By Town Crier Staff Report
Peninsula Youth Theatre will celebrate its 10th birthday with a public celebration Saturday at the Mountain View Civic Center Plaza. The party will take place 4-7 p.m., between PYT’s opening performances of “The Wiz” at the adjacent Center for the Performing Arts.
Mountain View Mayor Sally Lieber will kick off the festivities with a proclamation marking PYT’s many achievements. U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo also is expected to attend the event, along with dozens of PYT participants past and present.
PYT was founded in 1992 by a group of parents who wanted to introduce children to theater, both as actors and as audience members. The non-profit organization strives to provide a theatrical education that prepares young people for careers in the performing arts by developing leadership, emphasizing responsibility and fostering teamwork in a supportive, respectful environment.
Not coincidentally, the first show PYT ever staged was “The Wiz,” Charlie Smalls’ soulful retelling of “The Wizard of Oz.” Several cast members from the 1992 production continue to be involved in the organization. Melyssa and David Rodoni of Los Altos, for example, who played Addaperle and the lead Field Mouse 10 years ago, are pit singers in the revival. Others have gone on to pursue college degrees and careers in theater.
For its first five years PYT led a nomadic existence, rehearsing in space donated by schools, churches and businesses, and performing about four shows annually at Gunn High School and Cubberley Community Center.
By 1997, PYT had opened its own rehearsal studios and school of performing arts on Old Middlefield Way in Mountain View. About a year later, it was named a home company of the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, a title it still shares with TheatreWorks.
This relative stability allowed PYT to expand its programs to accommodate increasing numbers of performers. A tour group named Pizazz was formed to take a program of song and dance to Bay Area schools, retirement homes and other venues. In 2000 PYT commissioned an original musical outlining California history to mark the state’s sesquicentennial. Pizazz performed “Children of the West” at Disneyland’s new California Adventure.
Today, PYT produces five musicals and one full-length drama annually, and offers year-round classes and vacation camps for youths ages 3 to 18. From October through May on the MVCPA SecondStage, PYT presents Stories on Stage, short dramatizations of critically acclaimed children’s books that are designed to foster a love of reading. And every Friday evening in the summer, PYT offers Theatre in the Park, free performances by PYT’s drama campers on the MVCPA’s outdoor ParkStage. More than 1,000 young people participated in PYT’s programs in 2001 alone.
PYT manages all this with a paid part-time staff of four, headed by Executive Director Karen Simpson, and a volunteer board of 12, headed by longtime President Sherril Hopper. PYT hires theater professionals to direct and design its productions and to teach classes at the school. But the organization relies heavily on the parents of participants for everything else, from building sets to sewing costumes and hanging posters.
“PYT is definitely a family affair,” Simpson said. “The children onstage and their parents backstage create entertainment for families to enjoy together.”
Simpson said she hopes PYT’s 10th anniversary celebration will raise awareness of and funds for PYT, so the organization can continue its mission for decades to come. It would be impossible for PYT to exist in a community that wasn’t generous with its time, talent and financial support, she said.
Many local businesses already have responded. Austin’s will cater a barbecue dinner, and both Foothill Securities and Shoreline Amphitheatre are providing financial sponsorship for the event. There will be prizes for people who purchase and pop the festive balloons decorating the plaza. Entertainment will also include karaoke and face-painting.
Tickets to the party and performance cost $35 for adults, $33 for seniors 62 and up, and $23 for children 12 and under. Tickets to the party only cost $20 for adults and seniors, and $10 for children. For a $500 contribution, “Anniversary Angels” will receive 10 tickets to “The Wiz,” a reserved table for 10 and special acknowledgment at the event.
“The Wiz” will run July 27 through Aug. 4 at the MVCPA, at Castro and Mercy streets. The Tony Award-winning show, featuring youths ages 8-20, is directed by Nancy Fitzgerald and sponsored by the Mercury News and BayArea.com. Show times are 2 and 7:30 p.m., July 27, July 28 and Aug. 3; 1 p.m., Aug. 1 and 2; 7:30 p.m., Aug. 2; and 2 p.m., Aug. 4. Tickets cost $13-$15 for weekend and evening performances, and $6 for the 1 p.m. weekday matinees. For tickets, call the MVCPA box office at 903-6000. For information about PYT, call 988-8798 or logon to www.pytnet.org.
