All Stars Project INC.

Youth Onstage! is the youth theatre of the All Stars Project, Inc. It offers young people, ages 14 to 21, the opportunity to perform in and create plays that have something to say about the world and its future. It also offers, through its Community Performance School, free theatre training for young people of all experience levels and economic backgrounds.

Youth Onstage! is based out of the All Stars Project's performing arts and education center on West 42nd Street in the heart of New York City's theatre district.

During its first four years, Youth Onstage! has produced seven plays, six Hip-Hop Cabarets, two installments of Word on the Street: A Poetry Snap, and several world premiere play readings of new works by young authors. All of Youth Onstage!'s productions are performance experiments, designed to challenge its performers and audiences to think and feel outside the box. They tackle difficult social and political issues and create an environment in which contemporary urban youth can express their experiences and perspectives through performance and share them with a diverse audience of adults and young people from throughout New York City and beyond.

Some of Youth Onstage!’s signature productions have included: Crown Heights, a drama about the tensions between Blacks and Jews in Crown Heights, Brooklyn; Robin Hood, a swashbuckling epic about the gap between the rich and the poor; Over There/Over Here, an original play by an Iraq war veteran, told from the perspective of America’s youngest and poorest soldiers; and Our City, a vibrant portrait of the diversity and dynamism of New York City created collectively by the Youth Onstage! company.

Youth Onstage! has also pioneered a new theatrical form, the Hip-Hop Cabaret.

Co-produced with the All Stars Talent Show Network, the All Stars Hip-Hop Cabaret was developed by YO! artistic director Dan Friedman and hip-hop artist Antoine "RL" Joyce.  Each new installment, created by a talented ensemble of singers, dancers, rappers, and poets, brings together the European tradition of political cabaret with the energy, anger and creativity of contemporary hip-hop culture.

Young people can get involved in Youth Onstage! by applying to our free after-school performance training program, the Youth Onstage! Community Performance School. An integrated course of intensive performance classes, taught by volunteer teachers with professional theater training, is offered three times a year, in the Fall, Spring, and Summer. During the school year, classes are held after school hours and on Saturdays. In the summer, Youth Onstage! offers an intensive theatre institute that meets four days a week.  Admission is by audition. Click here to download an application.

Youth Onstage! productions in the news:

• Our City Tour (Queens Tribune)
• Our City Tour (Queens Courier)
• Hip-Hop Cabaret (Time Out New York: Kids)
• Over There/Over Here (Backstage)
• Over There/Over Here (New York Times)
• Over There/Over Here (American Theatre)
• Robin Hood: A Political Romance (New York Times)
• Robin Hood: A Political Romance (Amsterdam News)
• Casper Hauser: A Language Game (New York Times)
• Hip-Hop Cabaret (Our Town)
• Crown Heights (Brooklyn Eagle)
• Have You Ever Seen a Dream Rapping? (Amsterdam News)