Thursday, October 16, 2025

Dear Friends and Family, 

Notes From Nina is still here and TADA! is also still here – we’ve renewed our lease for another five years! Classes, camps, rehearsals, workshops and live musical productions will all continue and grow on the 2nd and 3rd floors of 15 West 28th Street in NoMad. 

It’s been a busy beginning of TADA!’s 41st season and I somehow missed writing Notes From Nina in September. So much is going on already this fall — classes and one day camps are in full swing and 21 RYET members ages 9 – 18 have started rehearsing Sleepover for a November 22nd opening. I’m directing Sleepover and I love my time in the rehearsal room. My favorite part of my job is working directly with RYET members. 

A lot of my time in September has been with RYET members – from our beginning of the year meeting and Meet and Greet where all RYET families come together to hear about all the plans for the coming season, from their yearly voice, dance and acting assessments, to auditions and callbacks for new members, to our annual individual planning meetings with each of the current 83 members.

This summer I spent a couple of weekends with friends of mine from middle and high school (I’ve known these women for over 50 years). We spoke about retirement, health, and wish lists of what we want to do when we retire. I also had the question asked of me “If you could do any job and money didn’t matter, what would you do?” I’m lucky in that my answer is TADA!. I love theater and I love children. I love that TADA! makes growing up easier for NYC young people and that I am a part of that.  To be honest I don’t love every part of my job, but the good outweighs the hard parts like fundraising, cash-flow challenges, and offstage people drama. 

As I said, working with the RYET members is the best, and when they share with me what TADA! means it’s such a great feeling. RYET Member Ella did that in a very exciting way. She photographed me and submitted me for the “Dear New York” exhibition as a person who inspires her. Her photo of me was selected and has its own spot in Grand Central at what is one of the largest art installations in New York history.

CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO: TADA! YOUTH THEATER’S NINA TREVENS HONORED IN GRAND CENTRAL STATION 

The student exhibition will be held in Grand Central’s Vanderbilt Hall from October 6th to October 19th. You can visit anytime between 8am-10pm. I have to say, knowing that TADA! makes a real difference in young people’s lives keeps me doing the parts of my job that aren’t as fun as rehearsing, writing, working with the artists, and seeing our audiences at performances and our class and camp students. Thank you so much Ella for this great honor. This was her submission:  

I hope you will visit the Grand Center to see all the amazing work and inspiration New Yorkers honored in this exhibit. I also hope you will join us at TADA!. I look forward to seeing you.

Best,

Janine Nina Trevens
Executive & Producing Artistic Director