Why do we need the funding?
YAW typically raises our annual funds at Half Moon Bay's Pumpkin Festival by hosting a spooky Haunted House. If you attended 2019's festival, you would have noticed that the Haunted House was missing. This year YAW's after school creative theater programs did not host the Haunted House.
All funds will go directly to Young Actors Workshop to help support our staffing team in order to provide high-quality consistant creative programs to serve the community. The YAW Team is also excited to expand our programs to Oakland, CA, community. The funding will help with launching our newest site location.
YAW is asking for $50,000 through GoFundMe in order to help our organization continue to serve the families and community of Half Moon Bay and to expand our services to the East Bay.
My story:
Young Actors Workshop (YAW) is a creative children's theater program that I attended for 10 years of my childhood. I joined YAW when I was in first grade attending Hatch Elementary School, Half Moon Bay, CA. After 10 years attending YAW as a student, I joined the backstage crew to help further support the organization's performances. I joined the Board of Directors in 2018, held the title of Interim Director for the May 2018 performance and recently have joined the YAW Team as the Executive Director. In a nutshell, I believe in the socio-emotional skills and teamwork dynamics that YAW fosters in their students. I truly would not be the human I am today, if it wasn't for YAW.
What did YAW teach you?
1. What a supportive community feels like!
2. YAW taught me that life is full of wonderful surprises and if you truly believe in yourself, you can achieve great success.
3. I learned how to work with the nervous butterflies in my stomach (a marker of true passion, I was taught) in order to communicate, collaborate, create and most importantly HAVE FUN!
4. I learned to always look for the good in all evil and to stand for it.
Founder Story and Organization's history:
Young Actors Workshop was founded in 1990 with the objective "to provide a positive environment in which children can develop theater skills and have opportunities for public performance”. Young Actors Workshop was incorporated as an independent non-profit organization in 1990, succeeding the Coastside Youth Theater of the Half Moon Bay Department of Parks and Recreation.
Soon after, under the lead of Artistic Director, Auri Naggar, Young Actors Workshop began an experiment in which the imaginations of its own students would generate materials for its plays. Using a technique known as “Guided Improvisation”, the students created and starred in new performance productions with imaginative story lines, unique characters, and original dialogue with humor and songs. These student-created plays have become a significant and unique part of the essence of the YAW program. Volunteer help, especially from member families, has enabled the success of major productions of these plays, with costumes, makeup, sets, programs, props, music and so much more!
Another regular Young Actors Workshop event is the Haunted House at the Half Moon Bay Arts & Pumpkin Festival, featuring the students and their families as ghouls. The Haunted House is visited by many thousands of guests during the Festival weekend. This is the major fundraiser for Young Actors Workshop providing funds for the student-created play each year.
YAW is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors dedicated to the YAW mission statement:" To provide a positive environment in which children can develop theater skills and have opportunities for public performance" and honors of the uniqueness engrained into Young Actors Workshop for the families by the late Auri Naggar.
Testimonials
“MY FAVORITE PART ABOUT YAW IS THE CHILDREN'S CREATIVITY IN DEVELOPING THEIR CHARACTERS... MY KIDS ALWAYS LOVE GOING AND NEVER COMPLAINS.”
- PAMELA, PARENT
“MY FAVORITE THING ABOUT YAW IS THAT IT’S CHILD DRIVEN - GIVING THE KIDS FULL EXPRESSION OF THEIR TRUE SELVES.”
- SHANNON, PARENT
“YOUNG ACTORS WORKSHOP IMPACTED MY LIFE BY GIVING ME AN OUTLET TO USE MY IMAGINATION AND CREATIVITY.”
- ZAC, ADULT ALUMN
YAW typically raises our annual funds at Half Moon Bay's Pumpkin Festival by hosting a spooky Haunted House. If you attended 2019's festival, you would have noticed that the Haunted House was missing. This year YAW's after school creative theater programs did not host the Haunted House.
All funds will go directly to Young Actors Workshop to help support our staffing team in order to provide high-quality consistant creative programs to serve the community. The YAW Team is also excited to expand our programs to Oakland, CA, community. The funding will help with launching our newest site location.
YAW is asking for $50,000 through GoFundMe in order to help our organization continue to serve the families and community of Half Moon Bay and to expand our services to the East Bay.
My story:
Young Actors Workshop (YAW) is a creative children's theater program that I attended for 10 years of my childhood. I joined YAW when I was in first grade attending Hatch Elementary School, Half Moon Bay, CA. After 10 years attending YAW as a student, I joined the backstage crew to help further support the organization's performances. I joined the Board of Directors in 2018, held the title of Interim Director for the May 2018 performance and recently have joined the YAW Team as the Executive Director. In a nutshell, I believe in the socio-emotional skills and teamwork dynamics that YAW fosters in their students. I truly would not be the human I am today, if it wasn't for YAW.
What did YAW teach you?
1. What a supportive community feels like!
2. YAW taught me that life is full of wonderful surprises and if you truly believe in yourself, you can achieve great success.
3. I learned how to work with the nervous butterflies in my stomach (a marker of true passion, I was taught) in order to communicate, collaborate, create and most importantly HAVE FUN!
4. I learned to always look for the good in all evil and to stand for it.
Founder Story and Organization's history:
Young Actors Workshop was founded in 1990 with the objective "to provide a positive environment in which children can develop theater skills and have opportunities for public performance”. Young Actors Workshop was incorporated as an independent non-profit organization in 1990, succeeding the Coastside Youth Theater of the Half Moon Bay Department of Parks and Recreation.
Soon after, under the lead of Artistic Director, Auri Naggar, Young Actors Workshop began an experiment in which the imaginations of its own students would generate materials for its plays. Using a technique known as “Guided Improvisation”, the students created and starred in new performance productions with imaginative story lines, unique characters, and original dialogue with humor and songs. These student-created plays have become a significant and unique part of the essence of the YAW program. Volunteer help, especially from member families, has enabled the success of major productions of these plays, with costumes, makeup, sets, programs, props, music and so much more!
Another regular Young Actors Workshop event is the Haunted House at the Half Moon Bay Arts & Pumpkin Festival, featuring the students and their families as ghouls. The Haunted House is visited by many thousands of guests during the Festival weekend. This is the major fundraiser for Young Actors Workshop providing funds for the student-created play each year.
YAW is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors dedicated to the YAW mission statement:" To provide a positive environment in which children can develop theater skills and have opportunities for public performance" and honors of the uniqueness engrained into Young Actors Workshop for the families by the late Auri Naggar.
Testimonials
“MY FAVORITE PART ABOUT YAW IS THE CHILDREN'S CREATIVITY IN DEVELOPING THEIR CHARACTERS... MY KIDS ALWAYS LOVE GOING AND NEVER COMPLAINS.”
- PAMELA, PARENT
“MY FAVORITE THING ABOUT YAW IS THAT IT’S CHILD DRIVEN - GIVING THE KIDS FULL EXPRESSION OF THEIR TRUE SELVES.”
- SHANNON, PARENT
“YOUNG ACTORS WORKSHOP IMPACTED MY LIFE BY GIVING ME AN OUTLET TO USE MY IMAGINATION AND CREATIVITY.”
- ZAC, ADULT ALUMN
Fundraising team: Young Actors Workshop (YAW) Staff2
Coastside Young Actors Workshop
Beneficiary
Justin Gabaldon
Team member