One of my most memorable theatre experiences was at Young People’s Theatre in 2001 when, then Artistic Director Pierre Tetrault, invited me to be his Assistant Director on the production of Ghost Train. This was near the beginning of my theatre directing career when I was exploring the question: “How to make spirituality theatrical?”. The play Ghost Train by Betty Quan and based on the book by Paul Yee, was an incredible experience in helping me to answer this question and allowed me the opportunity to witness, understand and participate in a gorgeous reflection of love and spiritual connection between a father and his daughter. Led by Pierre’s inspiring vision and with the collaboration of composer Donald Quan, choreographer Peter Chin, photographer/videographer Cylla von Tiedemann, as well as other extremely talented designers and actors, a stunningly beautiful and magical production emerged. It was one of the most valuable and memorable learning experiences of my career and I will be forever grateful for that opportunity which launched my extraordinary 4-year journey working at Young People’s Theatre.

– Nicole Arends

I was privileged to start my career in arts administration at YPT in the early-2000’s. I learned so much from the staff about running a top-notch arts organization, instilling a love for theatre in young people and the importance of having fun at work. “Uncle” Peter Gallagher’s infectious dedication and passion for teaching theatre to young people inspired me as my career verged into teaching drama, and I thank all of the wonderful people on staff that I met there, who I consider close friends to this day. The annual holiday floor crawls are still HANDS-DOWN the best holiday parties I ever attended.

Congratulations on 50 years and here’s to another 50 more!

– Erin O’Rourke

Our Holy Cross students have had the privilege of attending great theatre presentations through the Arts Impact program. The pre-shows and post-shows have been so valuable getting students to inference, use critical and analytical thinking skills to better understand the themes and big ideas of a show. Young People’s Theatre has been a great resource and source of happiness for many of our children who have enjoyed the great theatre shows and many who may not have otherwise been able to afford. I personally have loved seeing many talented actors bring fairytales, folk tales and other stories to life. Thank you for the great partnership!

– Janet Jensen