Scene:Teens is a non-profit organization, founded by Dawn Natalia, to mentor "at risk" and “gifted” teens at moviemaking. Here is Scene:Teens’ history in her words:
I was working in South Providence with a group of teenagers on the comedy HOPE HIGH. Some of these creative young men and women were going through difficult times with school, family and peers, and the movie provided a way for them to take their energy and invest it into a positive project. When the movie was completed, the father of one of the teens told me, " You gave my son a reason to get up in the morning." That was profound, and inspired me to officially incorporate Scene:Teens as a non-profit with the goal of mentoring more teens around the country.
Since HOPE HIGH, we've made another feature teen comedy called EXTRA CREDIT, where some of the original kids came back and helped to mentor new ones. The program also expanded to include a PSA program, where the teens produced a PSA for a local non-profit. Since 2001 Scene:Teens has helped many teens learn about commitment, responsibility and teamwork, and has given them a real sense of accomplishment, seeing their work displayed on the big screen. (Thank you to National Amusements for donating screens to us.)
As for that kid we helped to get up in the morning, well he's gone on to become an award-winning filmmaker himself. He just won the 2006 Providence 48 Hour Film Project. Way to go, Sam! Today, we are in the planning stages of our third feature film, and have expanded from Providence into the Boston area. We’ll be producing a feature called Wise Boyz in conjunction with TV3 Medford and the Medford High School.
