2025/26
Youth Company Programs
MCC Youth Company is a collection of free programs at the MCC Theater Space for New York City students interested in developing their dramatic writing and performance skills within a non-competitive, collaborative, and socially conscious environment focused on a dialogue-based approach to theater. A resident Youth Company program in Brooklyn extends MCC’s reach for this model. See below for details about Youth Company auditions!
PERFORMANCE LAB
Auditions for Performance Lab will be on JAN 20, 2026. Registration for auditions will open on DEC 16, 2025.
In our Performance Lab, participants collaborate to create an original play they then perform over two consecutive weekends. Under the leadership of professional theater artist KAREEM M LUCAS, the ensemble explores weekly exercises in voice, movement, writing, and devising. The process culminates in an original production of UNCENSORED that aims to reflect the world they live in and imagine the world they wish to create.
Performance Lab meets:
4:30 PM – 6:30 PM, TUES & THURS, JAN – MAR
4:30 PM -7:30 PM, TUES & THURS with additional SAT from MAR – APR.
*Performance Lab and Playwriting Lab are open to New York City high school students. Participating students are eligible for paid stipends upon completion of the programs.
PLAYWRITING LAB
Auditions for Playwriting Lab will be on OCT 9, 2025. Registration for auditions is now open.
In our Playwriting Lab, each company member develops an original script through weekly workshops where they receive the support of their peers and the mentorship of professional playwright JUAN RAMIREZ JR. Throughout each program year, first year playwriting students develop ten-minute plays, while returning students continue to deepen their playwriting practice by developing one-acts and full-length works. Each December, participants see their work come to life in our FRESHPLAY DISCOVERY series. Select students will continue to develop their plays through the spring for our FRESHPLAY FESTIVAL, which features a public reading of their work with professional actors.
Playwriting Lab meets 4:30 PM – 6:30 PM, TUES & THURS, OCT – DEC.
BKYC
The Brooklyn Youth Company, which operates in the same spirit and process as our Performance Lab, is open to all students at High School for Public Service in East Flatbush. This school partnership emphasizes building community and introduces students to the creative process while they collaborate to create and perform their own original UNCENSORED production under the leadership of multi-hyphenate, LIZ MORGAN.
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 and workshops at the MCC Theater Space as well as off-site visits and theater-going opportunities.
AMBIES meets once a month on a MON evening from 4:30 PM – 6 PM, with potential additional opportunities.
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.
