Take Note Troupe

TNT is a bunch of committed enthusiasts striving to change the world through uplifting productions, improv, PLAY THEORY workshops, and award-winning adaptations of Shakespeare. Over the years TNT has mentored hundreds of youth and served thousands more in the community. TNT strengthens society by providing young people a safe environment to develop valuable life skills and an opportunity to serve through theatrical performance.

In 2003, two teens asked their mothers to teach them about Shakespeare. They gathered a small group of their peers and committed to staging a scaled down production of The Tempest for friends in the backyard, which led to what has become an annual community tradition of Shakespeare in the Park. In 2024, TNT will celebrate its 21st anniversary of Shakespeare in the Park, by giving ten Free-To-The-Public performances of A Comedy of Errors in  Auburn, Fair Oaks, Rocklin, and Folsom. Our reach expands each year, both with participants as well as audiences.

TNT's founder, LaRee Florence, developed PLAY THEORY as set of principles and skills to help both on and off the stage. Truly, PLAY THEORY principles teach the skills needed to choose happiness - Be Present, Let Go and Play, Say Yes And, Look Outward. These PLAY THEORY principles help give those who practice them greater resilience, the ability to collaborate, and tools to combat the overwhelming plague of anxiety and depression in society today.

TNT's participants, by nature of their exposure to the community, become examples. TNT strives to provide "ambassador training" that emphasizes gratitude and humility, and a "look what I have prepared to share with you as a service" not a "look at me" attitude in performance. This is achieved through coaching, inspirational teachings, and training. Self-aggrandizement is not encouraged.

Through the years, TNT has expanded its offerings to include improv classes, a musical each fall, workshops, and musicals for elementary and middle-school aged participants, summer camps, and a "varsity" Improv team, On The Spot, which performs monthly for the public. Additionally, TNT offers PLAY THEORY workshops in the community. For many years, TNT members have given a free, weekly Cognitive Behavioral Therapy workshop using PLAY THEORY for at-risk youth in Koinonia foster programs. These workshops, although supervised by an adult, are youth-led, which benefits both the youth giving the workshop and those learning in the workshop.

TNT seeks to change the world, one participant and performance at a time.

You can learn more about PLAY THEORY on our website, or by listening to the PLAY THEORY podcast by our founder, called The Happiness Playbook