You can see the world renowned Young Americans perform at the V&A Waterfront, in dates across early April. Do not miss the opportunity to see our “Live in Cape Town” show. From 1962, the Young Americans have been at the pinnacle of excellence in music and dance. From the earliest days in Hollywood, working alongside legends, which included the late Andy Williams and Ed Sullivan, to 2012, where our 3 month international tours saw dates in Tokyo, Los Angeles, London, Dublin and Glasgow, the Young Americans have been electrifying audiences, young and old.

Sunday April 8th 11:30, 12:30, 13:30
You will find us showcasing our talents, right across the V&A Waterfront complex, as we introduce South Africa to unique arrangements of our favourite choral music, sung both acapella, and as part of our acoustic sets. Each performance slot will be around 15 minutes, and give a taster of our passion for life, and love, of music, once you’ve seen us, you’ll want to be back, for our Concert Showcase at the main Amphitheatre later, in the day or, other nights of the week.

Sunday April 8th 17:00, 18:00
We move to the main stage, to further wet your musical appetite with previews from our Concert Showcase. Here you will see what happens when we throw sound and lights into our show, you’ll have time to chat with our cast after each short set, finding out about The Young Americans and the current cast we have in South Africa. If you work in education, or with young people, our Artistic and Booking Directors will be available to chat to you, regarding working with us, in 2014 and beyond.

Sunday April 8th 19:00
Take your seats; get ready for an explosion of talent and passion, decked out in an array of vibrant costume, in a Broadway style show. We promise you’ll be dazzled by the vibrancy and energy of a cast of 50 performers, taking you on a spellbinding journey through full production numbers, including: music from your favourite shows, legendary pop and rock melodies, classical and contemporary dance, together with stunning 8 part choral music, to stir the soul.

Wednesday April 10th 19:00
Perhaps you missed our Sunday night show? We are sure it will have been the talk of the Cape, perhaps you want to experience it all over again? Either way you’ll find us electrifying the stage once more, getting Cape Town rocking’ to a Young American beat. Bring your family, friends and colleagues, for this wonderfully unique, child friendly show.

Saturday April 13th 19:00
Your final opportunity, in 2013, to catch our spectacular show. You’ll travel through time and across musical genres, at an unstoppable pace, with vocal and dance showstoppers, to rival any West End, or Broadway, production. Simply the best way to spend your Saturday night in Cape Town, without costing you cent!

These events are for ALL THE FAMILY, FREE OF CHARGE and open to the public. We are looking forward to seeing you there.

Further Dates TBA

IMOT WORKSHOP PROGRAMMES OR SCHOOL PERFORMANCES
Manenberg High School

ID Mkize High School

Rustenburg High Schools for Girls & Rodenbosch Boys High School & Partners – A Joint Project

Zonnebloem Estate Schools

Monument Park High School

American International School of Cape Town

These events are for the schools, their communities and open to those people invited, by the individual establishment. If you have any questions regarding these workshops, please contact the schools directly.

The main barrier to delivering this opportunity is funding for flights, transport and logistics. You will be supporting us in getting to where we are needed to do our work. Additionally, there are many places we would like to work and schools who would like to work with us that simply can’t afford a standard workshop model. Just as in other towns around the world, we will be staying in the homes of local residents from the international schools and community groups. We are incredibly grateful to the staff and student community of Rustenburg High School for Girls and Rondebosch Boys’ High School for opening their homes to our cast during this inaugural visit.

A UNIQUE INVITATION FOR THE UNITED KINGDOM

We are inviting just 10 schools, teachers, pupil or other long term supporters, to raise £3,000 to facilitate The Young Americans undertaking their workshop program in South Africa in 2013. As part of this, you will have the opportunity to send a student or staff member to South Africa to observe one of the workshops you are supporting. Expressive Arts little or no funding in South Africa’s poorest, most schools do not have any performing arts curriculum, or teachers who can support it. You are now able to join this exciting venture developed alongside current Young Americans host teachers, groups and schools, to ignite a passion for the performing arts, building on the rich and diverse cultural heritage of South Africa. Additionally, we will facilitate connections between the 2 schools following the workshop, with shared cultural and educational benefits for both parties thus ensuring your school can clearly demonstrate an active participation in a cohesive global community. South Africa is a nation which has two sides to every coin, and alongside working against this backdrop, we will be privileged enough to join forces as leaders with some of the best youth music provision on the continent. We’re incredibly excited to have you support in those more deprived areas.

SOUTH AFRICAN SUPPORT & OPPORTUNITIES

As an Educational Charity, this project is entirely self funded. We would like to seek support from the local communities and businesses within the Western Cape, and specifically Cape Town, to support our need for some of the logistical requirements of the tour. If you’re interested in supporting this project with either ‘gifts in kind’ or financial donations, please contact our production teams. We’re always in need of transport, water, cast meals, peprographics as well a local media support, photography, film, etc. In fact, if you think you have something you can offer to support our tour, global vision and mission, get in touch.

GLOBAL SUPPORT

The Young Americans has developed a global networking partnership of which we are incredibly proud. If you’re working with us in another country and would like to support this unique program in some way, please get in touch with our Director of Operations, who will be able to guide you through this process.

The Young Americans is a dynamic group of young people from different countries, cultures, religions and social backgrounds. We are heading to Africa not only to share music and dance, but to celebrate variety, openness, acceptance, creativity and individuality, through the performing arts.

Africa faces many well-documented challenges, however, a significant number of these are surprisingly similar to those faced by students we work with across the world – although often more polarized and extreme. Africa also holds a side which is less well publicized in the media to which we are all exposed – we are heading to Africa to educate ourselves and our young people about the world around us and to locate the unreported excellence that carries on day to day without any global media recognition. We believe self-confidence, self-motivation and self-worth are some of the most important tools for any young person to carve a meaningful place in their community or society as a whole, be that in Cape Town or California. We are going to Africa because we believe we can serve a positive purpose.

We have been thrilled at the level of interest we have received from schools and community groups. On this occasion we have chosen to work alongside Amawele, a charity with a mission to “deliver global learning experiences to school communities, enabling teachers and students to make a difference in their own lives and the lives of others”; a mission which complements our own philosophies. Amawele, and their South African based team, are convinced positive social experiences are as important as food, water and HIV awareness – we thank them for creating links with our partner schools.

We are beginning a new journey, one which will see us discover the magic of the continent of Africa. Beginning in Cape Town, South Africa, we will ensure our program is open to everyone, working will with young people from some of the most socially demanding, isolated and impoverished communities on the planet whilst, in the tour, teaching in successful, aspiring and affluent schools – in the process, breaking down common misunderstandings of a continent with over twice the population of the USA and as third as big again as Europe.

Our aim is sustainability, in taking the first of many workshop programs to schools across Africa, we seek to foster and develop links that will ensure our program remains fully inclusive. If you want us to work with your learners and young people to be a part of our developing future, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Our passion for the importance of the arts, art education and personal self-confidence, self-motivation and self-development, drives us to take our outreach work to the furthest regions of our world, sharing a common philosophy, connecting the global community through performing arts.

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!