Gemini Theater Company Youth Acting Programs
Gemini Theater Company at Ryan Arts & Culture Center, 420 Chartiers Ave, McKees Rocks, PA 15136
About
Gemini Theater Company Youth Acting Programs include interactive, musical performances for children and their families, acting classes, summer camps, and outreach performances to daycare, preschools, and elementary schools. Acting classes use creative play, puppetry, story writing, theater games, scene work, improvisation, and monologue studies. The program also offers 5-day workshops where participants get hands-on experience in a real theater by creating, writing, producing, and performing a show on the last day of the workshop.
• Ages: 4–17 years old
• Schedule: 5-day workshops, with general weekday hours by appointment during the year and 9am–5pm Monday–Friday during summer, plus weekend hours 12pm–6pm on show days
Gemini Theater Company was established in 1996 as an interactive children’s theater and was recognized as a non-profit organization on February 3, 1997. From 1997 to 2015 it occupied space at The Factory on Penn Avenue in Pittsburgh, later relocating its administrative offices to Indianola in 2015, and in January 2016 it partnered with Focus on Renewal and moved into the Ryan Arts & Culture Center in McKees Rocks. The mission of Gemini Theater Company is to cultivate creativity, imagination and originality through the performing arts.
The leadership team includes Executive Director Jill Jeffrey, Co-Founder Lani Cerveris Cataldi, Marketing & Development Director Dennis Palko, Administrative Assistant Stephanie Cryor, Education Director CJ Clougherty, Production Manager Katheryn Hess, and Managing Director Ryan Westwood. The Board of Directors includes President Caitlin Northup, Vice President Cindy Kroneberg, Secretary Justin Sines, Treasurer John Lane, and members Lani Cataldi, Dennis Palko, Melissa Ringold, Mark Snyder, and Ryan Westwood. Staff credentials include Jill Jeffrey, who holds a BFA in Theatre from Denison University, an MAT in English from Carlow University, serves as adjunct faculty at Duquesne University and Penn State University, and has 20 years of experience acting, directing, and teaching in the profession; Dennis Palko, who holds a BA in Theatre from Point Park University; and Lani Cerveris Cataldi, a composer and musician with over 30 years of experience in the Pittsburgh theater community as an actor, teacher, and artist.
Gemini Children’s Theater responds to reduced funding for arts programs in schools by offering programming, discounted tickets to performances and events, scholarships for acting classes and summer camps, and reduced educational outreach performances for elementary and pre-K children in the local community. The organization provides discounted and free tickets to local organizations and charities as well as to McKees Rocks residents. Tuition assistance is made possible by grants from Paige’s Promise, Kenny’s Club, McSwigan Family Foundation, and the Christopher Lynch Memorial Fund, and Gemini Theater Company gives donations to a variety of local Pittsburgh-based non-profit organizations and partners.
Last updated July 14, 2026.
• Ages: 4–17 years old
• Schedule: 5-day workshops, with general weekday hours by appointment during the year and 9am–5pm Monday–Friday during summer, plus weekend hours 12pm–6pm on show days
Gemini Theater Company was established in 1996 as an interactive children’s theater and was recognized as a non-profit organization on February 3, 1997. From 1997 to 2015 it occupied space at The Factory on Penn Avenue in Pittsburgh, later relocating its administrative offices to Indianola in 2015, and in January 2016 it partnered with Focus on Renewal and moved into the Ryan Arts & Culture Center in McKees Rocks. The mission of Gemini Theater Company is to cultivate creativity, imagination and originality through the performing arts.
The leadership team includes Executive Director Jill Jeffrey, Co-Founder Lani Cerveris Cataldi, Marketing & Development Director Dennis Palko, Administrative Assistant Stephanie Cryor, Education Director CJ Clougherty, Production Manager Katheryn Hess, and Managing Director Ryan Westwood. The Board of Directors includes President Caitlin Northup, Vice President Cindy Kroneberg, Secretary Justin Sines, Treasurer John Lane, and members Lani Cataldi, Dennis Palko, Melissa Ringold, Mark Snyder, and Ryan Westwood. Staff credentials include Jill Jeffrey, who holds a BFA in Theatre from Denison University, an MAT in English from Carlow University, serves as adjunct faculty at Duquesne University and Penn State University, and has 20 years of experience acting, directing, and teaching in the profession; Dennis Palko, who holds a BA in Theatre from Point Park University; and Lani Cerveris Cataldi, a composer and musician with over 30 years of experience in the Pittsburgh theater community as an actor, teacher, and artist.
Gemini Children’s Theater responds to reduced funding for arts programs in schools by offering programming, discounted tickets to performances and events, scholarships for acting classes and summer camps, and reduced educational outreach performances for elementary and pre-K children in the local community. The organization provides discounted and free tickets to local organizations and charities as well as to McKees Rocks residents. Tuition assistance is made possible by grants from Paige’s Promise, Kenny’s Club, McSwigan Family Foundation, and the Christopher Lynch Memorial Fund, and Gemini Theater Company gives donations to a variety of local Pittsburgh-based non-profit organizations and partners.
Last updated July 14, 2026.
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