Today we’d like to introduce you to Adam Kalesperis and Joe Quintero.
B.R.I.D.G.E began as an outgrowth of a dream hatched by Joe Quintero to foster artistic communion on an international scale. Joe was raised in two households – one in Ecuador and one in New Jersey. Years later, after recognizing the profound impact that sharing your story can have on the world, he aimed to bring the storytelling methodology he learned as a teaching artist to the world at-large. Joining forces with fellow teaching artist and arts entrepreneur Adam Kalesperis, they created B.R.I.D.G.E Theatre Project as an organization whose vision is to use the arts as a healing modality for children and communities across cultures.
Milagro, Ecuador was their first global program destination, following a playwriting program for kids in Los Angeles. The Ecuadorian students brought the young Angeleños’ plays to life, in Spanish, and shared their own artistic work, as well as cultural songs and dances, with their peers in Los Angeles via video. Stories written by the Ecuadorian students were then performed by children in Kathmandu, Nepal. Years later, B.R.I.D.G.E traveled to Rwanda to participate in the Ubumuntu Arts Festival in Kigali. Plays written by kids from all the countries B.R.I.D.G.E had visited were performed there for an international audience of over 1,500 people. The following summer, B.R.I.D.G.E was sponsored by the U.S. Embassy to bring abroad two student ambassadors who were part of their U.S.-based programming in Lynwood to perform with their Rwandan peers in the festival.
Every year, B.R.I.D.G.E Theatre Project serves over 500 students (grades four and up) in Lynwood, California alone. To date, B.R.I.D.G.E has produced over 150 plays – all written and performed by kids in the L.A. area and around the globe. Through this work, we believe that children who share their voice can and will change the world for the better.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
AK: It seems strange to say, but for the most part it has been smooth. Don’t get me wrong, though- “smooth” doesn’t mean “easy.” A lot of work and difficult decisions have been par for the course (as with any business), but we’ve never questioned what we have to do to make B.R.I.D.G.E a success. It may sound “hokey-pokey” but we feel very much like we have been guided by something greater than ourselves. Starting B.R.I.D.G.E in the first place sort of dropped into our brains like a seed falling from a tree. And we’ve just been doing our part to water it and give it enough sunlight to grow and grow and grow as it will. It’s been, I imagine, like watching your kid grow up. You just do your best to nurture it and not get in the way of that creation becoming something phenomenal.
JQ: I agree with Adam and often say that the work has been “effortless” in that regard, but that’s not to say we haven’t had to work six or seven days a week sometimes. It’s our passion, though, so we do it all with pride. The challenge is that for so long it has been just the two of us, and it still is on the admin end. It would be great if we had some additional staff helping us out at the office to round out the work that Adam and I do. We’d love to be in a place where we have the capacity and manageability to offer our programs to even more kids in other local school districts, as well as globally.
We’d love to hear more about your organization.
AK: We are a company that believes storytelling, and specifically original theatre by young people, is a conduit for change and a more peaceful global society. We specialize in producing playwriting and acting programs for children in communities all around the globe, and I believe that’s what sets us apart from any other youth theatre education company.
JQ: We offer a platform for kids to express what’s important to them, and with B.R.I.D.G.E they get to share their original work with other kids across the globe. In doing so, kids are learning from one another what makes them unique, but also, more importantly, they’re learning how similar we all are to one another.
What were you like growing up?
AK: I always loved performing. As a kid, I would put on productions in my parents’ living room and play original songs, dance, and of course, perform my own stories. It’s how I expressed myself, and later it was how I coped with the challenges of life. As I grew older, I wanted to be of service to others and help them express themselves in positive ways, so I joined a company when I was a freshman in high school called Operation Snowball, which was a peace-building bi-annual camp retreat for high school students. I was on their teen staff and found in that process a skill I possessed for peace-building and conflict resolution within a community setting. That, along with my artistry, carried me into what I’m doing now with B.R.I.D.G.E.
JQ: Growing up on two continents, with family in Ecuador and New Jersey, I was raised in two culturally diverse environments. I learned at a very young age how to navigate different worlds by identifying common threads, and through these formative experiences I was inspired to facilitate the exchange of ideas between different cultures. Later on, while training as an actor in New York, I was asked to perform a play written by a ten-year-old child. I caught a gleam in his eyes as I witnessed the impact his story had on the audience. That moment stuck with me, and it planted the seed that would eventually become B.R.I.D.G.E Theatre Project.
Pricing:
- Help our cause: Please donate by visiting www.bridgetheatre.org and click on “donate.”
Contact Info:
- Website: www.bridgetheatre.org
- Phone: 213-810-3143
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/bridgetheatreproject
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/bridgetheatre
- Twitter: twitter.com/bridge_theatre
- Other: youtube.com/user/bridgetheatre
Image Credit:
Taso Papadakis
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