OUR HISTORY
Beginning in July 2005 teenagers from the Isla Vista Teen Center and UCSB Drama students collaborated to create a solo performance festival at UCSB's Multicultural Center. The festival was the brainchild of graduate student Judy Bauerlein, who said, "This is a way for the UCSB campus and Isla Vista community to mutually benefit from their proximity. Isla Vista teenagers improve their writing skills, express themselves creatively, increase their self-esteem, and establish a connection to the world of higher education. UCSB student participants learn valuable leadership skills, hone their creative writing abilities, and benefit from experiencing the diversity of the Isla Vista community." (Click here for more info).
This spring, under the new name Nuestra Voz, local high school students created a performance in conjunction with the citizen-scholars in UCSB's course Teatro as a Teaching Tool. The performance, entitled Mosaic, was produced on June 2nd in Embarcadero Hall.
July 2008
Isla Vista: The Video Game
A new play produced by Nuestra Voz and written and performed by youth ages 10-15 living in Isla Vista.
Press Link: http://www.independent.com/news/2008/jul/31/isla-vista-video-game/
Menancing villains! Supernatural occurences! Heroic intervention! All this and more in ISLA VISTA: THE VIDEO GAME, a new play in which students battle evil forces in order to protect the Isla Vista Teen Center.
July 2007
Nuestra Voz Superstars brought down the house with FREE WRITE: Plays in Progress on Saturday, July 28. The MultiCultural Center Theater on the UCSB campus welcomed teenagers from the Isla Vista Teen Center and the Nuestra Voz Superstars summer camp to their stage.
Thrilling new plays were written and performed by: Ricardo Antonio, Lalo Arce, Eric Contreras, Rodolfo Cortes, Alma Estrado, Chris Mora, and Juan Jose Vasquez.
Nuestra Voz summer theatre program is directed by Beth Wynstra, PhD candidate in Theater and Dance. For enrollment in next summer's camp please contact her at bethwynstra@umail.ucsb.edu.
May 2006
The partnership between UCSB and the Isla Vista Teen Center continued with the presentation of The Monument Project in May, 2006. Under the guidance of Luis Alfaro, playwright, 10 Isla Vista teenagers teamed with senior citizens and UCSB students to create prototype monuments for their community. The Monument Project was presented in conjunction with the University of California Institute for Research in the Arts (UCIRA) conference hosted by UCSB.
