Shake It Out, Inc.

Our Mission

Shake It Out, Inc a 501(c)(3) non-profit is a tuition free summer theater program that seeks to empower female identifying teen girls from NYC based neighborhoods regardless of geographic location, socio-economic status, nationality and/or ethnic origin to explore storytelling through theater in a peaceful, supportive, fun and educational setting. Shake It Out, Inc. is founded on the premise that exploration through theatre arts is essential to youth development and contributes to the overall social and emotional well-being of young people.

Our Vision

Our vision is two-fold. First, our program is aimed at increasing literacy, writing skills, team building/communication skills, self-expression, and friendship through theatre. We believe our youth participants can engage their “theatre brain” as a way to gain much needed confidence that can often be lacking in adolescence. In addition, we believe we can use theater as a way to teach empathy. Learning empathy through theatre is essential to fostering self-awareness in young people. Empathy deepens understanding of text, allowing the young performer to connect to and internalize the emotional life of a character.

The second part of our vision is that we believe it is extremely valuable and important to expose participants the university experience as early as possible, especially at one that offers diverse academic programs, in-state tuition, and state of the art facilities. No teenager should feel their options for higher education are limited.

Founder and Program Director, Noreen Yarwood is a native of the Hudson Valley and has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theatre Performance from SUNY New Paltz. In 2007, Noreen received her masters degree in Theatre Education from Emerson College. After earning her graduate degree, Noreen began actively seeking opportunities to work with urban youth from underserved communities in Boston, MA. Additionally, she worked two summers as a teaching artist for Citi Performing Arts Center, a major theatre company in Boston. Funded by foundation grants, this program provided free theatre enrichment programming for middle school students throughout Boston. Noreen first taught as part of a year-long internship at the Boston Arts Academy (Boston’s public high school for the fine and performing arts). Noreen also worked for three years at Phoenix Charter Academy in Chelsea, MA serving students who were previously high school drop-outs, court-involved, teen parents, or not achieving in traditional public schools. For the past several years Noreen has taught at both an independent charter school and private alternative schools in Brooklyn, NY.