ABOUT | SOBRE

Changing young lives one play at a time    
Cambiando vidas jóvenes una obra a la vez

MAP’s young playwrights develop original plays that express their understanding and experience of the world, and we professionally produce those plays for public audiences. Our programs are tuition-free and always will be.​​ The Manton Avenue Project focuses our work on the nationally-recognized model of Creative Youth Development (CYD), defined as a "commitment to supporting young people’s stories, ideas, and dreams through creative expression and honoring their lived experience" (Creative Youth Development National Partnership). By respecting the brilliant ideas of historically/continuously marginalized young people, and presenting those ideas to public audiences, MAP cultivates our students' resilience and improves their self-efficacy, both indicators of Positive Youth Development that lead to long-term success in adulthood, including healthy relationships, community connections, and economic self-sufficiency. ​      

Los jóvenes dramaturgos de MAP desarrollan obras originales que expresan su comprensión y experiencia del mundo, y nosotros producimos profesionalmente esas obras para audiencias públicas. Nuestros programas son gratuitos y siempre lo serán. El Proyecto Manton Avenue centra nuestro trabajo en el modelo reconocido a nivel nacional de Desarrollo Juvenil Creativo (CYD), definido como un "compromiso de apoyar las historias, ideas y sueños de los jóvenes a través de la expresión creativa y honrando su experiencia vivida" (Creative Youth Development National Camaradería). Al respetar las ideas brillantes de los jóvenes históricamente/continuamente marginados y presentar esas ideas a audiencias públicas, MAP cultiva la resiliencia de nuestros estudiantes y mejora su autoeficacia, ambos indicadores del Desarrollo Juvenil Positivo que conducen al éxito a largo plazo en la edad adulta. incluyendo relaciones saludables, conexiones comunitarias y autosuficiencia económica.  

OUR STORY | NUESTRA HISTORIA

Founded by Jenny Peek in 2004, MAP has grown from a program of 10 young people to one who has served over 200. MAP has longstanding and meaningful partnerships with William D'Abate Elementary School, Olneyville Housing Corporation/ONE Neighborhood Builders, The Central Providence Health Equity Zone, the Providence Youth Arts Collaborative, the Brown/Trinity MFA Program, Mentor RI, the Rhode Island Council on the Arts, the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities, and more. With the help of over 500 grown-up artists, we’ve produced over 1000 plays written by over 200 Olneyville children. Each year we serve ten new 3rd graders, and up 70 young people aged 8-18.​

Fundado por Jenny Peek en 2004, MAP ha pasado de ser un programa de 10 jóvenes a uno que ha atendido a más de 200. MAP tiene asociaciones significativas y duraderas con la Escuela Primaria William D'Abate, Olneyville Housing Corporation/ONE Neighborhood Builders, The Central Providence Health Equity Zone, Providence Youth Arts Collaborative, Brown/Trinity MFA Program, Mentor RI, Rhode Island Council on the Arts, Rhode Island Council for the Humanities y más. Con la ayuda de más de 500 artistas adultos, hemos producido más de 1000 obras escritas por más de 200 niños de Olneyville. Cada año atendemos a diez nuevos estudiantes de tercer grado y hasta 70 jóvenes de entre 8 y 18 años.​

MEET THE TEAM | CONOCER AL EQUIPO


Icesiss Harris-Dixon, she/her

Co-Director, Development and Operations 

Icesiss has been part of MAP since she was in 3rd grade, first as a student playwright, then as an teen intern and now as one of the directors! With MAP, Icesiss has written plays, acted on stage, dramaturged and mentored younger playwrights. Her sisters have also grown up with MAP. She brings important expertise and knowledge to her new role. As co-director in charge of development and operations, Icesiss is managing donor relations and keeps the lights on at 

Meg Sullivan, she/her

Senior Co-Director, Partnerships and Productions

Meg came to MAP in 2011 as the first official Executive Artistic Director to fill the enormous shoes of Jenny Peek, MAP's founder. Meg oversaw the move into the MAP clubhouse and grew the programming to include middle and high school programs, a teen internship program, and Fun Fridays. Meg has built critical partnerships throughout her tenure, including with RIDOH/Central Providence Health Equity Zone, Rhode Island Latino Arts, the Brown/Trinity MFA program, The Wilbury Theatre Group, and more. Meg has participated in the United Way's Executive Directors' Leadership Circle, and the Rhode Island Foundation/Rhode Island Council for the Arts Advancing Cultural Equity cohort. Watch Meg's TedX talk here.  In addition to being an educator and non-profit arts administrator, Meg is also an award-winning performer. 

Nicole Maynard, she/her

Co-Director, Education and Programs 

Nicole has been part of MAP for almost 20 years. She started as a volunteer dramaturg and actor and then developed the Teen Voices program, which started in 2013. Nicole has graced the MAP stage dozens (if not hundreds) of times. Some of her favorite characters were the angry rabbit, the misunderstood shark, and a space monkey. Nicole has been the lead instructor for all the playwriting courses since 2018 and co-director since 2021. Nicole holds a theatre degree from Rhode Island College. Before coming to MAP full-time, Nicole was program director at Mt. Hope Learning Center. 

Victoria Rodriguez, she/they

Board Co-Chair

Victoria is a neurodivergent queer femme descendant of colonial Christian settlers, African Diaspora and Indigenous Maya. Born to the Southside of Providence and the proud child of immigrants from São Miguel & Guatemala, Victoria has evolved into an Intersectional Human and Environmental Rights Activist and Community Organizer. She has worked for a decade in direct service to RI’s most marginalized youth gaining access with a BA in Sociology from Albertus Magnus College. Having been a Crisis Interventionist, Academic Support Specialist, and STEAM Multilingual Program Coordinator she has met the young people of RI’s Urban Core exactly where they are. For the past four years Victoria has focused her activism as a Social Justice Facilitator using the power of story centered dialogue in her mission to reclaim and create access to a healthy quality of life, for all kin. In 2019 she co-founded Facilitate Change, a social justice facilitation and coaching organization dismantling systems of privilege and oppression through community organizing and dialogue based education. She believes that with a focus on individual storytelling we are better able to put our social justice work into practice daily. She currently serves as Co Founder & Change Facilitator for Facilitate Change.

Jenny Peek

Founder

After spending sixteen years working in theater, film and TV in New York City, Jenny Peek moved to Providence, RI to start the organization that became The Manton Avenue Project (a replication of The 52nd Street Project, her favorite NYC volunteer opportunity). 

During her time running MAP, Jenny was given a number of opportunities to speak about children and their inherent artistic abilities, including writing and recording an essay entitled “Creativity” for WRNI’s THIS I BELIEVE RHODE ISLAND (September 2009), participating in the TEDx Moses Brown event “Lives ThatSpeak” (“GANGSTER PIGS, FLYING MONKEYS AND A WHOLE LOTTA DOGS, what teaching playmaking to kids taught me”; April 2012) and serving twice as a panelist at her alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania (“Art and UrbanTransformation”, Alumni Weekend 2010 and “Children and the Performing Arts: Beyond the Mozart Effect”, Homecoming2012). She was named one of Providence Monthly Magazine’s “Ten People You Don’t Know Now But Should (And Who May Change the Face of Providence)” in 2007. Jenny has a BA in Physical Anthropology and is currently back in New York City working as a Broadway Company Manager. Founding The Manton Avenue Project and serving as its first Executive Artistic Director is and will always be the best thing she has ever done and she couldn’t be prouder of what it has become.