Eastern Sierra Arts Alliance
Mammoth Lakes Repertory Theatre
Mammoth Lakes Film Festival
End of Year Report
We’re making an impact with your support!
While other theatres around the country are closing we were able to continue our Covid comeback because of donors like you. Audience numbers may be below pre-pandemic levels, we are pleased to see increases in our turnout.
Please read our newsletter and if you can, make a donation. Together we will make sure that the arts and all the advantages it brings to our community, especially our youth, will continue.
Or if you would like to send a check please send your donation to:
Eastern Sierra Arts Alliance P.O. Box 100 PMB 190 Mammoth Lakes, CA 93546
“The arts are fundamental to our humanity. They ennoble and inspire us—fostering creativity, empathy, and beauty. The arts also strengthen our communities socially, educationally, and economically…” – Americans for the Arts
Theatre for Young Audiences (TYA) continues to engage and educate!
This Fall, from Oct 18-24th, we presented 13 performances of Hare and Tortoise to almost 1,200 Elementary School students. School busses from Bishop, Lee Vining, Bridgeport, and Benton arrived at the theatre along with Mammoth Elementary students walking over to the theatre. We provide this theatre experience annually and free of charge to all Inyo and Mono county schools, including home-school students. This adaptation of the classic fable featured numerous life lessons including a theatre etiquette speech before the show. An educators resource guide was provided to all teachers to incorporate into classroom exercises and discussions to assist students to cultivate their critical and creative thinking skills. We received over 50 thank you cards from the students, see a couple samples below.
“Dear Actors Thank you so much for the play! It was so fun! I wish I could see a play from the Edison theater everyday!”
Your 5th grade friend, Devon
“Dear tortoise and hare actors, thank you for an amazing show it was funny and sweet. I really loved the songs I still remember all of them. I also loved when the seasons changed that was my favorite.”
From, Isabella 5th grade
A New Season!
This season we started off with a bang! Six events so far! Three in October alone!!!
The 2023-2024 season opened this summer at the Mammoth Shakespeare Festival with the presentation of the classic tragedy – HAMLET.
For the thirteenth summer in a row we presented The Tempest through our annual Shakespeare Kids Camp, thanks to a special private donor! Eighteen campers from the ages of 6 to 16 participated.
Staying true to our mission of providing creative support to other arts organizations in the area, we partnered with Playhouse 395 in Bishop this October to present Country Classic Hits. The Mammoth performance was the final performance at the Edison Theatre before renovations start for the bigger and better 250 seat theatre (coming soon).
The 4th Eastern Sierra Mountain Film Festival screened in Mammoth Lakes and Bishop Oct. 4-7 with our opening film Bad Press hot from the Sundance Film Festival. We had engaging and interesting Q&A’s at many of the screenings.
In Dec. we are offering a free video production workshop for high school and Cerro Coso college students. It is being taught by ESAA Board member Nick Kitinski, a film industry professional for over 20 years. This is an opportunity for our local young adults to get a glimpse into how to work in the professional film world, by learning camera work and video editing.
Then in February we are excited to bring the hilarious comedy Clue, inspired by the classic board game and 1970’s cult classic comedy film to Mammoth Lakes.
New Teen Theatre Programming
Last season we created a teen theatre program for the first time, with a production of a play performed by all high school students, The teens performed the Pulitzer Prize nominated play The Wolves to packed audiences. They worked after school and experienced an adult rehearsal process in a true adult experience that exposed them to what it is like to be in a professional play. This year we are choosing to do a teen version of the The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, adapted from the popular novel. We will team up with Mammoth High School to continue this program and hopefully get a drama program officially back into the curriculum some time soon.
MLFF Celebrates Year 10!
We celebrate year 10 at the Mammoth Lakes Film Festival May 22-26, 2024. As we prepare for our 10th annual festival, we pride ourselves on maintaining our commitment to put filmmakers first. We have continued to keep our programming diverse and innovative; we are committed to taking chances on films that might not fit the norm, highlighting works that show a specific, unique voice and take risks in both style and storytelling. At last year’s Academy Awards our opening night film Fire of Love was nominated for Best Documentary Feature and the 11 award-winning filmmakers of Everything, Everywhere All At Once were Alumni of the 2015 inaugural Mammoth Lakes Film Festival. We are so proud of our Director of Programming who truly has the ability to see talent in our filmmakers and identify those who are going on to big careers in the industry. You saw them at Mammoth Lakes Film Festival first!!!
A review from a MLFF 2023 Alum
“MLFF is one of the best film festivals I’ve ever attended. Friendly, laidback vibes and very supportive of artists. Exceptional curation and diverse programming, highlighting many films that push the boundaries of conventional form.”
— MLFF 2023 Filmmaker
It is an exciting time with Edison renovations beginning. We can’t wait to plan the opening season for when the 250-seat theatre opens. Until then we are committed to keeping theatre alive by staying creative and finding new venues in which to perform. We are up for the challenge and hope you will support us being innovative in our efforts to keep the arts alive for all ages throughout the Eastern Sierra – for residents and visitors alike.
Thank you for your support,
Shira Dubrovner – Executive Director
Juliana Olinka Jones – ESAA Board President
Nick Kitinski – ESAA Board Vice President
Jo Bacon – ESAA Board Secretary/Treasurer
