Six Changed Lives

by Melanee Wyatt, Founding Artistic Director/Choreographer

When YES COMPANY was originally conceived, the thought of turning young participants into professional actors was not an ultimate goal.  But by giving them the most professional quality and environment in which to train, there are a few who wish to make the theatre their occupation.  This fact is gratifying, but what is even more meaningful are the young lives that have turned around because of the YES COMPANY experience. 

Since the beginning, a major objective has been to guide the young students through a process which will aid them in finding their own inner strength, the power of positive choice, and to instill in them that they are not stuck where they are -  no matter how difficult or ugly it may be.  They learn if they believe in themselves, anything is possible when one is willing to work hard, stay open to the possibilities, and step beyond their own comfort zone.  All of this can be acquired by participating in the entire process of the production. 

 As this is being compiled, I am observing a fifteen year old YES COMPANY alumnae is in her first private voice lesson on scholarship.  She is a young woman who our society would call a “high-risk” teenager.  Mom is trying to carve a new life for her family by returning to school with the support of welfare.  Dad has been incarcerated for physically attacking his youngest son.   

This young woman began with YES COMPANY her eighth grade summer.  After the temptation to live the life of a gang member, she has discovered dreams and goals of a better and fulfilling life. She is a beautiful, young woman standing in a lovely studio next to a baby grand piano.  Her glorious sound is filling the room as she opens her pure spirit to all the positive possibilities her life has in store.  She now knows she is not trapped in her little home with boarded up windows surrounded by dirt roads and sounds of sirens in the night. 

Pages could be filled with stories and accounts of changed lives through the experience of YES COMPANY.  There is Joe who began with YES COMPANY  at age 12 who at 17 states he has discovered conflicts can be resolved with talking and not with fists.  Brandi did not know she had a voice until her first YES COMPANY production her sophomore year in high school. Now she is attending a university on a vocal scholarship.  Pete was starting to hang around with a group who was getting in to trouble during his eighth grade year.  After his first YES COMPANY summer upon entering his freshman year he became active in music, drama and sports. 

There are so many lives that have been touched but one or two must be shared in more detail.  Take for example, Jermaine, a 15 year old High School student who auditioned for YES COMPANY because someone told him he would never make it, let alone stick it out.  Well, Jermaine met the challenge.  Not only was he cast, but he became one of the most active and contributing members of YES COMPANY.  The 1997 production of GREASE was his first affiliation with YES COMPANY.  During his exit interview, Jermaine shared that coming from Oakland, summers were usually spent hanging out on the streets, close to not-so-legal activities.  In the past he felt prejudged by people and mistrusted.  He was always guarded when around strangers, particularly from other ethnic backgrounds.  In fact, he didn’t really like any of them.  Once his first summer was completed, he stated he felt he was “finally seen for who he really was” and that he could actually say he loved some of the cast members and he knew they had become life-long friends.  Jermaine has returned to school to become an active participant in initiating a BSU (Black Students Union) on his campus, enroll in a dance class and try out for the school play. 

Robert is a charter member of YES COMPANY.  As with many of today’s youth, life and home for Robert was not always easy.  His affiliation with the program began at age 12 in YES COMPANY’s first production in 1992 and he continued to play principal roles for a total of six summers.  When Robert first started the program he was one of the students that the director transported every day to and from rehearsals.  He was a very frightened little seventh grader who stayed close to the director’s side.  He was a young student who spent lunch hours in the library or computer room, often teased by his peers.  During Robert’s first summer it was discovered that he had taught himself to play piano by ear.  Upon this discovery of untapped talent, a professor of the Modesto Junior College was contacted and within a month Robert was being given free piano lessons.  The rest as they say is history.

As Robert continued with YES COMPANY his confidence, self esteem and talent blossomed.  In the later years the discipline and dedication he had obtained through YES COMPANY was apparent as he spent two hours on the bus each way to attend daily rehearsals.  He has grown to become a very articulate, gentle, dependable and sincere young man.  His talent and strength of character has enabled Robert to acquire a music scholarship to college.  It is safe to say that YES COMPANY definitely changed Robert’s life.  The talent and character were always inside of him and maybe he would eventually have discovered it himself.  YES COMPANY just helped Robert to find it sooner.

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