Monday Top Ten: YES Company’s Melanee Wyatt

A beloved classic musical will help Stanislaus County’s Youth Entertainment Stage troupe – aka YES Company – celebrate its 25th anniversary performance, beginning later this week.

Regional youths will offer the community its “Les Misérables: School Edition” from Friday, July 22, through Sunday, July 31, at Gallo Center for the Arts.

Run through the Stanislaus County Office of Education, YES Company has been offering major productions and smaller performances throughout the region since 1992. To help mark the anniversary, Melanee Wyatt, YES Company’s founding artistic director and its theatrical director and choreographer, offers the top 10 things to know about the troupe.

1. YES Company, a special project of The Stanislaus County Office Of Education, is a performing arts, prevention and career education program that provides a comprehensive learning experience for students to acquire positive alternatives to potential high-risk behaviors.

2. YES Company is much more than “putting on a show.” Many students in the program have never been involved or exposed to theater. The diverse group of youths gain a sense of community, learns to trust, accept and celebrate one another’s differences. Lifelong friendships are formed.

3. Since its inception in 1992, YES Company has innovatively utilized theater as a tool to achieve its goals. Theater breaks down cultural, economic, social and academic boundaries, providing skills that can be used in numerous life experiences.

4. Initially, YES Company was targeted to at-risk youths – those who would not normally be exposed to theater who might otherwise spend the summer months roaming the streets (hanging with gangs), watching TV, getting into trouble. The need also existed to bridge the chasm between ethnic groups and to help students build confidence. YES Company continues this outreach, now extending to all youths in Stanislaus County throughout the entire year.

5. Participants spanning grades 1 through 12 are brought together and discover latent talents and abilities, develop responsibility, discipline and improved communication skills, and experience enhanced self-esteem by working toward a common goal that results in the attainment of a work ethic desired by future employers.

6. YES Company strands – YES Kidettes, YES Kids and the YES Company Intensive Summer Program – provide the enriching opportunity for 300 to 400 students annually to train in the performing arts, concluding with multiple performances of three fully staged musical productions in three local theaters, including Gallo Center for the Arts. These performances plus those of YES ambassadors are presented to an estimated 10,000 community members.

7. YES Company has developed partnerships and collaboration with performing arts professionals, community businesses, philanthropic clubs and elementary through university institutions, which in turn provide the community with an opportunity to observe and work closely with youths in productive, positive activities. For example: YES ambassadors perform year-round as entertainers or speakers at several venues in the area, including state and local conferences. YES also partakes annually in the Fourth of July parade.

8. Over the course of YES Company’s progress, a high level of production value in training, performance and technical quality has been established and anticipated by the community and all those involved directly with the program. Audiences and donors have come to expect that the process of the program be integral to the participants, including the professional quality of the production performances.

9. Via fundraising, grants and private donations, YES Company has provided its graduates over $23,750 in senior awards/scholarships and over $57,100 in participation tuition for YES Company, YES Kidettes and YES Kids.

10. YES Company alumni who are now parents are bringing their children to participate in YES Kidettes and YES Kids, happily categorized as YES legacies. YES alumni and YES grads continue to return as volunteers, mentors and production staff.

This story was originally published July 15, 2016 at 12:24 PM with the headline "Monday Top Ten: YES Company’s Melanee Wyatt."