When the plan for a dedicated Mercer Island Center for the Arts fizzled out, it left Youth Theatre Northwest (YTN) in a pickle, but one it was already somewhat familiar with: it lacked a permanent home. The children’s arts mainstay that served Mercer Island since 1984 had been kicked out of its location on the island in 2014 to make way for another invaluable space for children – Northwood Elementary School. 

At that time, Mercer Island’s Emmanuel Episcopal Church began temporarily hosting YTN. The dramatic and unexpected shift upended how and where Youth Theatre Northwest operates on Mercer Island, deepening YTN’s ties with local organizations that share its values, and setting the stage for reimagined relationships between the theatre and a patchwork of communities surrounding Lake Washington. Gradually, having called the church its home for nine years, YTN grew to treat the location (and shift) as permanent. 

Since its founding, YTN has taken a holistic approach to teaching theater. “Our mission is not to produce actors,” said Mimi Katano, Executive Artistic Director at Youth Theatre Northwest. “Our mission is to produce humans [who] are good and can do good in the world.” Katano underlines that theater skills are a life skill; YTN strives to teach empathy, strengthen community, and build confidence in its students.

The non-profit organization offers this opportunity from a very young age. Two-year-olds learn story drama, which, Katano said, helps them “get into using their imagination” before moving onto performance-specific theater. Katano recommends that kids interested in getting involved start by attending a YTN play, or any other local play – going to a show can be an informative experience for aspiring actors. YTN often teaches students through the end of high school, offering them the opportunity to perform in tried-and-true plays and musicals as well as act in original plays. For example, YTN commissioned Wise Kids of Chelm, which ran in December 2023, based on Yiddish folktales. Older kids can also volunteer at YTN, including as stage crew that work under professional stage managers –and doing so saves them having to pay tuition.

Off the island, YTN establishes residencies at schools and in communities lacking art programming. The organization brings “a show in a box” that can be set up with the help of the local PTA to help expand access to drama education – as well as the critical life skills that theater can teach students. 

These efforts, in addition to the Covid-19 pandemic, have diversified YTN’s student body. Where Mercer Island families once made up 75% of its ranks, nearly two-thirds of YTN’s students now hail from outside Mercer Island. Staying open throughout the most acute months of the pandemic – while following strict protocols around masking and ventilation – were key to YTN’s new regional role, Katano said. 

“I think that saved a lot of kids who were doing online school and were just going insane,” she said. “That kept the community that we had, but also brought in people who were looking for that for their children.”

Playing host to YTN for the last nine years, Emmanuel Episcopal Church has played a central role in YTN’s new direction. In the parish hall, which was refurbished into a black box theater after YTN moved in, the theatre continues to have a home on the island, albeit in a shared space. “We shifted our focus from having a big home on Mercer Island to having a home base on Mercer Island,” Katano said. 

With light rail’s arrival now imminent, YTN anticipates a new cohort of promising young actors filling up its ranks. The new infrastructure will allow kids from a wider range of educational and economic backgrounds to reach the island and gain access to the theatre’s holistic training – nurturing empathy and confidence both on and off the stage.