Young Santa Barbara County performers, musicians, directors, designers, technicians, and crew members are invited to audition with Youthclusive Sept. 26-27 for the theater group’s next full-length Broadway production “The Prom.”

Young people ages 10-18 are eligible to try out. To sign up, visit here. No participation fee is required, and prior experience is not necessary.

Young people interested in leadership, crew, technical theater, music, or production should complete the same interest form, even if they do not plan to audition for an onstage role.

Youthclusive is entering its third season as a fully year ’round performing arts company, and participation is free.

Youth do not need prior theater experience, professional training, or a traditional casting “type.” They do not need to choose between performing and leading.

At Youthclusive, auditions are used to learn about each young person’s voice, interests, skills and goals – not to decide whether they deserve a place in the company,” the company said.

Young people may join as actors, singers, dancers, or pit musicians, or help build the production through directing, choreography, music direction, stage management, casting, costumes, sets, props, sound, lighting, media, marketing, ticketing, front of house, backstage operations, and the control room.

A number of company members participate in more than one pathway.

Youthclusive is a community-based, youth-founded, youth-led, and youth-directed nonprofit created to remove the barriers that keep young people out of the performing arts

The company began with 14 participants and one central promise: Access would never depend on a family’s ability to pay, prior experience, appearance, identity, disability, neurodiversity, language, body type, or fitting a narrow idea of who belongs in theater.

“Youthclusive charges no participation fees, maintains no wait-list, and does not turn interested youth away,” the organization said. “When more young people arrive, the company expands casts, rehearsals, performances, production departments, crew positions, music opportunities, and leadership pathways so access grows rather than narrows.”

Founder and director Chloe Voigt created Youthclusive at age 14 after recognizing she was not the only young performer being placed into a box.

“I was always put into a box in theater because of my weight and body size,” Voigt said. “Then I started seeing other kids being typecast or excluded because of how they looked, who they were, or how much money their families had.

“I decided that if an adult wasn’t going to fix it, I would.”

Professional artists and adult mentors now work beside Youthclusive’s young people as collaborators, coaches and mentors, but the youth retain creative ownership of the productions and the community they are building.

Youthclusive’ believes its growth demonstrates how strongly its model is resonating.

Its inaugural production “The SpongeBob Musical” sold out every performance. The following season, “High School Musical” more than doubled youth participation and expanded to two casts, four performances, and much larger youth-led teams onstage, backstage, and in the control room, the company reports.

“High School Musical” welcomed 472 audience members, including 181 young people. Through the Santa Barbara Bowl Foundation’s Community Ticket Subsidy program, 99 K–12 students attended free.

Youthclusive then launched its first summer production “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” officially becoming a year-round company. Seventy-five percent of that summer company was new to Youthclusive.

Those participants included youth who could not join during the school year, had limited access to school arts, were priced out of private summer programs, or were looking for meaningful creative and leadership opportunities after aging out of traditional camps, the organization said.

With “The Prom,” Youthclusive begins its third season and prepares to grow again.

“‘The Prom’ is a joyful, funny, and deeply heartfelt musical about young people fighting for the right to be seen, celebrated, and included exactly as they are,” Youthclusive said.

That message reflects Youthclusive’s mission.

The company believes theater becomes stronger when differences are not merely accommodated but celebrated, and when young people are trusted to shape the culture themselves.

“Youthclusive’s page-to-stage model gives participants real responsibility, whether they are delivering a song, calling a cue, designing a costume, mixing microphones, leading choreography, welcoming an audience, or helping another company member find confidence,” the company said.