Young Stars Are Born: a Theater for Life Lessons

When Nina Trevens founded Tada Youth Theater more than three decades ago, she had one mission in mind: make growing up easier.

All of the shows the nonprofit New York City theater puts on are original plays that teach kids the importance of working together. “It’s really about kids playing kids,” Trevens says. Everything they do on stage is something they can do in real life.

Tada offers a suite of programs to get kids singing, dancing, and acting. Its signature programs include a summer camp and an ensemble cast that puts on three or four productions a year. The performers range in age from 8 to 18.

Tada also runs daylong programs on holidays when kids are off from school and parents may have to work. Trevens says it creates a healthy, productive, and creative environment.

All kids must audition to join the ensemble, made up mostly of public-school students. But in New York City, where wealth disparities are significant — and often obvious — Trevens says the youth theater is a place where both public-school and private-school kids are treated the same.

“It’s kids from all different backgrounds — different neighborhoods, different economic backgrounds, different racial backgrounds,” she says. “It brings people together who never would have met each other.”

Last summer, the ensemble performed an original musical called Golly Gee Whiz, set in the Great Depression. In the production, a group of kids put on a show to raise their neighbors’ spirits, and learn the importance of collaboration.

Subiya Mboya (pictured), now 18, played a diva hoping to get the lead role in the show. Mboya is now an alumna of the theater’s ensemble, having graduated from high school last year. She is a first-year student at the Manhattan School of Music, pursuing a degree in musical theater.

“It becomes a second home for a lot of these kids,” she says. “We’re hoping to create great people who really care about each other.”