STEP 2026: Getting Back to Once Upon a Time

August 25, 2026 | By E’Lyric Christopher, Communications and Marketing Coordinator

At Cleveland Public Theatre, one of Y.O.U.’s summer worksites, teens spend the summer writing, building, and performing their own original play.

This summer, a group of Cleveland youth wrote a play, built the set, and took it on the road. From July 23 through August 2, Cleveland Public Theatre's Student Theatre Enrichment Program (STEP) performed Getting Back to Once Upon a Time in eight neighborhoods across the city — a free, 60-minute original show that combines theater, music, spoken word, and dance. The story follows a small community trying to understand what stories mean, why they matter, and how to hold onto the joy and hope they bring.

STEP is one of Y.O.U.'s summer worksites providing young artists with paid, hands-on work experience in the arts. During the eight-week program, participants ages 14 to 19 work alongside teaching artists to create and produce an original show. This year's ensemble included 29 performers and a nine-person technical crew who handled the sets, props, and sound throughout the tour. Founded in 1994, STEP is the longest-running arts-based workforce development program in Cleveland and has been recognized by the City of Cleveland, the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, and the National Endowment for the Arts. 

What sets STEP apart from most youth theater is that the students aren't handed a finished script. The play is created  from scratch over the course of the summer. The performers spend weeks journaling, improvising, singing, and dancing alongside the teaching artists to shape each scene, and they're credited as co-writers of the final production.  Before the tour, participants rehearse in the parks where they will perform so they can get comfortable in each space. They also walk the surrounding neighborhoods to invite residents to the show and build familiarity with the communities they are visiting. 

Melissa Crum, CPT's Director of Education, told the audience that the students create, write, produce, and tour an original play, working hard and collaboratively with one another, the staff, and the community. She describes the program’s mission as both job training and an opportunity for young people to understand that their voices matter. 

The partnership between Y.O.U. and CPT goes back years. I know because I came through STEP as a student, and I was on staff during the first summer Y.O.U. and CPT worked together, over a decade ago. Seeing the program continue, with the same investment in each new group of young people, is part of what makes the program especially meaningful to me 

For the teens in this year's ensemble, the summer was both a job and something personal.