Vietgone and Manhattan Theatre Club Hosts FYD

Thanks to Joanna Lee and Manhattan Theatre Club we were invited to a performance of “VIETGONE” by Qui Nguyen.  This young playwright proved to be super current especially since he is currently writing for Marvel Comics!

Since the language was not for youngsters we invited the caregivers and their extended family to see the show as a night out without the children!  It was a super special treat and something that the family experienced for the first time at this wonderful theatre.

Many times theatre is for grown-ups…but we send out a plea to all theatre owners and producers to send us tickets!  We have so many foster families and caregivers that simply need a night out but have no extra funds to pay for it.  They LOVE the theatre.  It is safe.  Friendly.  Interesting.  Festive.  Celebratory.  Fun.

Thanks to all who made this happen.  The Play was awesome and exciting and beautiful to look at!

FYD teams up with Signature Theatre for Toy Drive

Toy Drive for Foster Kids Spearheaded by Theatre Group

TOY DRIVE!

Foster Your Dream teams up with Signature Theatre in New York City for a Holiday Toy Drive that will continue to give all year long! For several years, foster children, foster families, and group homes have been invited to see live shows in this exciting theatre complex near Times Square. With the holidays approaching, the staff decided to do a Toy Drive for their favorite patrons … Dream Kids from Foster Your Dream!/

What’s unique about this Holiday Toy Drive is that it will last beyond the holidays. Donated toys will be brought from the Theatre to the Children’s Center in New York City. The Center is where children who are removed from their homes … often in the middle of the night … must go if there are no foster families available to take them in. Often these children are in crisis, even traumatized. The toys collected will be available for the child when he or she arrives at the center. FYD founder Sue Wolf says “We hope that choosing a toy and taking it to their foster home will provide a joyful distraction and some warm comfort to the children we are so passionate about serving!”

Ms. Wolf continues, “Foster Your Dream aims to provide extras such as prom dresses, theatre trips, tuition for dance class and karate lessons, to name a few. There are over half a million children in foster care, and we’d love to make a dream come true for each of them. With the help of such generous partners as Signature Theatre, we are one step closer to making that a reality.”

If you would like to donate, please bring a new, unwrapped toy to The Pershing Square Signature Center, 480 W 42nd Street during the designated donation hours from now until December 18!
DONATION HOURS BEFORE EVERY SHOW!

DONATION REQUIREMENTS

Signature is accepting new, unwrapped, any ages toys. Signature will not accept clothing or donations that are used, perishable, or dangerous.

http://www.signaturetheatre.org/shows-and-events/Now-at-the-Center/Foster-Your-Dream-Toy-Drive.aspx

Theatre Builders Camp for Dream Kid

Summer 2016 brings one of our Dream Kids to a very special 5 day camp at Riverside Church.

theatre-builders-group

What joy at the end of a 5 day 9-5 theatre camp.

Prep in Pink Sparkles

Prep in Pink Sparkles

Kids arrive …  and the wonderful teacher, Madeline Bender (who is an opera star!) guides the group to write, rehearse and perform a mini-musical!

Pizza Party Rehearsal

Pizza Party Rehearsal

Our client invited me in to an after-camp theatre pizza party where we watched and video taped our client doling out parts to her extended family … many who were visiting from out of town!  As usual, we can not show her face but the family was AMAZING and we all played parts in a sketch called ”The Real Store”.  One of our clients relatives noticed that the sketch was actually ‘real deep’ … which it totally was.  The kids had come up with a concept where children went to a store and asked for “rock candy” and literally got ROCKS for candy.  A request for “gummy worms” got them REAL worms.  The moral of the story?  BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU ASK FOR!  Deep, right?

What a great learning experience for these children.  Then after each sketch the children sang a wonderful song that super-sillified their sketches.

Rehearse Hands Down

Perform Hands Down

 

Rehearse Hands On Hips

Perform Hands On Hips

Rehearse on Point!

Perform on Point.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the end of an enriching and super fun time new friendships were made and unique experiences were had by all.

Goodbye Campers

Goodbye Campers

We hug Ms. Bender goodbye and dream of next year!

Hugging Ms. Bender

Hugging Ms. Bender

Special thanks to our sponsors Mady Julian, Richard Kendall and John Dempsey and to the family of our client who took time and energy to make this all happen seamlessly and with great joy and love! You are all heroes to our mission of providing enriching experiences and dreams come true for our wonderful children and families. July 2016.

 

A Dream of Motown the Musical Comes True

This is what we dream about here at FYD! One of our hard working family expresses interest in seeing the musical MOTOWN before it closes in NY and moves on to the U.S. tour. Enter Miguel Ortiz who arranges for our very special client and her family to be honored guests at the show.  We are so grateful for his enthusiasm for what we do. Yay!  Pure joy.

Motown Joy

Motown Joy

Studying the program.

Studying the program.

Motown Musical Supremes!

Motown Musical Supremes!

 

Motown Jackson Five

Motown Jackson Five

motown-1

Motown The Musical.

 

 

 

 

Thank you, Mr. Ortiz, from the bottom of all our hearts!

 

Rockettes-and-Family-Bonding-Time

The Rockettes Spring Spectacular does more than razzle dazzle!  July 2016

spring-2016-spectacular

Thanks to Donald Yonker (one of our patrons) … we were able to send the fab four female contingency of one of our foster families to see the most awesome Rockettes!  Apparently we made the dream come true of not only our little child client, but her entire family!  This is one of the reasons we are so devoted to making theatre events happen.  Our outings provide a super fun, special, safe place for a family to relax and have an enriching time together that they can TALK about later.  It’s a safe haven for an amazing bonding experience that also provides a memory that might not be in the budget of our hard working and AMAZING foster families.

This is why we love doing it:

rockettes-thumbs-up                                      rockettes-wonder

family-bonding-time

Oh.  This was the favorite thing of the group….THE FASHION SHOW!

rockettes

Foster Kids Hang With Old Hats

What better way to warm up on a cold day but to go to the Signature Theatre (Thanks Colleen Hughes!) and catch a performance of Old Hats and then hang out with the Cast! As usual, we can not show the faces of our young friends so pardon our privacy boxes! 2/2015

FYD OLD HATS 1 USE

old hats smiles

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

oht-postshow

SPECIAL THANKS TO EVERYONE IN THE CAST WHO PAID SPECIAL ATTENTION TO OUR GUESTS!!!

oldhatsart-bubbles