For Kids
The Traveling Theater Company for Wayward Artists was founded by Sid Al-Thumali after graduating from Gonzaga University in June 2019 with a BA in Theatre Arts. The Playwriting Form will be conducted with the collaboration of Art Por Díaz–an award-winning Latino playwright, actor, director, and poet.
A group of previously selected teens with plays already in progress will be working with Al-Thumali and Diaz to polish and produce their 10 to 15 minute plays with professional actors and crew. Teens participating in this process will undertake a one-week, intensive playwriting seminar, auditions, rehearsals, collaboration with a director (Al-Thumali), attending one performance of their show and taking notes on the audience reception and interpretation of their work onstage, and an intensive, three-day, end-of-process “forum,” where the playwrights have the opportunity to analyze the experience with their peers. SAGA support will allow Forum to offer the teens access to paid actors, stages, crew, and promotion… and be paid for their work themselves.
One of the program’s directors, Sid Al-Thumali states, “The Wayward Artists Playwright Forum will be building the next generation of theater artists in Spokane. There are young artists who are unseen because their work is often viewed as childish or ‘for kids.’ This forum will be an important platform to provide these young artists an opportunity to have their work produced with some of the same care as their adult counterparts currently working in Spokane.”