Her visionary goals, then and now, have remained unwavering to this day, and are expressed in the company mission: to provide the highest quality theatre arts education at little or no cost to aspiring young performers seriously interested in entering the professional arena.

In summer 1991, with a small, volunteer, professional staff, the company (WYACT) produced three performances of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” at a Westfield, N.J. middle school, featuring 40 young people ages 8 to18, who participated free of charge.

What emerged from that moment on was a succession of classic musicals and plays produced over the next seven years: one, sometimes two productions each summer at various Union County venues, including the Union County Performing Arts Center and Kean University’s Arts Incubator Festival. “Carnival,” “Camelot,” “The Children’s Hour,” ”Fiorello,” “Stage Door,” and “Crimes of the Heart” were among the popular classics and lesser-known, significant works produced. And each had an all-youth cast participating free of charge.

From year to year, the productions drew so much public attention and critical acclaim that, in 1998, WYACT received an invitation to rehearse and present at the fifth largest performing arts center in the country, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC). And WYACT/NJYT summer musicals have been staged at NJPAC ever since, including “Carousel,” “Oliver!,” “Brigadoon,” “Once On This Island,” “South Pacific,” “West Side Story,” “Anything Goes,” “Guys and Dolls,” “Ragtime, The Musical,” “1776,” the workshop premiere of a new musical (co-written by Cynthia Meryl): “Midnight Madness.” and “Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.” Each production featured an all-youth cast, youth orchestra and young technical interns behind the scenes. Six of those shows at NJPAC also toured to the historic Algonquin Arts Theatre in Manasquan, New Jersey, for extended runs.

Every summer, more than 300 youngsters of diverse socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds audition for the shows. To date, more than 1,400 talented young actors, musicians and technicians from nearly all of New Jersey’s 21 counties have received the company’s free professional training and performance experience. For many, this experience opened the door to major theatre arts colleges and universities in the U.S., and for some, it launched their professional theatre career.

 

Additional Highlights:
1991 – Opened Performing Arts School in Westfield, NJ. From September through mid-May the school provides tuition-based professional classes in acting, dance, musical theatre and voice for approximately 150 New Jersey students, ages 8 to 18. The school moved from Westfield to Roselle Park, NJ, studios in 2007.

2001 - Began a Residency Dance Program at Hillcrest Academy North in Scotch Plains, NJ, a high school for at-risk students with special educational needs. This program has assisted Hillcrest in providing dance instruction as part of its core curriculum and has since expanded to include students from two Hillcrest Academy schools.
– Produced, in collaboration with the Westfield Symphony Orchestra, a New Year’s Eve benefit concert: “Richard Rodgers, A Centennial Celebration of His Music.” All WYACT proceeds from the event were donated to New Jersey families tragically affected by 9/11.

2003 - Received the prestigious Music Theatre International Award for Excellence for the production of “West Side Story.”
– Produced, in collaboration with the Westfield Symphony Orchestra, the New Year’s Eve concert: “Puttin on the Ritz: The Music of Irving Berlin, America’s Songwriter.”

2004 - New Jersey State Council on the Arts issued WYACT a Citation of Excellence for exhibiting “the highest standards of excellence in artistry, operations, governance, public benefit and fulfillment of areas of special Council interest.”

2005 - With an all-youth cast and small combo, reprised the concert “Richard Rodgers, A Centennial Celebration of His Music” and donated all proceeds to the Salvation Army’s Katrina Relief Initiative.

2006 - Changed company name to New Jersey Youth Theatre (NJYT) to more accurately reflect the geographic area it now serves.
- All-youth production of “Ragtime, The Musical” was lauded by Peter Filichia, theatre critic for the NJ Star Ledger and Broadway Mania, as the “Best Musical in New Jersey,” and NJYT’s Cynthia Meryl “Best Director of a Musical Revival.”

2007 – NJN Public Television (Channel 13) broadcast “Learning Curve, State of the Arts,” documenting the making of NJYT’s all-youth production “Carousel.”

2008 - NJYT’s all-youth production “1776” was hailed (by Peter Filichia, The Star Ledger) as ,”Absolutely Stunning” and the cast “equal to the historic challenge.”
- Workshop premier of “Midnight Madness,” at NJPAC moved to the (Alvin) Ailey Citigroup Theater in New York City as an invited Partner Event in the New York Musical Theatre Festival, and plays three sold-out performances.

2009 – Small rendition of “Midnight Madness,” sponsored by Tony-Award winning conductor Donald Pippin, played the famed Lambs Club in New York City for industry professionals. Show is now being considered for licensing and NJYT is seeking producers/investors to further develop the work into a major musical.
–- Peter Filicia, theatre critic for The Star-Ledger and Broadway's TheatreMania.com stated unequivocally of NJYT’s 2009 all-youth production of “Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” these "Jersey teens are bloody magnificent..., this production surpasses the last two Broadway revivals.”

2010 – New Jersey Youth Theatre received its second Citation of Excellence from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts for excellence in artistic quality, programming and public service in the arts.

Awards
NJYT has won several prestigious awards, including the Music Theatre International Award for Excellence for the 2003 production of West Side Story, and the 2004 and 2010 New Jersey State Council on the Arts Citation of Excellence.

Affiliations
NJYT produces its summer musicals in collaboration with the New Jersey Performing Arts Center's Summer Musical Program in Newark, NJ and the Algonquin Arts Theatre in Manasquan, NJ.

Wikipedia Entry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Jersey_Youth_Theatre

Media
"Stage director turns creative tension into high drama"
"Interview with Cynthia Meryl and Jack Bender on Midnight Madness"
"New Jersey Network news story on New Jersey Youth Theatre"