SADDLE RIVER YOUTH THEATRE

  Mission + Vision

Twenty-Four years ago when I first founded the Saddle River Youth Theatre, we had 15 students. Today, we offer a safe place for our students to learn and grow, with over 200 cast families involved throughout the year and serving an audience of over 6000, we offered 300 classes and 60 performances in 2019. Come see why the Bergen County Division of Cultural Affairs rates the Saddle River Youth Theatre as an, "Outstanding Theatre Program  For Young People!"

​SRYT, Inc. is a 501c3 not-for-profit art

organization since 1996.

  Being Covid-19 concerned, our workshops are taught in well-ventilated, small group settings; all of the children are masked and are monitored prior to entering the theatre by temperature checks and by answering Covid symptom surveys. Social distancing is encouraged and the children are reminded to maintain distance by using our social distance stickers on the stage and risers. 

It is our mission to continue to provide social interaction and learning in a non-virtual setting, as much as possible, in this pandemic time.

Theatre allows children to tell stories about places and circumstances, to create characters and

to become empathetic. 

Students learn responsibility by having to practice lines and dance steps at home but then come to theatre to learn even more

 socially important skills as: 

"Taking Turns"

 (whether in a game or time on stage)

 "Accepting  Positive Criticism"

 (so they can grow and learn from their peers and mentors) 

"Safely Exploring Their Emotions"

(by guided questions about characters and 

conflict such as "What do you think your character is feeling?" Do you think this situation is weird for them?" "How would you resolve it?")

"Finding Time For Fun!"

(happiness breeds curiosity and imaginary play and play is an essential form of learning not only for young children but teens and adults, as well!)

This is such a scary time for everyone, especially the children. While online learning will be essential for their school work, if they have no social interaction at school, they may quickly feel isolated and alone. We want to assure you as our cherished theatre families that RIVERSTAGE/SRYT is determined to keep things as normal as possible for everyone’s sake because now more than ever a feeling of normalcy will be essential for us to get through this together. We ask that you please share our “mission message” with family, friends and neighbors that RIVERSTAGE/SRYT will be a safe haven throughout this time period. 

 Your children are and will always be our number one concern and we want to assure them that we will be here for them in any way that we can be.

We thank you for your support and understanding during this time and we look forward to seeing you very soon!

THE SHOW WILL GO ON!

Christopher Barker

Executive Director

RIVERSTAGE/SRYT