#the12thannualyoungaristproject

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The cast completed the dreaded Midnight to 8am rehearsal. Check out some photos of their performance that they showed producer, Steve Cisneros. Will they stick with their original story and try to make it work? Or will they scrap everything and start over? Keep checking in to see what’s happening with the Young Artist Project 2018!

Midnight to 8AM Behind the Scenes video coming soon!

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Meet the Cast of the 2018 Young Artist Project!

Celeste Butler

Age: 21

Celeste Butler is a Los Angeles-based creative visionary, with a passion for community and culture. As a firm believer in the goodness that exists within humanity, her alluring vocals and impactful lyrics illuminate stages worldwide reminding listeners that they possess everything needed to change the world. While she is a new and exciting find for most, she has already performed at legendary venues like the Hollywood Bowl, Staples Center, and Copley Symphony Hall - combining multidisciplinary and multimedia art with an electrifying stage presence. ​In addition to her talent, the pride she holds for her moral foundation has solidified her presence as an example of work ethic, class, and grace not only for her counterparts, but for people from all walks of life.  This young entertainer, entrepreneur, and advocate has been on a surefire track to global success since she was 10-years old. From writing and recording original songs into her RockBand microphone, to lining up her dolls for motivational speeches, to creating youth programs for other Military children - artistic reinforcement of unity and hope has always been the foundation. Fast-forward a decade, adding theater awards, televised vocal competitions, and performances with Grammy-Award winners like Chaka Khan and Esperanza Spalding, and it’s easy to see why Celeste is such a force to be reckoned with.  Sonically, Celeste is heavily influenced by her gospel roots, yet transitions easily between R&B, Funk, Hip-Hop, EDM, and Pop. Her musical exploration of these diverse genres is coupled with a rigorous collegiate music education. This results in a performance experience that is not only overflowing with soul but lush with technical complexity and precision that is rarely encountered. While a number of songs tackle heavy subject matter, there is an ever-present vocalization of hope floating in the ambition to change the world for the better.  At the very core, Celeste is an innovator and visionary who is willing to take the extra steps necessary to open doors for future artists, women, and youth. While in high school, Celeste founded an online entertainment and lifestyle Radio Show called “Xquisite”, that covered the latest in entertainment news and featured special guests. These broadcasts went on to open doors for her guests, typically between the ages of 14-25, to secure placement on major radio shows, national news stations, and international print media.​ In 2014, Celeste was 1 of 25 freshmen accepted into the University of Southern California’s (USC) Popular Music Program. She became an advocate for arts and culture on campus right away, co-originating the role of Black Student Assembly’s Creative Experience Director and co-coordinating the Performing Arts Committee’s Artist Network. In these roles she passionately worked to cultivate a strong sense of community among student artists, increase cultural awareness, and dispel stereotypes on-campus through art.  While at USC, Celeste has been able to perform for prestigious events such as the Scripter Awards, New Student Convocation, Widney Donor Gala, and many others. ​Her talents have also led her to perform on stages worldwide. In 2015, Celeste was invited to perform at the first ever International Song Festival, held in Yeoju, South Korea, as a representative of the United States. There she shared a stage with young artists from Cameroon, China, France, Malaysia, Britain, and Korea, and was awarded for her inspired rendition of “Electric Lady” by Janelle Monae. The following year, Celeste performed in the New York premiere of concert “Straight to the Heart” - a show that brought together ​“a new generation of gifted voices with celebrity artists to deliver messages of hope and optimism during troubled times, featuring talent from USA, Canada, Turkey, Iran, and Lebanon.” Playing alongside legendary musicians such as Tarikq Akoni (Stevie Wonder, JLO, Josh Groban), Kenny Arnoff (Celine Dion, Avril Lavigne), and Bob Malone (John Fogerty, Al Green), Celeste later performed in the West Coast premiere at the Saban Theater in Hollywood.  As an actress, ​her most recent works include acting in an award-winning satirical short film entitled “Tokenism”, a web-series pilot entitled “Haven”, and a live Theater of the Oppressed piece entitled “Radical Fictions: A Seat at the Table” that debuted at the California African American Museum. She was also given the opportunity to co-create, and perform in, a devised theater piece entitled “Upspoken”, created in collaboration with the California Wellness Foundation. ​The focus of her latest projects have centered on the ideals of inner beauty and confidence, as she strives to help each individual recognize the light that they hold inside. As a result, she has been given opportunities to partner with Los Angeles-based organizations such as Chosen Queens, Women’s Room LA, Black Business Women Rock, Reed for Hope, and many others. Celeste just graduated with her Bachelors of Music from the University of Southern California (USC), and is currently working on a full-length music project, developing an entertainment and fashion company, and preparing to start her Masters of Arts Leadership degree at USC. You can find her on stage singing with Bonnie Fosters Productions throughout the year, and on Bob Malone’s China Tour in the Fall.

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Another year, Another Young Artist Project!! Introducing the Cast of The 2018 Young Artist Project, our smallest case yet! Will that help them? Will that hurt them?

Check in everyday for the next 2 weeks and see an inside scoop to what these Artists are creating. The show is August 4th, 2018 at 1pm. You won’t want to miss it.

https://www.facebook.com/events/671994629661214/

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2018 Blog - Day 9

MIDNIGHT TO 8AM REHEARSAL

Wow. What a night...into day. Midnight rehearsal was definitely a unique experience. We planned to meet at 8PM last night so that we could put final touches on the script and songs before we started the blocking. We were confident we would have enough time to at least have a presentable show by 4AM, when the actual “green light” run through would begin; and were hopeful that the show would be received as more than just presentable. However, as we started going through the script and songs one final time, it became apparent that there were numerous changes to be made. Each small change effected another, and before we knew it the dominoes were falling and we were stuck standing them back up. By the time 1AM rolled around we were just about to do our first ever read through. An hour later, though we were pleased by the script, we were two hours away from presentation time and had no blocking or transitions, nothing memorized, and were still a little shaky with a few of the songs.

For the first time, slight panic began to set in. Time was an unavoidable cloud, and we needed to accomplish much more than we would be realistically able to in 2 hours. So we weighed our options and tried to decide what the best, and most effective course of action would be in order to have a cohesive body of work to show. The content wasn’t necessarily the issue, it was more so the pieces that would serve as connective tissue between each individual scene/song. We had dedicated so much time to building up the scenes and creating the songs, that we hadn’t paid much attention to the spaces in between. While this could’ve been easily resolved if we were all familiar with the overarching show, we were all experts on our individual story lines and were still learning the rest of the show.

This was a standout point as well, as we started to figure out what characters we had to double up as within each other’s storylines. There was clear disconnect in the performance of specific scenes due to this unfamiliarity of purpose and objective, just from a pure acting standpoint. We tried to combat this by agreeing to give short summaries before busy scenes that would require additional understanding. We were also able to talk through the blocking ideas that each person had for their scenes, which allowed us a peek into what they had envisioned. Even with all of these solutions, however, we were still a little hesitant with what we would be able to convey. We were worried about getting our concept across clearly, and doing the wonderful story we had created justice. There wasn’t much time to sit in these thoughts though, because it was time.

Steve came in and we gave an overall synopsis of the show, before diving right in. There were moments when we had to stop and explain things, and the transitions were a little long because there was only four of us handling objects we were planning to have flown in, but overall things ran smoothly and we were relieved to get all the way through the show for the first time. Steve’s expressions and body language had remained nondescript during the run through so we truly had no idea what to expect with his comments. We all knew that there would be things that we would have to adjust and strengthen, but believed that the show as a whole could be understood and enjoyed. Finally, he began with his notes.

Most of the suggestions and points were expected, which in a sense was encouraging because it meant that we were on the right track along the lines of how we were going about critique. However, it was discouraging for some, knowing that we had tried to overcome and work out the posed problems already and weren’t successful. The biggest point was that there were too many main characters. Steve pointed out that we fell into a cycle of presenting one character, following them on their journey, but then yanking them away just as the audience fell in love with them. The result would be an audience that struggles with feeling curious and abandonment between characters and stories. We knew this might be a problem, but thought we had addressed it through writing and delivery tactics. I think it still could've worked if we had the time to develop it more and figure out way to have clear, but unforced, overlapping of worlds. But unfortunately, time is a factor and Steve encouraged us to be open to starting from scratch. THE DREADED, YET INFAMOUS, WORDS...that we decided to take him up on. So after 144+ hours, over 100 pages of show content, clear goals, and a firm vision, we will be starting from square one again. Yay!...?

We need time to process, rejuvenate, and start brainstorming again so we’ve decided to take the rest of today to ourselves and to come in ready to write a full show and multiple songs tomorrow! While our original art piece has been washed away, sometimes a blank canvas is the most energizing and inspiring thing. We are artists who live for this creative process, and are fueled by the chance to prove to ourselves, and to each other, that we can do this.

Written by: Celeste Butler