The Shoreline Theater Academy, Kidz Konnection, is a youth theater company started in 2006. We are dedicated to educating youth in the performing arts for the purpose of cultivating self-empowerment and leadership skills that will develop strong community-serving leaders of the future.

Zip to Script is our project begun a year ago as a response to the direct impact the pandemic had on our children, causing feelings of isolation and social anxieties which have directly negatively impacted academic performance.

The purpose of Zip to Script is to engage teens in a collaborative experience of self-expression for the purpose of writing and producing an original work that will bring awareness to our communities, both at home and abroad, about the alarming mental health crisis facing our teens and open meaningful dialogue between teens, their peers and the community at large including parents, educators, and civic leaders to affect positive change in our communities for all. Starting from nothing, high school teens will develop an entirely original play for performance on a difficult social issue affecting today’s modern communities.

The current group is working with a professional musician who is a Kidz Konnection alum, and a New York based professional playwright Joey Brenneman to bring their thoughts and feelings on these issues to life. They have created a new ensemble based play that addresses the challenging issues facing young people in our society today including; teen mental health issues, peer pressure, anxiety, and feelings of social isolation in spite of living in a hyper-connected world. This production reflects the overall goals of our program by not only showing our students that kids their age all around the world deal with the same issues but also helping them become leaders through understanding of those that are different from them.

In summer 2025 the group will travel to the Fringe International Arts Festival in Edinburgh Scotland to share their perspective with a global audience in an effort to connect our youth in a global exchange of ideas that may open healthier pathways for all people around the world as they enter into leadership roles in the future.

We are fundraising to raise money to offset the costs needed to provide a safe and welcoming space for emerging artists to develop their creative work; support the necessary costs incurred from hiring industry professional artists to assist with this development; and the expenses involved in taking a troupe of 15 dedicated youth artists to these national and international theater festivals.

Ultimately, we hope this project will become a curriculum disseminated across the globe to encourage a positive exchange of ideas and purposeful dialogue with the community, it's industry leaders, educators, government officials, parents and others serving the community around them about the unique struggles they are facing in today's modern world.

Kidz Konnection - Matching Campaign

By Kidz Konnection Youth Theater

Kidz Konnection - Matching Campaign

Matching Campaign