Valley Youth Theatre

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1 Affiliations
2 Community Service
3 Facility
4 History
5 Notable Alumni
6 External Links

Valley Youth Theatre (VYT) is a regional theatre located in Phoenix, Arizona. Established in 1989, VYT is dedicated to having a positive impact on the community’s children through a wide variety of performing arts opportunities. Every Valley Youth Theatre program offers unique educational and cultural opportunities to thousands of the community’s future leaders. It is our mission that through these experiences, children will learn life lessons that will serve them well as adults; that they will develop a lasting interest in the arts; and that they will take with them the inspiration to be the very best they can be!

VYT will produce six mainstage shows this season. We believe children deserve the opportunity to be treated as serious individuals and the same standards of excellence that apply to adult theatre apply in our programming. We hire professional directors, choreographers, and technicians to train the cast and crew of each show. Participation in our shows is fee-free, opening the door to all young people who have an interest. Almost 900 children, representing all socio-economic backgrounds and each community in the Valley, audition for our mainstage shows each season. More than 350 young people participate as actors, technicians and musicians. In addition, VYT hosts Performance Troupes, Fall, Spring and Summer Workshops, and VYTeens, a community service group.

[edit] Affiliations

National recognition by Theatre Communications Group [1].

[edit] Community Service

Each season, more than 4,600 inner-city students attend a VYT mainstage performance and are given free books through a "Literacy and The Arts" outreach program.
Each year, more than six hundred children, representing numerous social service organizations throughout the Valley, attend a free performance and are given a complimentary lunch through an annual "Sponsor-A-Seat" program.

[edit] Facility

Valley Youth Theatre performs in its renovated facility in Copper Square in downtown Phoenix, Arizona.

An old storefront was gutted in 1998 and rebuilt to include a 30-foot wide proscenium stage with orchestra pit, 202 seat continental-style audience seating, a lobby with box office, and "backstage" areas: a lighting and sound booth, small scene and costume shops, and rehearsal and dressing rooms.