Mission Statement:  

Kidz Konnection is a youth theater company dedicated to educating youth in the performing arts and multi-media for the purpose of cultivating self-empowerment and leadership skills that will develop strong community-serving leaders of the future.

About:

Laura Attanasio has over 20 years of experience teaching theatre to young people in non-profit agencies that include the YMCA and public schools in Minnesota, New York, and Connecticut.

After graduating from New York University's, Tisch School of the Arts, Laura moved toMinnesota where she began employing her passion for theater as a means to fundamentally alter negative pre-conceptions of individuals not accepted into the mainstream of society.

Co-Founder of Interact Theater Company, Minneapolis, MN, Laura developed successful strategies integrating adults with developmental disabilities into professional, critically-acclaimed performance opportunities.

Laura then applied similar strategies when working with young people and created programming that was disseminated throughout Minnesota to cultivate self-empowerment and leadership skills among at-risk and vulnerable youth.  Laura's custom curriculum incorporates literature, history, and world affairs into stimulating movement-based theater designed to encourage our youth to prosper in school.

Laura moved to Connecticut in 1995, co-directing the Valley Regional High School musicals, located in Essex, Connecticut, for 3 years.  She also spent time in New York and regionally inConnecticut honing her skills as both an actor and director.

She has directed over 25 productions and performed both Off-Broadway and at New York's Annual Fringe Festival.  These efforts have helped to further enhance Laura's skills and technical approach to working with young people on interpersonal skills, character development, and mutual respect for all people.  Laura's career has been devoted to providing the arts as a tool to develop confident, community-serving leaders of the future.

In September, 2009, Laura accepted the position of Drama Teacher at the Worthington Hooker Middle School located on Whitney St. in New Haven, CT.  She is delighted to be working with youth grades 5 - 8 during the school day, doing what she loves, inspiring youth to become aspiring leaders of tomorrow.

Laura received "Person of the Week" in the Harbor News, April 2009.  Serving the towns of Clinton, Westbrook, and Old Saybrook with additional news coverage from Madison, Guilford and Branford, Laura was selected as a person of interest by the communities represented.

Teaching Drama, Leadership, and So Much MorePosted by Shore Publishing on Apr 30 2009, 11:50 AM Filed under: Clinton, KidzKonnection, Laura Attanasio By Fay Abrahamsson, Harbor News Senior Staff Writer: