The Manton Avenue Project

OUR MISSION: Through playmaking, we unleash the unique potential and carve a path to success in the hearts of kids living in the Olneyville neighborhood by uniting them with professional theater artists and challenging them to create original theater.

OUR VISION: A founding principle of THE MANTON AVENUE PROJECT is the belief that all children are born with the potential to be their very best, do their very best and achieve maximum potential. It is opportunity, or rather the lack of it, that can prevent it from happening. And at a time in which public schools are experiencing the dissolution of the arts and arts programming from their curriculum, we are doing what we can to infuse art into the lives of children during their formative years and help them become tomorrow’s creative thinkers. MAP uses the creation of original theater to help young people find the value of their voice, work hard to achieve a goal (the finished play) and reap the rewards of that hard work, namely the applause and cheers of the audiences and a sense of real accomplishment. The children experience successes that we believe can be transferred to other aspects of their lives and, by engaging the MAP students in our programming for multiple years, we reinforce and re-reinforce their sense of self and self-empowerment.