he MAD* Factory was founded in 1990 with the help of seed money from interested community people who were concerned about the number of children in Oberlin not engaged in meaningful summer activities.

Oberlin has per capita more people below the poverty level than any community in Lorain County. The first summer MAD* offered a theater and related arts curriculum and attracted 90 children, ages 6-18. The students scripted their own show drawing on experiences written in journals they kept throughout the four-week session.

Although conceived as a summer program, enthusiasm for continued programming has led to the creation of classes offered throughout the year. MAD* seeks to use the arts to create a different perspective on learning for students who have had difficulty in traditional classroom settings. Care is taken to provide ethnic and gender role models.

Nearly 3/4 of the children who attend-classes receive full scholarships, 50% are African American. Now a county-wide organization, MAD* has served more than 2000 children, 76% of therefrom "at risk" situations. Our students come from 13 cities in Lorain County as well as from Huron, Medina and Cuyahoga counties.

HIGHLIGHTS AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS
2007-2008 • 2006-2007 • 2004-2005

PUBLIC SCHOOL COLLABORATIONS
In 1993-94, the MAD* FACTORY worked with the Oberlin Public Schools to implement a multi-cultural curriculum implant based on Brian Lanker's book, I Dream a World: 75 Black Women Who Changed America. Our task was to use the arts to bring the stories of these women's accomplishments to each area of the curriculum. The Learning Alive program in the Oberlin Schools which enriches the middle school curriculum through arts related learning, was inspired, in part, by this effort. In 1999 the MAD* Factory began a new collaboration with the Lorain Public Schools. Summer programming -offered at Whittier Junior High included African Dance and Drumming. After School programming in the fall will continue these courses as well as adding drama and improvisational theater classes. We have also been invited to offer courses at Franklin Elementary School in Elyria as a part of their after school arts enrichment program.


THE MAD* PASS
Through the creation of the MAD* PASS in 1995, a card given to all MAD* class participants that allows them to take a friend for free to any theater, music, dance or guest artist event at Oberlin College, we have established a "user friendly" link between college and community. The passes are also available for teachers in the public schools to use as rewards for their students.


MAD* ABOUT THE PARK
In an effort to engage children whose families do not have a tradition of seeking enrichment activities in summer programming, we established MAD* ABOUT THE PARK in the summer of 1996. For four weeks we offer arts programming in Oberlin's Spring Street park. This park is located in the center of an area of low income housing. Our park program uses the arts to teach respect, a work ethic, and endeavors to help the children strengthen their sense of self and community. We provide ethnic and gender role models and a nutritious snack as well. The program is free, supported by grants, donations and the City of Oberlin. 25 children a day participate in this program. Field trips are taken once a week. In the summer of 1999 the children took their first out-of-Oberlin trip. They visited the Cleveland Art Museum, where they toured the African and pre-Colombian galleries as well as the armor court and the modern collection. Thanks to a donation from the Christ Church (Oberlin) Mission Endowment Fund, they also had lunch at McDonalds.

HIGHLIGHTS AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS 2007-2008

June 2007

• Began rehearsals for summer production, Once Upon a Mattress with a cast and crew of 33 students, counselors, and community members.
• Teen Camp, comprised of the Once Upon a Mattress cast and crew, worked to create commercials for publicity of the production, which aired on several television networks within the county.
• "It's Greek to Me" themed MAD* Camp began in June and ran for three weeks. Campers worked on scripted pieces and created their own mythological creatures.

July 6, 2007

• MAD* Camp had its final performance at The New Union Center for the Arts. The performance consisted of selections from "Aesop's Fables Deluxe," excerpts from "The Fabulous Fable Factory," and the MAD* Factory original "Oedipus Wrecks," and was well received by family and friends!

July 27-29 & August 3-5, 2007

• The MAD* Factory Players presented Once Upon a Mattress at Oberlin High School.

August 3, 2007

• The MAD* Factory held its fourth annual Benefit Dinner at Oberlin High School. Tickets included a BBQ rib and chicken dinner and the evening's performance of Once Upon a Mattress. Proceeds from the dinner went to providing scholarships for The MAD* Factory.

August 4, 2007

• Participated in Oberlin's Family Fun Fair with performances of several songs from "Once Upon a Mattress".

HIGHLIGHTS AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS 2006-2007

Summer 2006

• Began rehearsals for "Just So" based on the tales of Rudyard Kipling.
• Held Teen camp, a week long intensive theatre camp, where all of the music for the show was learned and commercials were created to publicize the show. Our commercials were shown for the first time at the Bike-In Movies on Tappan Square.
• Held Mini MAD* Camp for children ages 4 & 5 which was themed around the stories of Eric Carle. In addition to basic improv exercises the campers created props, costume pieces and musical instuments to help them embellish each day's tale.
• Held MAD* About the Park Camp in Oberlin's Spring Street Park. Campers experienced a sampling of life in a traditional african village which included crafts, games, songs and dances.
• The 16th Annual MAD* Camp Show took place on Friday, July 14th featuring our young performers ages 6-12. The youngest campers performed 3 skits that they created during the 3 weeks of camp by the campers themselves. The skits grew out of our popular one-word-story exercise and were titled Freckles Goes to School, Rain On Me and Freckles Goes to the Circus With His Cousin. The older group performed a 3 Act scripted piece titled Squeak and Maiow by L.E. McCullough.
• Our summer musical, "Just So" was performed at Oberlin High School July 21-23 & 28-30. "Just So" opens at the beginning of time as the Eldest Magician discovers that all the animals look alike. He sends them off on a quest to find their individual traits. Pau Amma, the Crab, scoffs at the idea and becomes a menace to all, wreaking havoc with the sea. Believing Pau Amma will stop if simply asked, the Elephant's Child sets off to find him with the reluctant help of a flightless Kolokolo Bird. Along their journey, these two innocents help others like the Elephant, the Leopard, and the Rhinoceros discover their true selves, until the moment comes when the Elephant's Child must face the giant Crab. The performance featured our teen actors as well as our summer camp couselors and included 23 musical numbers!!!
• On July 29th we held our 3rd Annual benefit dinner which was attended by 50 patrons.

Fall 2006

• The fall semester got off to a great start with both our regular classes and 3 different outreach locations! Courses offerings included Silly Songs and Stories(4 & 5 yr. olds), Holiday Traditions(6-8 yr. olds), Radio Plays for Intermediate Actors(9-12 yr. olds), Teen Acting Monologue Workshop and the ever-popular Comedy Improv(9-18 yr. olds). Outreach activities are being held at Save Our Children in Elyria, The Rainbow Room after-school students at Oberlin Early Childhood Center and new this fall at the Linden School in Elyria providing an intergenerational program with students that are 3-4 years old and their "Grandfriends" who are residents of the retirement community.
• Organized and hosted Halloween Open House at the New Union Center for the Arts which was a free event open to all families. Activities included a haunted puppet theatre, horrorgami, pumpkin carving, story theatre, monster hands and a live performance of "Frankenstein's Day Out".
• On December 8, 2006, we participated in Save Our Children Talent Show featuring the Teen Youth Council performing several improv exercises that we worked on during the semester.
• Held final performances at Oberlin Early Childhood Center for families of the OECC students.
• Held final performances for Teen Monologue Workshop at the Cat in the Cream. Students performed monologues that they wrote for each other and for themselves.
• Performed "Snow...sort of...White" live on the air at WOBC radio station. The performance also featured two commercials that the students wrote themselves.
• Held final performance for comedy improv at Oberlin Public Library.

Winter 2007

• Held first MAD* Factory Benefit Cabaret featuring songs of friendship at the Cat in the Cream on January 26 + 27.
• Performed "Bunnicula" at 5 different locations throughout Lorain County. These admission-free performances were attended by more than 700 people.

Spring 2007

• Began spring classes with offerings of Dinosaur story theatre for 4&5 year olds, Putting on a Play for 6-8 yr. olds, Puppeteering workshop for 9-19, Long-form comedy improv for teens and an extended intermediate improv class.
• Began outreach at Save Our Children working on a production of "Snow...sort of...White", The Oberlin Early Childhood Center working on playwriting for final showcase, the Linden School Dinosaur storiy theatre.
• May 5, 2007 Puppet Class participated in Oberlin's Big Parade with two performances of "If I Ran the Circus".
• May 8, 2007 Held final performance for Young Actor's Class. Students presented the plays that they created, "Gilbert the Scuba Diver" and "The Three Flying Monsters Meet a Monkey and a Two-Headed Cobra", for family and friends.
• May 9, 2007 Held final puppet class performance of "If I Ran the Circus" at Oberlin Public Library. This semester we have experimented with many different forms of puppetry, including using our bodies as puppets, paper bag puppets, shadow puppets, found puppets, and hand puppets. All of the puppets in our show this were designed and created by the students and instructors in the class. Each person created their own personal hand puppet, and small groups designed and created several "super puppets" to perform specific tasks.
• May 10, 2007 held final performance for both Improv classes at the New Union Center for the Arts for family, friends and the community.

HIGHLIGHTS AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS 2004~2005

During the past twelve months The MAD* Factory has been host to many wonderful events! We have served over 500 children between the ages of 3-19 (of this population 53% received scholarship assistance with 71% of these scholarships awarded to African American students who make up over 50% of our student population) and have produced three major performances that were attended by over 2,000 community members free of charge!!! Here are a few of the highlights:

June 2004
* Began rehearsals for summer production of "FOOTLOOSE" with a cast and crew of 41students, counselors, professionals and volunteers.

*Teen camp filled up with 19 campers who worked with musical directors Jessica Andrews and Wendy Johnson on learning the music and with choreographer Karla Dionne Victum on learning the choreography for the show. In addition, campers created their own commercials for publicity, which aired on several local cable stations including Oberlin, Wellington, and Adelphia cable.

*MAD* About the Park filled up with an enthusiastic bunch of campers who learned African beading and drumming.

*The MAD* Factory participated in Oberlin's Juneteenth celebration in Tappan Square with an interactive booth creating paper bag costumes and paper plate masks.

July 2004
*Mini-MAD* Camp for ages 4 & 5 filled up with little campers who acted out tales of princesses, princes, and dragons.

*MAD* camp went MAD*ly Medieval this year, filling up with a whopping 45 campers who worked on creating their own Coat of Arms and Medieval-themed skits performed at The MAD* Medieval Faire in the 3rd floor dance studio of the New Union Center for the Arts for family and friends.

* July 23 ~ August 1: The MAD* Factory Players presented "FOOTLOOSE" at the Oberlin High School Auditorium to a filled house each performance!

*On July 30, The MAD* Factory held it's first annual Benefit Dinner at Oberlin High School. Tickets included a BBQ Rib and Chicken dinner and the evening's performance of "FOOTLOOSE." Proceeds from the dinner went towards providing scholarships and outreach programming for The MAD* Factory. This was a very successful first attempt at an annual fundraising dinner for The MAD* Factory.

August 2004
*Collaborated with Firelands Association for the Visual Arts to offer a two week Movie Makers camp for students ages 8-13.

September 2004
*The MAD* Factory hosted a workshop for a Norwalk-based Girl Scout Troupe of 25 3rd graders. The troupe earned their "Pretend" badge by participating in a variety of acting and improvisational exercises and games.

Fall 2004
*Fall semester began with class offerings in Radio Plays, Comedy Improv Troupe, Young Actors~Beginning Improv, Young MAD*~Legends of Heroes and Heroines, Intermediate Actors~Putting on a Play, and African Drumming and dancing.

October 2004
*Began outreach to Southview High School students in Lorain working to create a rhythmic drumming and dance performance with spoken word as an anti-smoking campaign for a community service project with Project Grad Lorain.

*Attended Ohio Arts Council seminar.

*On October 30, The New Union Center for the Arts held it's annual Halloween Open House. The building was decorated in festive Halloween garb. Activities included pumpkin carving, face painting, mask making, storytelling, refreshments and our infamous haunted elevator. The Open House was open to the public and was free of charge.

November 2004
*Attended Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland’s 4th Annual Non-Profit Leadership seminar featuring Andy Goodman's presentation, "Storytelling as Best Practice."

*Attended "Carson, Lizzie and Maggie Do Oberlin," a musical revue performance by three Oberlin College Theatre students at the Cat in the Cream Coffeehouse to benefit The MAD* Factory. Attendance was great and donations were generous.

*Radio Plays Class went on a field trip to local college and community radio station, WOBC, to sit-in on the broadcast of "The Dead Hear Footsteps," a college-run radio noir drama.

December 2004
* Held auditions for our Winter Production, "The Stinky Cheese Man and other Fair(l)y (stoopid) Tales

* December 6: Radio Plays Class spent one hour on the air at WOBC 91.5FM, Oberlin's College and Town Radio Station, playing pre-recorded projects and skits worked on over the course of the class.

* December 7: Attended The Community Foundation of Greater Lorain County Grant writing session at the West River Branch of the Elyria Public Library.

* December 10: The Comedy Improv Troupe class had a final showcase for family and friends at The New Union Center for the Arts

* December 13: The Radio Plays class performed their final Radio Drama, "The Devil's Manuscript" by John Dickson Carr live on WOBC, 91.5 FM.

* December 15: The Intermediate Actors Putting on a Play class had their final performance for family and friends at The MAD* Factory