Professional Youth Theater

Why do professional youth theaters need community engagement?

Current Problem: Professional Youth theaters viewing Community Engagement programs within their organization as second rate opportunities. Advocating for Community Engagement programming within an organization.

Population/Area of Focus: Middle Class, Low Income Families.

Key Terms : outreach, inclusion, diversity,

Guiding Question: Why do professional youth theaters need a community engagement aspect within their programming?

Hughes and Wilson define the term 'youth theatre' as “describing a wide variety of organizations that engage young people in theatre-related activities in their own time.” Their research findings suggest that youth theatre has a number of important functions

She believed that “the education of children’s spirits and emotions was as important as the education of their minds” (Rosenberg 23). Creative Drama has taken many names since then, but “[. . .] children’s theatre in America was born in the ghetto as a social and education force to help the children of immigrants learn the language of their adopted country, to provide a meeting place for children and their families, and to offer wholesome entertainment to the children of the poor” (Swortzell, 333) A student of the Ward Approach at Northwestern University, Nellie McCaslin’s strongly believed that creative drama is not only beneficial to the student in the classroom, but the student in the world at large. She points out that through drama we may be able to “[. . .] help children live in harmony in a society of many ethnic, racial, and religious groups [. . .]” (McCaslin, 16). Children’s Theatre (TYA) is a resilient cause that continues to blossom all over the country, despite many theaters opening and eventually closing due to funding. Organizations continue to create themselves around the importance of educational theatre while playwrights and playhouses are forging progress through dedicated leaders. “...They look forward to a time when the best they have now will be multiplied and made available in all its diversities to the children of every

If that can no longer be done, then the business model needs to change or the organization needs to find new ways to engage people or both. And of course the deeper the impact of these wider environmental changes, then the more urgent is the need for organizations to find new ways to engage