January & Jennifer at "Jenny's Penny" Premier, 2009

In 2009, Jenny's Penny, January's full-length family

musical based on The Wishful Penny was mounted at

the Neuwirth Theater in the Bronx to a successful run and

even a New York Times pre-selection nod.  Their story of

the adventurous Lincoln Cent caught the attention of the

executive director of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial

Committee in Washington DC who wanted the book and

music for hundreds of gift bags to celebrate Lincoln's

200th birthday.  Thus, their first product was born,

The Wishful Penny book & Jenny's Penny musical on

CD.  They realized, if they were going to begin to sell their

creations, that they needed to make their business
partnership official… and that partnership needed a name! 
They chose the name of that first song, the words of advice
given by the ancient coin to the newly-minted cent in
The Wishful Penny who asked how to make a human's
wishes come true…

"SEE THE WISH, and the wish will come true!"

 

Over the years, the co-founders/presidents of See The Wish continued to create educational books and music, produce full-length musicals through their theatrical entity, See The WIsh /Onstage, give motivational school presentations on anti-bullying and "how to make wishes come true" and build their line of Dramaterials™ classroom plays & musicals that teach curriculum and character.  They are the proud winners of Parents' Choice, Mom's Choice and Benjamin Franklin Gold Awards. They have cultivated an office culture that includes their mutual addictions of Scrabble and Zumba.  On their company anniversary, they might retreat to a bowling alley in See The Wish bowling shirts... to the (we hope) delight of their interns who get their own shirt with their names embroidered as a momento.

 

A Dramaterials classroom play with 3 songs called "The Bully & The Bystanders" became a favorite among educators so the co-playwrights expanded the play to a full-length musical called "IT'S EASY! An Anti-Bullying Musical." The show debuted in collaboration with the Riverdale Rising Stars JR in 2015,  earning National Youth Arts Award nominations for OUTSTANDING NEW MUSICAL and OUTSTANDING ENSEMBLE. The youth cast was inspired to carry the "speak up, reach out and be a friend message" of the show off-stage... a few focus groups later, See The Wish launched the Be A Friend Project!

 

In 2019, the Be A Friend Project came into ts own as a national 501c3 not-for-profit organization delivering letters of peer support to young victims of bullying across the country! To date, they've delivered close to 20,000 letters nationwide! Putting a positive spin on "IT'S EASY!", the tagline was changed to "The FRIEND STRONG Musical" and Jennifer and January put on their first professional production, a 10-show run of "IT'S EASY! The Friend Strong Musical" at the Irvington Town Hall Theater, NY.  The show WON EIGHT BROADWAY WORLD AWARDS including BEST MUSICAL , BEST DIRECTION (YAY, January!), BEST ENSEMBLE and BEST CHOREO for the Westchester/Rockland region of NY!

 

This show and the Be-A-Friend Project that carries its message is now the focus of their work  as they  license the 90-minute musical to schools and theater programs.  Now international, "It's Easy!" has been licensed in New York, Virginia, Texas and Seoul, South Korea!  With GREAT CEREMONY, See The Wish is being dissolved in December 2019 as the Be A Friend Project carries on its legacy with Co-Founders Jennifer as Executive Director and January as a Development Consultant.