Grateful for the tremendous support their arts initiatives have received, Kimberly Tapper and Tom Sweitzer recently announced that they will increase their focus on Loudoun Youth Initiatives and bring down the curtain on their Creative Youth Theater Foundation. As exclusive independent contractors to LYI, they will be able to work with more children, and continue to provide performance and grant opportunities to a diverse group of teenagers in Loudoun County.

The unqualified success of Sweitzer and Tapper's arts initiatives during the past four years demanded that they think carefully about how best to focus their efforts. By providing performing arts opportunities to teenagers in both Middleburg, Virginia and Altoona, Pennsylvania, Tapper and Sweitzer made a major contribution these communities as they broadened the professional possibilities of teenagers in these areas and offered thoroughly enjoyable and meaningful performances.

Artistic Directors Tapper and Sweitzer created the original concept for CYTF from a combination of community work and theatrical performances and workshops. Kim described it this way: "…Creative Youth grew out of (a project we called) the Village and (a production of) "A Raisin in the Sun" but it was also its own thing. …We came together from those (projects) and from the theater/dance and community projects that I was doing … and decided to form this organization pulling from our past successes and our passions and what seemed to be a good partnership." They envisioned CYTF as an organization that not only provided performance opportunities to a diverse group of teens, but also to offer grants to individuals each year for summer enrichment programs in the arts.

Over the last four years, CYTF and its generous and visionary supporters, have provided over $35,000 to 26 teenagers to pursue their passions in theater, music, dance, and other forms of personal expression. During these four years, over 350 teenagers were engaged in a combination of acting classes, benefit performances, and traditional theatrical productions between the two locations.

The Altoona troupe, always more inclined towards musical theater, produced a revue each year, culminating this April in a remarkable showcase of individual talent and achievement titled "Why We Sing." In the final year in Middleburg, two groups of teens were cast for the LYI projects, a middle school cast that revisited the bullying theme, and an upper school cast that focused on the ways we communicate and mis-communicate in our wired world. A new team of teachers was hired for the middle school group, Angelle Cook and Adam Minton.

During this time, Tapper and Sweitzer had begun to reconsider the fundraising/performance formula that is at the heart of the foundation. After considering many options, they determined that they could no longer personally sustain working with both groups at their current level of involvement. They also realized that they could reach more children by working exclusively with LYI as independent contractors.

In Altoona, the tightly-knit troupe had reached a point where the teens were graduating and pursuing other avenues in the arts and, rather than start over with a younger group, Tapper and Sweitzer decided to focus their attention on the promising developments in Loudoun County.

Early on, the Middleburg troupe won acclaim with their full-scale production of "To Kill a Mockingbird" in addition to a variety of teen-oriented presentations. Then, Tapper and Sweitzer began to develop a new idea with Loudoun County's Loudoun Youth Initiative (LYI) in Virginia. LYI sponsored the Virginia CYTF team to work with a group of teens from schools throughout the county to write and produce a show for teens about the pressing problem of bullying. The show, "Normal," was highly successful and was seen by over 600 students, parents, and teachers from Loudoun and Fauquier counties. Tapper and Sweitzer were inspired by the breadth of their audiences and the potential represented by the opportunity to work with an expanding number of teenagers.

During this time, the Altoona troupe was renamed The Tom Riley Musical Theater Company to honor the radio personality who had been a CYTF board member and passionate supporter before his untimely death in 2006. It became a matter of course for this multi-talented company to take their performances to the DelGrosso Amusement Park as well as other performance spaces out in the community including the Mishler Theater.

The Artistic Directors and the Board of CYTF are grateful for the generous support of their friends and donors. "With their help, we have guided many teenagers to higher aspirations for their lives. Many have realized passions and are pursuing careers in the performing arts and others have discovered talents that are leading them in unexpected directions. Listed below are some of our students and their summer programs as well as what they pursued or will pursue after leaving CYTF. We are very proud to have offered so many teenagers a platform from which to pursue their dreams," agreed Tapper and Sweitzer.

Summer Programs:
Alex Harris of Middleburg VA, Zach Weirich of Holidaysburg, PA, Keia Summers of Middleburg, VA, Nick Finochio of Delwood, PA attended US Performing Arts Camps in Washington, DC. Alex Harris also attended the Governor's School for the Performing Arts. Keia Summers, Alethea Van Damm of Leesburg, VA, Keenan Jackson of Middleburg attended North Carolina School of the Arts Summer Programs. Brandon Wike of Altoona, Emily Jacoby of Sterling, VA, Cullen Herter of Ashburn, VA attended Camp Ballibay for Performing Arts in Pennsylvania. Haley Noel of Galipton, PA- attended Point Park University for summer dance program. Emily Dennis State College, PA is working in commercials and recently had a small role in her first feature film.

Students in College:
Casey McCorkle of Bellwood PA attends Clarion University (captain of dance team and studying communcation/journalism and production). Stephanie Laino of Altoona attends Gannon University. Haley Noel attends Indiana University of PA (IUP) with a dance minor. Levi Snyder of Altoona attends Penn State studying screenplay writing. Keenan Jackson attends North Carolina School of the Arts studying film, production and direction. Keia Summers attends Morrisville College. Jesse DeLozier of Altoona attended Shenandoah University studying music. Boomer Rose of Purcellville, VA attends Shenandoah University studying theater. Shalia Sakona of State College attends American University. Chelsea Keenan of Altoona attends Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Chase Fiore of Altoona attends Carnegie Mellon University studying technical theater and production. Cate Oliver of Purcellville attends Coastal Carolina University. Willem Krumich of Middleburg was accepted with full scholarship awards at Virginia Commonwealth University for theater. Tully Satre of Culpeper, VA, attends Chicago School of Art and Design. Lowell Hutcheson of Warrenton, VA attends Dennison University studying theater and music. Angela Finelli of Altoona will be attending Shenandoah University this fall to study musical theater. Maria Fusco of Altoona will be attending Point Park University this fall to study dance and education. Jonathan Harris of Tyrone, PA will be attending Point Park University this fall to study musical theater. Lena Clark of Leesburg, VA will be attending Steven F. Austin State University to study theater and American Sign Language.