TADA! Youth Theater Unveils 40th Anniversary Featuring GAME CHANGERS & More

TADA! Youth Theater has revealed its 40th Anniversary.  Since 1984, TADA!, a unique Drama Desk  award-winning nonprofit youth theater, has offered a free, year-round, pre-professional training and positive youth development program for members of the Resident Youth Ensemble of TADA! (RYET).  TADA! has presented 100 productions including  53 original musicals for children, teens and family audiences.  Continuing its tradition of excellence, on April 26, 2025, TADA! will open Game Changers, written by RYET alum Christina Franklin, Music and Lyrics by Matthew Gregory and directed by RYET alum Ceanna Bryant.
 
Celebrating a legacy of creativity, empowerment and joy, TADA! is dedicated to creating high-quality musical theater programming for young people, giving them the opportunity to explore their creativity and discover themselves through the transformative power of the arts.
 
The story of two dreamers: Janine Nina Trevens and choreographer Linda Reiff came up with a bold idea to give young people a chance to shine on stage, while developing self-confidence and life skills. They launched their first production at a local theater festival with a small budget raised by family and friends, and TADA! was born. Over the past 40 years, TADA! has become New York City’s premier youth theater company and touched the lives of hundreds of thousands of young people.
 
TADA!’s high-quality work enhances young people’s creativity which develops advanced skills in leadership, communication, responsibility, collaboration, and problem solving that help with growing up and are essential to their success both on and off the stage.
 
“TADA! is a place where everyone works together to make something stronger.  It’s not about being a star.  It’s about helping each other and giving to each other to make the work the best that it can be,” said Janine Nina Trevens, TADA! Youth Theater Founder and Executive and Producing  Artistic Director.
 
“You say ‘Yes and’ and you keep it going and you keep adding to the possibilities of the scene and the story,” she continued.  “Kids need a place in their lives where it’s about yes and a place where there are endless possibilities and a place where the right answer comes from inside of them.  TADA! is a place where they have a voice and where they can play and create and think outside the box.  This is even more important now than it was 40 years ago.”
 
In addition to RYET performances, TADA! programs include musical theater classes and camps for the public, as well as musical theater residencies in New York City schools and community centers. In the past 40 years, in addition to 186,000 audience members enjoying original musicals, TADA! offered 1,772 Education Programs in 180 schools. More than 852,000 young people have participated in Theater and Arts Education Programs.
 
What does TADA! mean to the young performers? “TADA! taught me how to make friends, how to talk to people, and how to be more open.  There is no judgment,” said Hakiem, 18, RYET member. “People want to be your friend here.  TADA! teaches you how to get back up.  We all have our falls and stumbles.  At TADA!, there is always someone there to pick you up.  It teaches you to have thicker skin, but also to let people in and help you.”
 
TADA! Youth Theater milestones include:
·         In the 1990s, TADA! presented 11 World Premiere original family musicals, commissioned specifically for TADA!’s Ensemble and family audiences, including classics produced in recent seasons including B.O.T.C.H, The History Mystery and Everything About Camp (almost). 
·         1993: TADA! kicked off its first weeklong camp that created the foundation for the transformative arts education experiences that would inspire countless young performers.
·         1994: TADA! Ensemble performed at the White House in the East Room.

·         1997: TADA! original commissioned musicals became available for public productions nationwide, opening doors for young theatre-makers all across the country. 

2002: TADA! moved into its current theater
2008: First Lady Laura Bush presented TADA! with the Coming Up Taller Award, the nation's highest honor by the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities. 
2009: Drama Desk Award Winner In 2009, TADA! made history as the first youth theater to win a Drama Desk Award for providing an invaluable contribution to the future of the theater for making outstanding training and experience accessible and affordable to young people and mounting productions remarkable for their quality and professionalism. 
2013: TADA! Ensemble members performed at Carnegie Hall in New York Pops.
2014: TADA! Ensemble members  traveled to New Orleans to see Crescent City Lights Youth Theater production of TADA! original musical, Sleepover. One member of the Ensemble was invited on stage to play piano with legendary Preservation Hall Jazz Ensemble.
2018: TADA! brought 129 arts education programs to students at 42 different schools and community centers in the New York City area.
2024: TADA! presented its first two-act musical, Common Ground. Book and Lyrics by Lisa Diana Shapiro.

TADA! Ensemble alumni include Academy and Emmy-winning director, writer, actor, producer and comedian Jordan Peele (member of the TADA! Board of Directors, Film: Get Out, Us, Nope TV: Key & Peele), Kerry Washington (Film: The Six Triple Eight, TV: Scandal, Broadway: American Son), Josh Peck (Film: Oppenheimer, TV: How I Met Your Father and Drake & Josh), Mizuo Peck (Film: A Night at the Museum 1, 2, and 3), Sasha Allen (Film: Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, TV: The Voice, Broadway: MJ The Musical and HAIR), Ricardo A. Zayas (Film: West Side Story and Tick, Tick...Boom, Broadway: Moulin Rouge), and Sheldon Henry (Broadway: Once Upon A Mattress, The Who's Tommy The Musical and Tina, The Tina Turner Musical). Ensemble Members and Alumni have also appeared on Broadway in The Lion King, Kinky Boots, Matilda, Carousel, Hamilton, The Prom, and Head Over Heels.
 

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