LA’s Professional Children’s Theatre

Imagine Project Twitter – @_ImagineProject Facebook – @imagineprojectca Instagram – @imagineprojectca

info@imagineprojectca.com www.imagineprojectca.com

1201 N. Pacific Ave., Ste 204 Glendale, CA 91202 818.649.9474

Company Outline Board Service Information

Imagine Project is Los Angeles’ new and only Equity theatre dedicated entirely to producing programming for young audiences. IP is the second such theatre in California.

MISSION

Imagine Project strives to build an empathetic and inclusive society, across cultures, by immersing young people to theatre that celebrates gender equity, diversity, and civic engagement.

VISION The role of theatre is indispensable to shaping the way our children connect to each other and the rest of society. Through the stories we tell and the communal experience of theatre, we imagine a future guided by kind and courageous people who have the motivation and inner resources to use their success to make the world a better place.

COMMITMENT

• We promise to tell relevant stories that spotlight female heroes.

• We promise to champion kids, especially girls, and instill in them the courage to find their own voices.

• We promise to create experiences accessible to kids from all economic backgrounds.

• We promise to hire local artists and pay them real wages. • We promise to produce plays that are inclusive of stories

from LA’s diverse cultural diaspora. • We promise to be the vehicle for social change in a way that

only professional theatre can be.

HISTORY

Los Angeles is currently home to 2.3 million kids. Our company was born out of a need for professional, relevant, and empowering live storytelling for kids in Los Angeles County, and a commitment to valuing stage artists and their craft.

OPERATIONS

Imagine Project is proud to operate at the highest standards of professionalism, creating theatrical experiences by artists who are members of Actors’ Equity Association, Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, and United Scenic Artists - the national labor unions for stage artists.

Imagine Project is a 501(C)(3) non-profit theatre company and a member of TYA/USA.

Who We Are

This page provides an overview of IP strategy, focus, and commitment to those we serve. 100% of IP Board Members have annual giving participation.

IP Leadership & Board of Directors

Armina LaManna, IP Artistic Director

Alex Zonin, Business Owner, IP Chairman of the Board

Jack Megrabyan, Banker, IP Treasurer

Anne-Marie Osgood, Business Owner, IP Secretary

Monica Mitrani, Strategist

Richard Guest, Marketing VP

Immediate Goals

• Complete funding inaugural production and operations

• Expand Board of Directors to nine individuals

• Donor cultivation, planning, and support

• Build relationships with public and private schools

• Produce two shows per season, with each show touring to at least two districts within LA County

• Build civics-engagement through theatre workshops for third graders

IP Present & Future Focus

Five-Year Goals

• Move from project support to operational support

• Expand Board of Directors to fifteen individuals

• Establish summer camp for elementary school-age children

• Tour at least one production at the iPay Showcase in Philly

• Hold civics-engagement through theatre workshops for elementary school-age children

• Produce three shows per season, with each show touring to at least three districts within LA County

• Grow to operate with paid full-time and part-time staff

Ten-Year Goals

• Operate out of our own performance space - Imagine Project Flagship Theatre

• Transform IP governing board into a strategic board

• Establish an endowment to protect operational costs and employee salaries

• Tour at least one production to other states

• Hold civics-engagement through theatre workshops for elementary school-age children

• Produce four shows per season, with each show touring to at least three districts within LA County

IP Board Member Responsibilities

• Love and champion theatre, especially theatre for young audiences.

• Understand, support, and promote the artistic mission of Imagine Project.

• Represent the external world to IP, and IP to the external world.

• Be an advocate by serving as a positive networking agent between IP and the community.

• Make an annual personal contribution to IP of at least $1,000.

• Solicit at least $5,000 in donations annually.

• Prepare for, regularly attend, and actively participate in board meetings.

• Stay informed of our activities and attend events organized by IP.

• Introduce members of your personal and professional networks to IP in order to:

-Identify and cultivate board candidates and individual donors

-Help IP secure corporate sponsorships and institutional grants

-Participate in high-level cultivation calls, events, and “asks” with potential donors

• To disclose any conflict of interest and honor the confidentiality of board discussions.

• Commit to a three-year term.

IP Board Service

IP BOARD OF DIRECTORS Alex Zonin (Chairman) - Zonin started his acting career at the age of five in a Russian film called That Man We Call a Friend ("Tovarisch muzhchina"). His theatrical career began shortly after, when at the age of six he was writing, directing, producing, and acting in a Sci-fi play with his kindergarten friends. A few years later it evolved into the leading role of a kid in the play Nurse, sharing the stage of the Central Academic Theater of Russian Army in Moscow with N.I. Pastukhov and S.A.Sadkovskaya. His professional career in television and VFX postproduction began over two decades ago. A true renaissance man, Zonin went on to start his own advertising agency, and a web and media development company. Zonin holds a degree in Computer Graphics and Animation from the Russian State University of Cinematography.

Armina LaManna (IP Artistic Director) began her stage career at the age of six in the former USSR. Over the last three decades, LaManna has been directing, writing, stage managing, teaching, and acting in United States, Russia and Armenia. Directing credits: A Woman of No Importance at Sacred Fools, The Maids at ETC, Little Armenia at The Fountain Theatre, Fair at OC-Centric New Play Festival, Who’s Your Baghdaddy?, Red Light Winter and Pushkin at Boldino at The Chance Theatre’s On the Radar, We Wait at Moving Arts (Car Plays), Fast & Loose at Sacred Fools, The Caucasian Chalk Circle, A Lie of the Mind, The Zoo Story, Hello Out There at Temple Theatres in Philadelphia, Pushkin at Boldino at the Philly Fringe; also in LA - An Ideal Husband, A Marriage Proposal, Silenced and Heart in the Ground. LaManna wrote Pushkin at Boldino; translated & adapted Gogol’s The Government Inspector (for The Lantern Theatre), Strindberg’s The Ghost Sonata, Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard. LaManna is recipient of a Dramaturgy Grant from the Samuel S. Felt Fund; she is a member of AEA, SDC, and DG, and is an Adjunct Professor at the GCC Theatre Department. MFA in Directing from Temple University. www.arminalamanna.com

Jack Megrabyan (Treasurer) has been a leader in the banking industry for the past eighteen years. He is currently the Branch Manager of Umpqua Bank in Glendale, CA. In 2012, Megrabyan started a De Novo Branch in Glendale, CA for Opus Bank. As Branch Manager, Megrabyan successfully grew the branch to maturity. In this role, Jack was known for helping small & large local businesses grow and thrive. Megrabyan is a former Board Member and Treasurer of Caesura Youth Orchestra in Glendale, California where he successfully obtained multiple grants for funding projects for the Orchestra. Megrabyan recently joined California Bank and Trust as a Vice President, Relationship Banker in Pasadena, CA. In this role, Megrabyan builds intimate relationships with local businesses in order to best serve their financial needs with the vast resources offered by the California Bank and Trust. Megrabyan is an uncle to seven nieces & nephews, and is a father to twins – the joy of his life. As a father, Megrabyan knows firsthand the importance of developing young minds and that’s why he joined the IP Board. He is a graduate of University of Phoenix.

Anne-Marie Osgood (Secretary) is an Entrepreneur and Performing Artist with broad experience in multiple industries. She has been involved in theater for over forty years with an extensive career as a Dancer, Singer, Actor and Choreographer in New York, Los Angeles, regionally and abroad. She has performed on Broadway, in National Tours, appeared with several dance companies, and has choreographed over 50 corporate industrials. After moving to the West Coast, she reinvented herself and found success as a Host & Spokesmodel for such companies as Toyota, Nissan, Sprint, Leader Instruments, Kangen Water, Mattel and many others. Osgood is an advocate for the arts in education, and currently teaches Musical Theatre for the ArTES Magnet High School where she gets to live her passion everyday through her students. When she is not teaching, she is focused on her entrepreneurship and is busy building a successful home business as an independent distributor with Direct Cellars. She is also dedicated to mentoring business owners helping them grow their own companies. Osgood holds a BFA in Dance & Composition from University of Arts in Philadelphia, and received her teaching credential from Cal State LA.

Monica Mitrani has wide-ranging experience in consulting, business development and research that spans over twenty years. Mitrani has occupied senior roles as a strategy and research consultant, research director, moderator and coach at firms, such as TNS (now Kantar) and Culturati – focusing heavily on the U.S. Hispanic market. Earlier in her career, she was a consultant at Booz-Allen & Hamilton. Mitrani is currently looking to apply her years of experience to empower disenfranchised youth and women, and advance social justice causes worldwide. As part of this effort, she is currently attending the Executive Program in Social Impact Strategy at the University of Pennsylvania and is a Board Member for Amigos de Los Rios, a non-profit dedicated to the creation of a green infrastructure network of culturally meaningful parks and trails in Los Angeles to counteract effects of climate change. Born and raised in Colombia, she is fully bilingual and bicultural. Mitrani holds a Master of International Affairs from Columbia University and a B.S. in Business Administration from Babson College.

Richard Guest is a digitally native marketer with a passion for great advertising, which he appreciates almost as much as amazing restaurants (#foodie). He was a key member of the teams that developed “Exclusive the Rainbow”, Skittles’ 2018 Super Bowl campaign, which was recognized as the year’s most awarded advertising, and “Broadway the Rainbow”, Skittles’ 2019 Super Bowl effort. In July of 2018, he was appointed to the dual role as DDB’s Chief Digital Officer and an Executive Vice President, Global Business Director. Guest is tasked with building DDB's relationships with key technology partners - such as Amazon, Facebook, Google, Instagram, IBM, and Microsoft, as well as overseeing the Agency’s relationships with clients including AT&T, Mars Incorporated, and Unilever. Guest has also worked at Tribal Worldwide, J. Walter Thompson (Detroit), and comScore. He holds an M.B.A from Northwestern University, and a B.A. with Honors from Indiana University Bloomington.

Events, Performances, and Presentations

2017

&

2018 Open Arts & Music Fest

Imagine Project proudly supports local institutions

Photos from the Re-opening Gala of the

Central Public Library in Glendale, CA.

Preliminary Set Design by Tom Buderwitz; note the screens used for multi-media production elements.

The productions of our inaugural season will be presented by actors and Bunraku-inspired puppets. The physical world of the play will be realized in part by video-projections creating a multi-media experience. Our 2019/2020 season will open at The Colony Theatre on November 7, 2019.

All our shows are designed to tour around professional mid-size venues in LA County (and beyond). IP shows are open to the general public on evenings and weekends, and to students and educators at matinees during school hours. The production will have a two-week run at The Colony Theatre and then move to The Madrid Theatre for three more days of performances.

INAUGURAL SEASON Image (left): artwork for the FALL 2019 production of The Tale of Turandot Image (right): artwork for the SPRING 2020 production - Anahit the Brave