Metropolitan Educational Theatre Network (MET2)

Metropolitan Educational Theatre Network (MET2) offers instruction in acting, singing, dancing, improvisation, pantomime, voice projection, and stage movement. Participants also work on audition techniques, self-expression, creative dramatics, theatre games, musicality, and choreographed movement as part of the program’s workshops and rehearsals.

• Ages: 5–18 years old

The program’s mission is to provide students of all ages with experiences in educational theatre through activities such as improvisation, pantomime, voice projection, stage movement, acting, singing, dancing, and audition techniques. It also states a focus on self-respect, self-confidence, discipline, awareness, imagination, creativity, determination, social skills, memorization techniques, motor skills, and coordination through creative dramatics, with the goal of enhancing each student’s self-esteem, grace, and poise on stage and off. MET2 offers live theatrical performances to local educational institutions and community groups and provides teachers with a curriculum-based teaching packet, and it presents public performances intended to promote Metropolitan Educational Theatre Network and give the local community a chance to support young people in the arts. Everyone who registers and completes the workshops and rehearsals is assured a role on stage in production performances, and production casts have included 100 to 300 young people from kindergarten through the college level, along with many parents and older relatives.

Metropolitan Educational Theatre Network is a non-profit educational organization that focuses on having young people participate as actors, singers, and dancers, and it describes its program as distinct from adult theatre in motivation, presentation, and interpretation. The program builds on children’s natural abilities by asking them to use their creative energies and imaginations, and its weekly workshops and rehearsals are described as building a spirit of confidence and cooperation within the theatrical setting. MET2 notes that no gum, food, or drinks are allowed in rehearsals, and parents pay for costumes and are asked to treat costumes and belongings with great care.

Alex H. Urban founded MET2 and served as its Artistic Director at the time of his death in 2007 at age 65, and his widow and business partner, Kathie Urban, is also named in the leadership. The company has performed for over thirty years. Alex H. Urban held lifetime teaching credentials in grades K–12 in both California and Illinois and had over thirty years of classroom teaching experience. He earned Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees from the University of Illinois in music, psychology, and theatre, completed extensive post-graduate work, and was to begin work for his Doctorate at Columbia University in New York. He served on the faculties of the University of Illinois, the University of Connecticut, and the California State University system, and his teaching experience included close to forty years as a teacher, administrator, counselor, and program development specialist, including eleven years as Chairman of the Fine Arts Department at Justin-Siena High School, where he taught Theatre Arts and English.

Alex H. Urban received recognition from the National Parent-Teacher Association’s “Who’s Who in American Education” and an Honorary Life Membership to the California Congress of Parents and Teachers. He was also given awards by the Danforth and Fulbright Foundations and the National Council of Teachers of English, and his children’s theatres received official proclamations from the State of California. Shortly after his death, his contribution to educating young people in the arts was acknowledged by the Life Through Arts Foundation, and in 2014 National Youth Arts posthumously awarded him, along with Kathie Urban, its first honor for Lifetime Contribution to Youth Theatre. There is a scholarship in his name at Justin-Siena High School and with MET2 for graduating seniors who plan on pursuing a career in the performing arts.

The company reports that it has performed in high school, college, community, and dinner theatres, in large outdoor tents, and in various professional theatrical venues throughout California, New York, Moscow, London, Paris, Australia, and New Zealand. MET2 states that it proudly operates in four communities throughout Southern California: San Diego/North County, East San Gabriel Valley, Torrance/South Bay, and San Fernando Valley. One participant, Paige (age 8), shared, “I absolutely love MET2!!!! I performed in two shows with them before I moved across the country. I love how the cast and staff made me feel...”

Last updated June 7, 2026.