It an end-of-year wrap-up!

This was a landmark year for the Chance. Here is a list of highlights from 2016:

• American Theatre Wing awarded the Chance with its National Theatre Company grant. The same company that founded the Tony Awards believes we have “nurtured a community of artists in ways that strengthen and demonstrate the quality, diversity, and dynamism of American theatre.”
• Orange County Register‘s “Best of Orange County” named Chance Theater its Critic’s Choice for Live Theater, stating “the Anaheim theater company has grown into a local powerhouse whose substantial budget and busy, varied season place it among the county’s top-ranked cultural institutions.”
• OC Weekly awarded us with three slots in its “Best of” Issue, including two for A Chorus Line — “Best Musical” and “Best Play” — as well as recognizing the entire scope of the work we do with “Best Theater Programming”
• A Chorus Line received a Los Angeles Times Critic’s Choice and our Founding Artistic Director Oanh Nguyen has been nominated for an Ovation Award for Best Director of a Musical.
• Our 11th annual Speak Up summer youth program had the highest enrollment ever, resulting in two new plays that the students wrote and performed. The shows explored their own experiences while contextualizing their world with those of their peers from different schools. Guiding them on this journey of self-discovery was Chance artist Darryl B. Hovis.
• Dogfight is nominated for 9 Robby Awards:
  • Best Musical Production
  • Best Director of a Musical – Matthew McCray
  • Best Actress in a Musical – Ashley Arlene Nelson
  • Best Supporting Actress – Kim Dalton
  • Best Musical Direction – Taylor Stephenson
  • Best Music & Lyrics – Benj Pasek & Justin Paul
  • Best Scenic Design – Christopher Scott Murillo
  • Best Lighting Design – KC Wilkerson
  • Best Sound Design – Ryan Brodkin
• Orange County Register named Seminar and A Chorus Line as two of the Top Productions of 2016
• StageSceneLA recognized the Chance with 21 Scenie Awards, including one of the Year’s Best Intimate Theaters and the Year’s Best Production (Musical) for A Chorus Line
• Los Angeles Times praised Dogfight, and the Chance, “Given its excellent record with musicals, classic and new, the Chance is just the company you’d want to stage [this area premiere].”
• Orange Curtain Review released their “Best of 2016” and two shows were named:
  • #1 Best Show – Dogfight
  • #4 Best Show – A Chorus Line
  • Best Director – Matthew McCray and Taylor Stephenson, Dogfight
  • Best Actress – Ashley Arlene Nelson, Dogfight
• Our production of Disney’s Beauty and The Beast attracted over 5,000 people in five days. Our partnership with Tustin Area Council for Fine Arts is the perfect union since they’re focused on making large-scale theater available for under $20, and free for kids!
• For the second year, we partnered with Arts Orange County and Veterans First on the Veterans Initiative in the Arts, producing an unforgettable evening of personal storytelling from a group of brave veterans. The performance, and the six-week workshop leading up to it, was skillfully coordinated once again by Chance resident artist Karen O’Hanlon.
• Our Broadway-themed open mic series, Ghost Light Vocal Jam, presented in collaboration with the over-the-moon talented Molly Mahoney, completed two years of providing a fun and safe place for people to find their “stage legs.”
• For the 5th year, our 24hr Chance-a-thon put community members in the spotlight. The two-day line-up included a gaggle of talented youngsters, a retiree sharing life stories, and a trio of mothers who perform once a year (only at the Chance-a-thon). The event engages our community in the art of theater and storytelling, for the people on and off the stage.
• Some of our best friends and artists shared a far out night at our gala, Chance-a-Go-Go. This mad, mod, 60’s inspired event, all in support of the Chance, was put together by an outstanding group of devoted volunteers, led by our very own groovy board member Georgia Well.
• A Chorus Line became the highest attended musical in our 18-year history.
• The Big Meal became the highest attended show ever presented on the Fyda-Mar Stage.