Christian Youth Theater - Chicago

CYT Chicago History

When Tom and Bonnie Bienert moved from San Diego to the Chicago area in 1995 there was one thing they left back home that their kids couldn't live without... it was CYT.

CYT had a long history in San Diego as the premiere youth theater program in the country founded by Dr. Paul and Sheryl Russell in 1981.

The Bienert family began networking once they arrived and three years later they proposed a CYT satellite in the Chicagoland area to Paul and Sheryl.  After some persuasion and with the addition of Justin Parks from the San Diego program as Artistic Director, the Russells agreed.

In 1997 the trio kicked off CYT Chicago with a small touring show based in Crystal Lake called Disney Spectacular, featuring a cast of 21 students.  As a result, CYT grew to 110 students in the first session of classes and the first full scale production of Little House on the Prairie drew nearly 3,000 patrons at Christian Fellowship church.  (One of the unique features of this space was that actors could only enter the backstage through outside windows.)

While McHenry County continued to grow, other families began to ask the same question that the Bienert family asked: "How can I bring CYT to my community?"

In 1998 after viewing Little House on the Prairie, several families from the Lakeland Homeschool group which included the Allens, Andersons, Balasas, Contreras, Flowers and Plumbergs invited Justin Parks to help them produce a small Christmas musical, Arch the Angel.  It was from that original group of 30 kids that a summer camp program was established and in 1999 Lake county CYT kicked off its first session with a production of, you guessed it, Little House on the Prairie.

A few years later, the Svoboda and Church families inquired about bringing CYT closer to their homes in Northwest Cook County.  Soon after, a camp program was implemented at Cutting Hall and by the fall of 2001, CYT Northwest Cook was opened under their leadership with the production of Annie.

Two years later, the Gawlik family successfully brought CYT to Kane County.  Kane's first production, Annie, was produced at The Hemmens under the direction of Matt Madigan, a CYT alumni and original member of the cast of Disney Spectacular.

The Duvall family who had been involved with CYT McHenry 1998-99 before moving to Naperville, stepped up to the plate to bring CYT to their new home in DuPage county with its first production of Robin Hood in 2005.

CYT came to Rockford Metro, IL in winter 2007 with the leadership of Terry Miller.  Terry had surfed the net looking for Christian based theater companies in our area and he found Chicago CYT.  Rockford started with a summer camp in 2006 then classes and the production of Seussical the Musical opened winter of 2007.

CYT Chicago is now the second largest youth theater program of its kind in the country with over 5,500 students annually.

In addition to reaching the Chicagoland area, CYT Chicago members have been instrumental in the start-up of CYT programs across the country.  In 2000, the Taylor family along with Justin Parks brought CYT to Kansas City.  That program is thriving with three programs and several thousand students annually.

In 2002, Beka Hardt and Josh Kirk former teachers and directors for CYT Chicago became the founding Artistic Directors for CYT Vancouver and CYT Denver.

In 2006, CYT Houston opened under the leadership of the Hallford family who were heavily involved with the start-up of CYT Chicago in 1998-99.

CYT programs are now across the nation in Anderson SC, Atlanta GA, Denver CO, Kansas City KS, Phoenix AZ, Richmond VA, San Diego CA, Spokane WA, Tucson AZ, Vancover WA, as well as right here in Chicago IL.  God willing, there will be a CYT program in every major city so that when families like the Bienerts move to a new home they can simply look up "CYT" in the phone book and find one.