Youth Onstage! performers in Left of the Moon .

This spring, teen and young adult performers made a big splash in two hot shows at the All Stars Project's 42nd Street performing arts and education center. The first production was a staged reading of Fred Newman's Castillo Theatre classic, Left of the Moon, performed by the young actors of Youth Onstage! The second production was an all-new All Stars Hip-Hop Cabaret, featuring All Stars Talent Show alumni, actors from Youth Onstage! and young people from the All Stars' newest program, Production of Youth by Youth! Both shows were directed by Dan Friedman and packed 'em in!

The Castillo Theatre is wrapping up its 2005-2006 season with a Five Points Productions... premiere of Sapphire's Kiss by first-time playwright, Maggie Zarrillo-Gouldin. Sapphire's Kiss is an intimate play about two women who "shouldn't" fall in love, but do: a white social worker and her troubled, African American client. Audiences are finding themselves touched in unexpected ways by the piece.

Madelyn Chapman (left) and Christine Tracy in Sapphire's Kiss.

In the fall, Castillo will be staging an experimental review of New York theatre, called Broadway (Sometimes Off) opening September 15 (as a warm-up for Castillo's 2006-2007 season). After spending several months attending Broadway and Off-Broadway shows, members of the Castillo acting ensemble are developing performance pieces that look at the current state of Broadway and Off Broadway. It'll be part talk show, part variety show, part review - and all fun!

The 2006-2007 season formally opens with a big, bawdy favorite from the Castillo oeuvre - Fred Newman's Outing Wittgenstein. A broad, smart and hysterical philosophical romp that sports 18 characters, Outing Wittgenstein looks at the limits of identity and features a cast with a mix of professional actors, members of the Castillo ensemble, performers from Youth Onstage! and folks from Castillo's theatre community (including a number of volunteers). Stay tuned -- more soon!

For more information on the Castillo Theatre, the 2006-2007 season or any performance offerings, call the Castillo box office at 212-941-1234 or visit Castillo on the web.