Center Theater Company Youth Training Program

Center Theater Company features theater productions in which kids take part in specific shows such as The Secret Garden musical production. Young actors are placed at the center of the creative process, and the shows are both by kids and for kids. The program welcomes ideas like adding a Taylor Swift song to a Midsummer Night’s Dream, trying out fun blocking ideas, and bringing in costume ideas to put on and show.

Jenny Latimer serves as Artistic Director of Center Theater Company. She is a professional actress and director who has performed with Broadway National Tours, Off-Broadway shows, and Regional Theaters in Utah, Texas, Connecticut, Maryland, California, and New York, and she has been a guest performer on America’s Got Talent and the Academy Awards. She directed the world premiere of Claybourne Elder’s “Around the World in 80 Days,” a screwball musical comedy at Theater Raleigh, and is directing “Into the Breeches” as part of Theater Raleigh’s 2021 season. She holds an MFA in acting from UNC Chapel Hill, where she created and taught musical theater classes for undergraduates and directed a gender-bent version of Romeo and Juliet and a new work called “The Kritik.” The program’s mission states that every human, big or small, deserves to feel empowered to create, and that learning to take direction is important, but it is described as more important for kids to follow their impulses and have their own creative ideas heard and implemented.

Last updated April 20, 2026.