New Jersey Youth Theatre is one of the most celebrated and critically acclaimed non-profit, youth theatre companies in the country. New Jersey Youth Theatre produces professional-level theatrical productions, musicals and plays, comprised primarily of aspiring young talent, which are presented in the premiere venues across the state.

Founded in 1991, New Jersey Youth Theatre (formerly WYACT) has produced more than 32 main-stage productions. The summer programs alone have served more than 70,000 patrons from NJ, NY, PA, CT, and over 1,100 talented young performers from the State of New Jersey.

Under the direction of Artistic and Stage Director, Cynthia Meryl (a thirty year veteran of Broadway, theatre and television) and a select team of theatre-arts professionals, NJYT provides young, aspiring performing artists the highest quality, theatre-arts training and performance experience.

Our young artists participate in an intensive rehearsal and performance process, learning both the artistic and technical standards, as well as the complexities of developing and performing Broadway-quality productions.

Each summer, this free experience is offered to approximately 75 to 100 of New Jersey's most talented young performers, musicians and technicians who aspire to enter the professional arena. Many New Jersey Youth Theatre alumni have gone on to successful Broadway, regional theatre, film and television careers.

To participate in the summer production program, young performers and musicians must go through a highly competitive audition process. The auditions, open statewide, are held in March/April each year at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) and Algonquin Arts Theatre.  The Audition & Casting Notice for the Summer Program can be downloaded here, and also appears in major newspapers across the State, including Backstage.

Past NJYT/NJPAC Productions

• 2007 - Carousel [click here to read reviews]
• 2006 - Ragtime, The Musical
• 2005 - Guys And Dolls
• 2004 - Anything Goes
• 2003 - West Side Story
• 2002 - South Pacific
• 2001 - Once On This Island
• 2000 - Brigadoon
• 1999 - Oliver!
• 1998 - Carousel

Each of these shows drew critical acclaim and was a box-office sellout. The last six productions also toured to the historic Algonquin Arts Theatre in Manasquan, NJ, for extended runs.

In 2003 NJYT’s revival of "West Side Story" won the Music Theatre International Award for Excellence and the following year, New Jersey Youth Theatre received the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, 2004 Citation of Excellence.

NJYT's "Ragtime, the Musical" was one of the top ten New Jersey stage productions of the year" - Star-Ledger, December 26, 2006 and was recently selected by Peter Filichia, reknowned Broadway critic for New Jersey's Star-Ledger, as the "Best Musical Revival of 2006-2007."

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In addition to professional youth theatre, New Jersey Youth Theatre also offers a School for the Performing Arts to young artists who want to learn more. Launched in 1992, the school provides professional classes in acting, dance, musical theatre and voice for students (ages 8 -18). The school currently trains approximately 150 students a week between September and May.

New Jersey Youth Theatre’s programs also extend to underserved youth with limited access to professional performing arts training. New Jersey Youth Theatre's veteran theatre professionals offer several free workshops each year in "audition protocol and technique" at public schools in various communities across the state.

New Jersey Youth Theatre's outreach activities also include a year-long, Dance Residency Program at Hillcrest Academy, two Union County-based alternative high schools for at-risk, inner-city children. Initiated in 2001, these residencies have since become an important part of the core curriculum at these schools.

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