We are now combining the show and dinner on Sunday at the Riverside Convention Center. We’ll be bringing in a stage, lighting, sound, everything to make this a spectacular show. Cocktails and hoer devours will begin at 3:30pm and the show will now start at 4:30pm. The first act will include 12-minute acts performed by alumni from each of the five decades, then the second act will feature the entire current cast of The Young Americans. Dessert, hugs, and goodbyes will end the evening at about 9:30pm.

Riverside Convention Center
3443 Orange Street
Riverside, CA 92501

PLEASE NOTE:  The theater capacity is 770 so guests will be limited to spouses or partners of alumni.

If you would like to participate in your decade’s act please contact your producer below:

• 60’s   Trisha Gooch Stein, Rosemary O’Brien, Rod Burton, Marla Small Patterson, AND Jim and Judy Bates
• 70’s   Cheri Eichen Steinkellner, Kye Brackett, and Mindy Dow Broadley
• 80’s   Cynthia Florek Anthony and Michael Jones
• 90’s   Sean and Sandy Sooter
• 2000’s  Ivan Wimbish, Nada Nasserdeen, Tara Smart, Jamal Nasserdeen

The wonderful Mark Walberg will be our M.C. and the amazing Corkey Lee will be our Stage Manager.

Due to rehearsal schedules, you will only be able to perform in one cast. If your years in the group span more than one decade, you must choose which cast you would like to be in.

We also need people from your generation in the audience to cheer for your friends, so if you’ve long retired your tap shoes and only sing in the shower these days, please don’t feel pressured into performing.  We want this to be a fun experience whether you’re tapping or clapping.

Please click on the links below to blog about your decade’s act. Since not everyone is on FB, we have set up blogs here. This will be a better way to communicate your ideas for your decade’s act in the reunion show and will allow everyone to participate in the discussion. Please go to your decade to post your ideas and to read what others think. Your producers will be making the final decisions but I’m sure they will welcome any and all suggestions. Thanks everyone!

The show will feature a tribute to all our brothers and sisters who will be watching us from above. Please see the list of those who have passed and let us know if there are others we might have missed. We ask that you send copies of any photos to rneece@youngamericans.org or video you may have of the people we are honoring to the Young Americans office, to the attention of Randy Neece.

2025 Compton Ave Corona, CA 92881 951-520-0984 SOLD OUT!

Residence Inn by Marriott Corona Riverside 1015 Montecito Drive Corona, CA 92879 951-371-0107

Registration Opens: 5:00 pm (or pre-register online)
Welcome Party: 5:00 pm – 9:00 pm

SATURDAY (April 14, 2012)
At the Young Americans campus in Corona, CA
Visit with friends; tour the Young Americans campus; and the ‘60s, ‘70s, and ‘80s casts can participate in scheduled rehearsals for “The Big Show”.  In the evening, attend the FREE cabaret where Young Americans from all generations will perform (solos and small groups).  Food and drink costs will be up to you at the food carts and no host bar.*

Registration Opens: 9:30 am (or pre-register online)
Campus Activities: 9:30 am – 10:30 pm
Food Available*: 11:00 am – 10:30 pm
Informal Meet and Greet with Bill and Robyn Brawley: 11:00 am – 12:00 noon

Rehearsals for “The Big Show”:

Informal Meet and Greet with Milton Anderson: 4:15 pm – 5:15 pm
Cabaret: 7:00 pm – 10:30 pm

SUNDAY (April 15, 2012)
Campus will be open throughout the morning and early afternoon, and casts for the ‘90s and 2000’s can participate in scheduled rehearsals for “The Big Show” later that afternoon.  At the Riverside Convention Center in Riverside, CA, cocktails and hors d’oeuvres will be served at 3:30 pm.  At 4:30 pm, begins “The Big Show” and will be in two acts.  Dinner will be served between the acts and dessert will follow the show.  You can watch and/or participate in “The Big Show” with performances by alumni from each Young American decade and the current Young Americans cast.

If you register by March 15th, cost for the show and dinner is $65.  After March 15th, the cost will go up to $80.

Registration Opens at Campus: 9:30 am (or pre-register online)
Campus Activities: 9:30 am – 2:00 pm
Lunch Available*: 11:00 am – 2:00 pm

Rehearsals for “The Big Show”:

Riverside Convention Center
3443 Orange Street
Riverside, CA 92501

Buses Transport Alumni (if needed) to Convention Center: 2:00 pm – 3:15 pm

Registration Opens at at Convention Center: 3:00 pm (or pre-register online)
Cocktails and Hors d’oeuvres: 3:30 pm – 4:30 pm
“The Big Show” (Act 1 – YA Alumni): 4:30 pm – 6:00 pm
“The Big Show” (Act 2 – Current YAs): 7:00 pm – 7:45 pm
Dessert, Hugs, and Good-byes: 7:45 pm – 9:00 pm

*FOOD (FOR ALL DAY SATURDAY, SAT. EVENING, and SUNDAY LUNCH)
Approximately 8 carts will be in place for you to purchase food and drinks including hamburgers, hot dogs, pizza, salad, fresh cookies, popcorn, etc. Tickets will be sold to purchase these food items.  Anyone who has purchased a lunch through registration will receive their food tickets in their welcome packet when they check in.  Otherwise, you can buy food and drink tickets at anytime during the event.

PERFORMING OPPORTUNITIES:
If you decide you would like to perform in the Saturday evening cabaret, please sign up by clicking on the link below to the Young Americans 50th Reunion website at www.youngamericans.org/reunion.  Then, when you get to the main webpage, click on the “Schedule” tab.  Scroll down to where it says “Saturday, April 14th – Evening” and click on the area highlighted in white that says “Click here to register”.  A form will come up for you to fill out and submit.

If you decide you would like to perform in the 12-minute act of your decade in “The Big Show” on Sunday, you will find details about the producers and rehearsal schedule, by clicking on the link to The Young Americans 50th Reunion website below.  Then, when you get to the main webpage, click on “The Show” tab.  Once you register, your producers will be in touch with you about the material and details about the act.

Don’t want to perform?  Not a problem!  It’s strictly optional!  You can sit in the audience and enjoy the Saturday evening cabaret and/or “The Big Show” on Sunday!

So you can do some events or all!  But please register and find additional details about the Reunion at: www.youngamericans.org/reunion

It’s an opportunity of a lifetime to see old friends and celebrate fifty years in the history of The Young Americans!

NOTE:
Only alumni and guests who have registered will be admitted onto the campus or the Convention Center during the Reunion.  So even if you are just coming to the free cabaret on Saturday evening, or just stopping by to see friends, you must still register online (use discount code "YA-Saturday" if you’re only attending events on campus, but not the dinner or performance).  A name tag will be prepared for you and you must have one to be admitted to any of the activities.  This is for security reasons.  Please go online and register so we can have your name tag ready when you arrive. Thanks everybody!

The Summer Camp is approaching fast and we wanted to remember some of the great stories from last year to get us ready and excited for what’s to come this year!

I know I speak for all the Young Americans when I say our lives have been changed because of you all. I know that if we wanted you to take one thing away from camp it would be, you are all beautiful, talented and strong people. The only thing you have to do is reach inside yourself and show it to the world. And on a personal note, thank you for sharing your beautiful souls with me. -Bri K-

Our second workshop in Germany was a great success with over 275 students in Kassel!

When we arrived the school’s choir sang for us some pieces that they had been working on, Viva la Vida and The Lion Sleeps Tonight! We knew right away that this was going to be an amazing workshop, all of the students were very excited to get started! One inspiring little girl in particular stole the hearts of all the Young Americans. Her name is Begum she is 10 years old and lives with a bone disorder which requires the aid of a wheelchair. She was often up dancing along with whatever music was playing and she would have everyone dancing with her.

She learned a solo with Bekah Jordan and this is what she had to say about the experience:
“I had the honour and privilege of getting to teach Begum a singing solo in the show and although I may have been teaching her text and notes, she taught me so much more. She had so much life and enthusiasm and love for everything she did. At the end of the workshop she she told me thank you for for teaching her and letting her sing, but really I wanted to say thank you because she taught me so much about myself. She taught me that no one should just sit down because no matter what your struggle is, you can always overcome it.”
We did two shows and they were both wonderful! We loved our time in Kassel!

Imagine one of the most beautiful rocky coast lines perhaps in the world. Where the mountains are filled with lush, deep green trees. Where the white capped waves roll over mini rock islands, and the water is a deep royal blue. The fish and fruits in the market are so fresh you would think you had picked them with their own hands.

Then on what seemed to be a normal spring morning your whole world literally gets flipped upside down. In an instant life once again becomes the most important thing.

Our journey up here was surreal to say the least. All of us trying to stay our charismatic selves, keeping in good spirits all the while with butterflies in our stomachs because no one knew what to expect. Driving by the natural beauty that is Japan, only to be reminded by signs to Sendai and Ishinomaki, (some of the areas with the worst earthquake and tsunami damage) That we were heading towards a site none of us had ever seen first hand.

There are really no words to express what we drive by everyday on the way to a workshop, just 100 miles of nothing. It almost doesn’t feel real sometimes. It’s like you’re on some Will Smith blockbuster set where everything around you has been destroyed and you’re waiting for the hero to save the day. Only there is no one person to do this job, and nothing can bring life back to the people who lost it.

Buses don’t belong on rooftops.Houses don’t belong upside down, trains don’t belong in a crop field. And this is AFTER 6 MONTHS of clean up.

Then there is the beauty. Beauty in the countryside and the now calming sound of ocean. Beauty in the people getting off the volunteer buses in the crazy heat to continue to clean up the mess. Beauty in the little old ladies tending to their freshly laid out gardens or crops. Beauty in people loving their home space so much that they are willing to sleep in a tent next to the remains of their house while construction continues on their new one. Beauty in the little kids we have worked with so far, who think we’re some kind of weird alien but will laugh with us anyway. Beauty in the people of Japan who accept this horror and move on with love left in their hearts.

This month is not about how many times we can teach kids a song or dance. It is about growing as people and sharing moments of joy, pain, and love with those whom our paths are lucky enough to cross. The power to give when you have nothing. This is what is being taught to me. The love that’s being spilled upon us is unlike anything I have ever experienced. And all I can hope ours can be felt in return.

Yesterday we worked with kids who are living in one of the many shelters in the area. Here we played games, baked cookies, made origami animals, and just had FUN! When we are at these shelters we are working with a tsunami relief group called “Project Yui”. Since April they have been coming up to these areas, collecting everything from food and water to everyday house hold goods. Then they pass everything out to places such as these shelters. Not only are they doing this relief work but are also making a huge amount of time to play with kids. (Kind of like an afternoon YMCA program.) We even have been working with some Project Yui members that participated in YA workshops last year!

Today we move from our hotel to a hostel for 3 days and 3 nights as we prepare to do workshops with 3rd and 4th graders, and then the next day 1st and 2nd graders. AKA arguably the cutest little “nuggets” (YA slang for small children) ever There is nothing like hearing the pure joy in a child’s laugh, ah yes we are the lucky ones.

Imagine one of the most beautiful rocky coast lines perhaps in the world. Where the mountains are filled with lush, deep green trees. Where the white capped waves roll over mini rock islands, and the water is a deep royal blue. The fish and fruits in the market are so fresh you would think you had picked them with their own hands.

Then on what seemed to be a normal spring morning your whole world literally gets flipped upside down. In an instant life once again becomes the most important thing.

Our journey up here was surreal to say the least. All of us trying to stay our charismatic selves, keeping in good spirits all the while with butterflies in our stomachs because no one knew what to expect. Driving by the natural beauty that is Japan, only to be reminded by signs to Sendai and Ishinomaki, (some of the areas with the worst earthquake and tsunami damage) That we were heading towards a site none of us had ever seen first hand.

There are really no words to express what we drive by everyday on the way to a workshop, just 100 miles of nothing. It almost doesn’t feel real sometimes. It’s like you’re on some Will Smith blockbuster set where everything around you has been destroyed and you’re waiting for the hero to save the day. Only there is no one person to do this job, and nothing can bring life back to the people who lost it.

Buses don’t belong on rooftops.Houses don’t belong upside down, trains don’t belong in a crop field. And this is AFTER 6 MONTHS of clean up.

Then there is the beauty. Beauty in the countryside and the now calming sound of ocean. Beauty in the people getting off the volunteer buses in the crazy heat to continue to clean up the mess. Beauty in the little old ladies tending to their freshly laid out gardens or crops. Beauty in people loving their home space so much that they are willing to sleep in a tent next to the remains of their house while construction continues on their new one. Beauty in the little kids we have worked with so far, who think we’re some kind of weird alien but will laugh with us anyway. Beauty in the people of Japan who accept this horror and move on with love left in their hearts.

This month is not about how many times we can teach kids a song or dance. It is about growing as people and sharing moments of joy, pain, and love with those whom our paths are lucky enough to cross. The power to give when you have nothing. This is what is being taught to me. The love that’s being spilled upon us is unlike anything I have ever experienced. And all I can hope ours can be felt in return.

Yesterday we worked with kids who are living in one of the many shelters in the area. Here we played games, baked cookies, made origami animals, and just had FUN! When we are at these shelters we are working with a tsunami relief group called “Project Yui”. Since April they have been coming up to these areas, collecting everything from food and water to everyday house hold goods. Then they pass everything out to places such as these shelters. Not only are they doing this relief work but are also making a huge amount of time to play with kids. (Kind of like an afternoon YMCA program.) We even have been working with some Project Yui members that participated in YA workshops last year!

Today we move from our hotel to a hostel for 3 days and 3 nights as we prepare to do workshops with 3rd and 4th graders, and then the next day 1st and 2nd graders. AKA arguably the cutest little “nuggets” (YA slang for small children) ever There is nothing like hearing the pure joy in a child’s laugh, ah yes we are the lucky ones.