BETHLEHEM, Pa. — This month, the Pennsylvania Youth Theatre will present the fantasy stage classic “Cinderella.”
Offstage, the Bethlehem-based nonprofit performing arts organization is dealing with reality.
And the clock is about to strike 12.
- Pennsylvania Youth Theater likely will be displaced when the Banana Factory complex is razed to make room for a cultural arts center next year
- The proposed new complex would leave PYT with less square footage than it now enjoys
- A $1 million capital campaign has begun that will fund renovations at an undetermined venue
Headquartered for 25 of its 37 years in the Banana Factory complex at 25 W. Third St., Pennsylvania Youth Theatre, or PYT, likely will be displaced from its 7,200-square-foot venue next year.
ArtsQuest plans to demolish the Banana Factory complex and construct a $22 million South Side Bethlehem Cultural Arts Center on the site.
Looking for more space
Jill Dunn Jones, PYT's artistic director for the past 10 years, said plans for the new facility would allow for 6,500 to 7,000 square feet of space for the youth theatre.
But that would not be suitable, as the organization’s growth necessitates the need for a significantly larger venue, Jones said.
We have the funds to buy a building, but would need a lot more funding to renovate it.”Jill Dunn Jones, artistic director, Pennsylvania Youth Theatre
Jones also said PYT would have to vacate the current location by April 2024.
“We’re looking for a place with 10,000-square-feet,” Valerie Reinhardt, PYT managing director, said.
“We’re looking all over the Lehigh Valley, but we’d like to stay within the Bethlehem city limits. We’ve been working with a Realtor to find us a place to buy. And one of our parents is an architect who has contributed their expertise. We know we’ll have to renovate whichever place we move to.”
Added Dr. Diane P. Begany, PYT board president: “I grew up in Fountain Hill and remember the original Banana Factory. It would be hard leaving this place. But we’ve grown so much we need more room.”
'We're just starting'
PYT has created an advisory board to guide the organization through the likely transition relative to marketing and fundraising.
“We’ve begun a $1 million capital campaign,” Jones said. “We’re just starting. We have the funds to buy a building, but would need a lot more funding to renovate it.”
A PYT member for 18 years, including the past 10 as managing director, Reinhardt said PYT plans to raise the bulk of funding through grants, corporate sponsorships and foundations.
PYT’s primary purpose remains the education, empowerment and enrichment of children through the art of theater.
A comprehensive performing arts school, it instructs 650 pre-kindergarten to 12th-grade students in year-round programs offering classes in three core areas: acting, singing and dancing.
But PYT also is a professional producing organization that brings three to four main stage, literature-based plays to an audience of 10,000-16,000 annually, including 8,000 of whom are school groups.
'Training leaders of tomorrow'
PYT produces shows at the Ice House in Bethlehem, spring performances at Lehigh University's Zoellner Arts Center, where “Cinderella” will be held, and Moravian College's Foy Hall.
It holds three main stage productions each year, but also student showcases from February to June, and three summer stage productions at the Ice House.
We are literally training the leaders of tomorrow. We get phone calls with people asking, ‘How many of your students ever made it to Broadway?’ I tell them that if that’s what they’re looking for, this isn’t the place for you.PYT Managing Director Valerie Reinhardt
“We draw children from seven different counties — five in Pennsylvania, and two in New Jersey,” Reinhardt said. “But the bulk are from Lehigh and Northampton counties. We pull from 16 school districts whose children come to see our productions.”
Reinhardt explained the value of PYT beyond the singing, dancing and acting, and why funding its future is so vitally important.
“We are literally training the leaders of tomorrow,” she said. “We get phone calls with people asking, ‘How many of your students ever made it to Broadway?’ I tell them that if that’s what they’re looking for, this isn’t the place for you.
“We instill confidence in the children. We’re raising that child who can sit in a boardroom when they grow up and conduct a meeting.
"We’ve heard from kids who were at PYT who tell us that without the life skills they learned in the performing arts, they wouldn’t have been as successful as they’ve become.”
To donate to the PYT capital campaign, go to www.123pyt.org.
