Repeatedly recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts as a shining example of arts education programming for at-risk, disabled, and disadvantaged teens, Youtheatre is a year-round project with a core summer component that challenges its teen participants to create and perform original dramas that address topics of pertinence to their lives or that of their peers around the globe. In doing so, Youtheatre invites these marginalized participants to express their views on matters of consequence, giving them a real voice and empowering them to use it. More importantly, Youtheatre provides area youth with a safe summer haven that fosters artistic, educational, and social and emotional growth, and provides a constructive outlet for their energies.
In 2004, the Youtheatre was one of only ten arts companies in the United States (out of an applicant pool of more than 800) to be selected by the NEA as a national model for arts education, and one of only four companies to continue that designation for the life of that particular granting program, which ended last year. This year, the NEA refunded the company through its “Learning In The Arts For Children & Youth” program, giving the Youtheatre its largest grant yet.The company also won the Pennsylvania Council on the Art’s “Keystones of Accessibility” Award for its inclusion of students with disabilities. (The ensemble includes or has included members who are deaf, blind, autistic, and living with chronic medical conditions such as epilepsy, Turner’s Syndrome, Hepatitis C, and brain injuries.)
In 2007, the Youtheatre was honored to also receive the “Giving Voice” Award of the national Starbucks Foundation. The teens are referred to us from a wide variety of social welfare agencies, the juvenile justice system, psychiatric institutions, rehabilitation centers, guidance counselors, and the ilk.Clinicians, therapists, social workers, and juvenile probation officers who serve these youth attend periodic rehearsals and are available as needed. All rehearsals and performances are ASL interpreted, and sign language lessons are a part of each day. When children of migrant families joined the ensemble, ESL lessons also occurred daily. Assessment by the NEA has shown that the program has consistently demonstrated statistically significant growth in its participants’ artistic knowledge, performance skills, and social and emotional development. The company has been invited to perform at the Forum in Harrisburg for state representatives and at various national conferences, including as keynote presentations for the “Humanity Interrupted” Conference at Millersville University, the annual AATE convention in Washington D.C., and the National Migrant Education Conference in Orlando, Florida. Work is often created in conjunction with national service organizations.
In illustration, the last Youtheatre production, Chain Reaction, was created in cooperation with Washington D.C. based “Free The Slaves,” an organization dedicated to the abolition of modern-day slavery, a heinous institution which tyrannizes millions of young people around the world today.This summer we begin work with New York City based Youth Communication, in a play entitled The Heart Knows Something Different, an examination of the foster care system in America.
All ensemble members are paid a stipend for their participation, but all of their performances are offered free of charge to the public, and many area organizations that serve young people attend. Each summer, a symposium follows one performance in which the cast and a panel of experts address the topic being explored in the play.
This nationally recognized program gives voice to the underserved in our community, building plays from their own histories and changing lives in the process.