Julie Bush and Ty Gant in THE HEART KNOWS SOMETHING DIFFERENT. Photo by Brian McKee.

For more information or to make a referral Contact the Fulton Associate Director

Teaching Artists: Barry Kornhauser and Adele Ulrich

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 (June 14-July 18, 2010, 9am-4pm, Monday-Friday) 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.

All ensemble members are paid a stipend of $100 for their participation, but all of their performances are offered free of charge to the public to assure the widest accessibility possible. Goodwill donations, however, are collected at the door for causes selected by the ensemble. Each summer, a symposium follows one performance in which the cast and a panel of experts address the topic being explored in the play.

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 educators. (To refer a teen, contact the Fulton Associate Director.) 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.

In 2004, 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. Since then, NEA's support has continued through its Learning in the Arts program. 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, Youtheatre was honored to also receive the "Giving Voice" Award of the national Starbucks Foundation. And at a White House ceremony in 2008, the program received the Coming Up Taller Award, recognizing it as one of the top arts education programs in the nation.

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 various state and 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 partnership with national service organizations.

Youtheatre gives voice to the underserved in our community, building plays from their own histories and changing lives in the process.

2010 Youtheatre Sponsors

Lancaster Radiology Associates

Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Pennsylvania