolitan
Museum of Art, and they meetthree mummified people who end up singing and
dancing about their lives when they werealive in Egypt. And then you the
(02:15):
last group are tourists that have cometo the city from Buffalo, New York,
and they meet a group called BOTCH, which stands for the Bureau of
Turmoil, Chaos and Headaches, whichis a group of kids that has been
hired by our Mayor Eric Adams tohave New York be what we all know
(02:38):
and love about New York, whichis the chaos and turmoil and fun and
all the different things that make NewYork what it is. They're all safe,
no one gets hurt, and they'veall had fun and they all end
up going their merry way and havinga good time. That's a good ending
to a transit nightmare. It doessound like a lot of fun. Botchies
(03:00):
on stage through February eighteenth, Friday, Saturdays, and Sundays. Tickets to
all shows at TADA are available atTada Theater dot com. How do you
choose the shows at Tada? Thisone feels like it was written really recently.
How do you find them? Well, this one's actually written in the
nineties. Like the first time itwas done was in nineteen ninety one and
at that point Jordan Peel, whois the Oscar Award winner, he was
(03:25):
in the show. He played oneof the tourists from Buffalo. It was
commissioned from the writers Dan Fagelsen andJohn Age. They came to me they
wanted to write a piece. Weworked on this show and we've done it.
This will be the fourth time thatwe've actually produced it. The last
time was in twenty ten, sothings have changed. One of the lyrics
(03:49):
is about how much it costs toride the subway, and so we had
to change it now to two dollarsand ninety cents because in twenty ten it
was less than that. And wealso have a companion guide that when you
come and see the show, youhave a QR code and you'll be able
to get to our resource guide whichhas articles about being on the subway,
(04:14):
the rats in New York, andmummified people, and it also talks.
We have games you can play anddifferent things you can do. Glossary of
terms, theater terms as well aswords that are used in the musical.
Since you mentioned Jordan Peele, JordanPeel, Kerry Washington, Ricky Lake,
you've had lots of Broadway veterans comethrough TODA when they were younger. This
(04:39):
is one of the things about TADAthat makes it unique. Kids get to
work together who might not have otherwisecrossed paths. Right from the very beginning,
it has been the mission of todayto bring kids from all different boroughs,
all different economic backgrounds, ethnic backgrounds, cultural religion preferences, bring them
(05:00):
together and have them work together.But also their families get to know each
other, and so families from differentneighborhoods also get to know each other.
When I moved to New York,I thought, you know, New York
this big melting pot. Everybody iseverywhere, and everybody shares everything together.
And New York is a lot ofdifferent neighborhoods, a lot of different places,
(05:21):
and a lot of different communities.And for those kids that really love
performing and are talented and have thetime to dedicate, today's a place for
them to come and do these thingsafter school and on weekends, and they
can stay in the program from thetime they're eight till they're eighteen, and
(05:41):
it's a totally free program. We'reactually having auditions for teenagers Ruary eighth.
Our guest is Nina Trevins. Sheis co founder and executive and producing artistic
director at Toda, the nonprofit theaterin the city, producing original musicals by
and four young kids and teens.We're also with director of Education at Tada,
(06:04):
Katie Knowles. You're listening to getconnected on one oh six point seven
light FM. I'm Mina del Rio. You can find out more about their
schedule at Tada Theater dot com youcan find out more about their classes,
Katie. Regarding classes, they're focusedon musical theater training, You're focused on
different ages of kids. What isthe focus in general? And I wonder
(06:25):
how you get started or approach whatyounger kids are focused on versus older kids.
Yeah, absolutely so, we youknow, work with students ages four
to five, six to eight,and eight to twelve primarily on site at
today and you know, all ofour classes, our upcoming classes are winter
and spring classes are really focused onkind of introducing students to the skills of
(06:47):
musical theater. And I think weget a wide variety of students, some
who are really timid and shine havenever done it before, while we have
other kids who are like ready forthe stage. And it's really great because
I think we get to again workwith a group of students and kind of
meet them where they're at and introducethem to skills maybe that are new,
(07:10):
challenge them in different ways. Andwe're always you know, trying to keep
our ear down to the student's interestsand making sure that we're kind of getting
an idea of what they might bereally interested in so that we can choose
material that's going to really excite themand that they're going to have a lot
of fun for But yeah, ourclasses are a great way again, I
(07:30):
think for introducing them to musical theaterskills. They get to kind of do
theater activities that help build their selfconfidence, that connects them with other students,
that also really allow them to makeconnections with kids from all over the
city that they end up, youknow, taking away from this experience and
becoming friends with them for the restof their lives in some ways, which
(07:51):
I think is really kind of powerfuland fantastic. No matter the age of
a performer, it can be reallyheady to get up on stage to be
yourself. You also want to tryand new things, you want to experiment.
So what kind of atmosphere do youtry to create behind the scenes,
Katie, Yeah, absolutely so.I think one of the things I often
talk to teaching artists is about gettingreally silly quick And I think one of
(08:16):
the things that I really love isthat we have a team top model,
So we always have a director,choreographer and a music director in the space.
And one of the things that theydo is they're walking into that room
and it's a major shift from aclassroom setting, right, so they get
to be silly, They get tokind of do things that they might at
first be a little timid and shyabout, but then they're like, oh
my god, these adults are alsobeing silly or being themselves. Other kids
(08:41):
are doing this. Oh my god. Now I feel like I have this
safe, brave space so that Ican kind of be who I am.
So I think a lot of ouractivities are rooted in kind of creative play,
imagination, creativity, and that reallyquickly becomes a fabulous way for students
to go, oh wow, Ican kind of be who I am because
not only am I seeing other students, you know, be themselves, but
(09:03):
I have these two adults who areyou know, pretending that there's candy on
this ceiling, you know, duringa stretch, or you know, getting
to kind of make different emotions whenfacial expressions. And so I think that's
a really important switch. And Ithink thing that we do really well to
now that makes kids feel super comfortableand they like to just have a lot
of fun. And you know thatmany of these kids are not going to
(09:26):
make a career in theater or acting. What do they get or what do
you hope they take away from takingclasses and performing. I think it's true
for both the kids in the educationclasses and camps. You know, in
the camps are you know, weeklongs where they really can explore and perfect
things in a different way. Inthe when you're part of the resident youth
(09:48):
ensemble and you're performing, it's thesame feeling of you know, delving into
your character and being with like mindedpeople, you know, being in a
brave space. It's about working together, you know, it's about teamwork.
It's about commitment, it's about responsibility. It is building self esteem, it
(10:11):
is accepting who you are being creative. A lot of times, you know,
even now with kids young, veryyoung, they have to test well,
they have to score well. Whenyou're in school, it's about the
result. And yes there's a resultin terms of a final sharing or you're
when you're doing the performances and audiencesare paying. There is the result.
(10:35):
But their success is there because theyhave had the training to be ready.
They're ready for the audience. They'reready to do it, and they feel
good about what they're doing and it'scoming from within them. They're creating.
And whether you stay in theater ornot, being creative, thinking outside the
box, being able to work withpeople of different backgrounds, in different ages,
(10:58):
having ideas. Those are things youneed for almost every job that you're
going to take, you know,especially in this global world that we're in
and who knows where it will beby the time they're grown up, you
know, but you have to youhave to be able to try things and
explore things, and sometimes you're aleader and sometimes you're a part of the
(11:20):
ensemble, and that is part ofwho you are. Before we wrap,
we only have a couple of minutesleft. So Botch is on stage through
February eighteenth. Next up is CommonGround that's on stage April twentieth through May
eleventh. You want to say alittle bit about that show. Common Ground
is for a little older audience,So Botch is really for our family audience,
you know, two to three upall the way through adults. One
(11:43):
of the things that I love aboutthe work that we do is that kids
enjoy it on one level and adubtadults can get the comedy or the different
level of things being adults. CommonGround is really for middle and high school
and adults. It's a more seriouspiece. It's the first two act musical
that we're going to produce, andit is about immigrants as well as a
(12:07):
couple of New York teens and howthey find their way together, how do
they deal with what makes them different, how do they you know, what
makes them the same, you know, and what it's like to be in
America. So you've mentioned Botches foryounger kids, common Ground is for little
older kids in general for parents,how long are the shows? So Botch
(12:31):
is about fifty minutes five zero andcommon Ground would be about ninety five minutes
and so longer. And price ranges. Our price range we have our adult
tickets are thirty dollars a ticket.Children's tickets which is fifteen and under is
(12:52):
fifteen dollars. But we also doto be equitable and really try to bring
as many people as we can intothe theater. We offer pay what you
can so ticket pricing starting at adollar for you know, So we want
people to be able to come andsee what we do, and we also
want people, you know, tobe a part of today. If you
know a kid interested in performing andthey're talented, they can audition for the
(13:18):
free program, they can take classes, and there's also financial aid and scholarships
for our classes and camps on site. There is much more on the website,
which is Tadatheater dot com. Youcan find out more about the classes
and more about the shows on thewebsite. Our guests have been Nina Trevins
and Katie Knowles of Tada Theater.Thank you for being on Get Connected.
(13:39):
Thank you so much. This hasbeen Get Connected with Nina del Rio on
one o six point seven light Fm. The views and opinions of our guests
do not necessarily reflect the views ofthe station. If you missed any part
of our show or want to shareit, visit our website. Were downloads
and podcasts at one oh six toseven lightfm dot com. Thanks for listening.
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