Christian Youth Theater, or CYT, is a theater designed for kids ages 8-18 and has been a major part of seniors Emily Longhofer’s and Hannah Beck’s lives. CYT has been around for more than 10 years and has three locations they call north, south and east. Each location does three shows a season and has between 50-85 kids a show.
Beck and Longhofer are involved in the south location, which performed over 30 shows in the past 10 years.
Though school is also important to Beck and Longhofer, CYT takes hours of time out of school.
“It takes all of [my time]. I don’t have any spare time. It’s hard to manage school and CYT,” Longhofer said.
Though CYT often takes away from schoolwork, Longhofer feels it’s worth it.
“It definitely affects school, but it’s 100 percent worth it. It helps me grow as a person,” Longhofer said.
Senior Kelsie Schuman used to be involved with CYT. She participated in shows starting in fifth grade and ending in her freshman year.
“When you do CYT, it’s the only extra curricular activity you can participate in,” Schuman said. “I wanted to spend more time doing activities at Mill Valley.”
During performances, Beck and Longhofer often have to leave school for shows.
“You have to make a lot of sacrifices for this. It means I can’t be involved in school or have a job. This is my life,” Longhofer said.
Many hours a week are put into shows and rehearsals.
They spend close to 9 hours rehearsing and about twelve with travel.
Because of the hours put into it and missing school, free time is limited for both.
“It involves all of our life, we have no free time, no spare time or anything it can be hard,” Beck said.
To be a part of a CYT show participants have to take a class they offer. CYT offers classes from acting, dancing, make-up and more.
“We both take dance classes, so it’s more time we spend there, but we love it,” Beck said.
For Beck, CYT has been a part of her life for years.
“I saw a show when I was in fourth grade. I saw kids up there that were my age and I got really interested into it,” Beck said
Seeing a performance got Longhofer involved as well.
“I went to see a show, and after I thought it looked fun I talked to Beck who gave me the information,” Longhofer said.
Being involved in CYT has given both Beck and Longhofer many opportunities.
“We’ve gotten the chance to go dance in NYC, go to San Diego and hopefully soon we will be able to meet CYT people from around the nation,” Beck said.
Some opportunities have continued into schoolwork and Beck partners her drama class with an intership through CYT.
Schuman made the decision to discontinue participating in CYT.
“I chose to stop doing CYT because I became closer with people at Mill Valley,” Schuman said.
Beck and Longhofer admit they cannot spend near the amount of time they would like to at school.
“It means we can’t be involved in school, which is why you have to make a choice and sometimes it’s tough,” Beck said.
The friendships made at CYT have had an impact on their performances.
“I’ve met so many people and had so much fun, I really want to be a dance teacher and hope I can choreograph shows for CYT one day,” Longhofer said.
Beck doesn’t know if CYT has a career for her.
“I’ve definitely thought about it, it would be great but I’m not sure about what I want to do or where,” Beck said.
Beck and Longhofer can agree on their favorite part of CYT.
“Our faith really keeps us going, the people there are amazing and we know we have Jesus,” Longhofer said.
Relief comes when a show is finally ready to perform.
“It’s a great feeling when it comes together, you feel proud,” Longhofer said. “I’ve never seen a show not come together, everyone gets it together.”
After hours put into a show and rehearsal the feeling of friendship, relief and hard work come together.
“I love the impact we can have on other people,” Beck said. “I get to serve the Lord and do I what I love. It’s awesome.”
