2025/26
Youth Company Programs
The goal of the MCC Youth Company is to celebrate and honor the mosaic of identities of New York City’s young people and their experiences in a non-competitive, collaborative, and socially conscious environment. Applications for next season’s MCC Youth Company will open in AUG 2025.
PERFORMANCE LAB
Lead collaborator KAREEM M LUCAS facilitates two weekly workshops over the spring semester centering the voices of high-school-aged artists. Through the exploration of writing, devising, movement, and design exercises, the ensemble collaborates to develop original content that elevates the ideas and experiences that reflect the world they live in and wish to create. Performance Lab culminates in the annual production of UNCENSORED beginning APR 10, 2026 at The Robert W. Wilson MCC Theater Space. Auditions will be held JAN 20, 2026.
Alumni who wish to continue their education in the arts can also apply for the Youth Company Alumni Fellowship, running OCT – MAY 2025. Applications open now – AUG 29. APPLY HERE.
PLAYWRITING LAB
In the Fall Semester, Playwriting Lab company members develop an original script through weekly workshops with the support of their peers and mentored by professional playwright JUAN RAMIREZ JR. Young writers learn about monologue, dialogue, setting, conflict, and character, honing the skills to expand their writing style and voice through different theatrical structures. In December members present public readings of their work with professional actors to see them come to vibrant life this fall in our FRESHPLAY DISCOVERY readings, DEC 12 and 13, 2025. Select students will continue to develop their plays through the spring for our FRESHPLAY FESTIVAL FEB 21, 2026. Auditions will take place OCT 9, 2025, with audition registration opening SEP 8.
BKYC
The BKYC is our satellite youth company located in East Flatbush based on our Performance Lab model. This ensemble of students from High School for Public Service meets weekly to explore their artistic voices and the tools they need to theatricalize their words. Like the other branches of the YC, the BKYC performs its own UNCENSORED production and participates in master classes and theater visits. BYKYC UNCENSORED 2025 will take place DEC 2025.
AMBIES
The Ambassadors Program (AMBIES) is open to emerging theater artists between the ages of 21 and 30 with an interest in producing and administration. This program aims to demystify the NYC theatrical landscape through monthly curated conversations, site visits, theater tickets, and workshops. Ambies is free to participate in and those who complete the year become eligible to apply for a free space share opportunity in summer of 2026.
Applications for the AMBIES program are now open. Applications will close FRI, AUG 29. APPLY HERE.
The MCC Theater Youth Company is supported by the Tiger Baron Foundation, the Emily Davie and Joseph S. Kornfeld Foundation, the Cornelia T. Bailey Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional support for MCC Education Programs is provided by Axe-Houghton Foundation, Harold J. Newman† & Ruth Newman, The Eric Rosedale Playwriting Fund, and public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the city council.
BKYC is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, with additional support from the Emily Davie and Joseph S. Kornfeld Foundation. Additional support for MCC Education Programs is provided by the Axe-Houghton Foundation, the Cornelia T. Bailey Foundation, Harold J. Newman† & Ruth Newman, the Eric Rosedale Playwriting Fund, the Tiger Baron Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts.
