WHAT IS MXTW?

The Manhattan Experimental Theater Workshop (MXTW) is a program of the Manhattan Arts Center. MXTW is a 5-week workshop in May–June for high school students. Part classroom and part production company, participants study various styles of avant-garde theater, then write and perform original pieces using the techniques of the styles they have studied. Since 1989, MXTW has provided a creative outlet for the wickedly intelligent young artists of Manhattan, KS.

Taking part in the workshop really opened my eyes up to skills I never knew I had. For what felt like the first time, I could write whatever I thought, and not be criticized or laughed at for it. My words were actually used to make amazing theater I was really proud of! This trusting environment was so freeing, I used my concentration and willpower in ways I never had before. I gained huge respect for the other people in the workshop with me and had tons of fun doing it. I will always remember my years in MXTW.

Libby Stratton, MXTW alumna

WHAT DO WE DO?

In the first two weeks, participants get a “crash course” in experimental movements of the twentieth century by reading and discussing plays. During this time participants also learn exercises and techniques for using their voices and bodies to help them understand how the plays they read can be performed, and to prepare them to stage and perform their own original work over the last three weeks of the session.

Each season centers around a “target story” chosen by MXTW participants. A good target story is well known and contains images or ideas that the participants feel need to be challenged. Target stories in recent years have included The Lion the Witch and The Wardrobe, The Wizard of Oz, Hamlet, Prometheus, Orpheus, and Aladdin.

At the end of the first two weeks, participants choose which style of avant-garde theater they would like to continue to explore. The participants are then put into small groups based on which writers they liked. Each group uses the target story as the beginning point for writing their own piece of theater in the style of the experimental author or movement they have chosen to explore in their small group.

Participants meet both as groups and as a whole company throughout the following weeks, participants meet roughly three times each week for three hours with their small groups and twice each week for three hours with the whole workshop company. The small groups work together, exploring the target story using their chosen style, writing and staging a new piece of theater. The whole company continues to meet and creates additional pieces that they will perform together.

On the last two nights of the workshop, participants perform the pieces they have written in front of an audience and get a chance to see what other groups in the workshop have written and prepared.

The workshop maintains a balance of creativity and creative discipline that I don’t think is available anywhere else for artistic youth in Manhattan…As an individual, the workshop has given me opportunities to interact with people I never would have known, and has also gently pushed me to extend myself beyond my ‘comfort zone’. I would have to say that the most overwhelming fact about the MXTW is that it’s fun. I’ve loved every one of my three years of participation.

Kevin Terry, MXTW Alumnus

WHO CAN JOIN?

You are eligible if you are currently in 9th, 10th, 11th, or 12th grade.

This workshop is designed for any student interested in art, writing, or performance, including music, dance, theater, forensics, and so on. Students unsure of their talents in performance, but whose creativity leans more towards writing or idea-crafting, should not be scared of applying. A number of participants have actually had their first experience of performing in front of an audience in the workshop.

You don’t have to have done any theater before the workshop. In fact, we will use skills you may have that are not usually found in mainstream theater. Gymnastics, choral singing, dance, martial arts, musical performance, public speaking, juggling—anything that can be done in public as a performance—may be helpful in experimental theatrical explorations.

Your individual work is always respected, your ideas always encouraged. Since coming to my college, I have met graduates of magnet arts programs and liberal arts high schools, but no one can attest to having an experience with the depth of the one I have had as a former company member.

Kearsten Cross, MXTW alumna

HOW CAN YOU SIGN UP?

The cost for the workshop is $55.00

SCHOLARSHIPS ARE AVAILABLE! You just need to let us know you need one. Please contact Michele Ward at the Manhattan Arts Center or Gwethalyn Williams at gwethalynw@gmail.com to request a scholarship and to get a scholarship code for the online application payment.

APPLY SOON SPOTS CAN FILL UP FAST!