About NBYT 

Founded in 2010, New Britain Youth Theater and selected by Connecticut Magazine as Connecticut’s Best Children’s Theater in 2017, NBYT is a professionally-run community and educational theater for children and teens. NBYT is - and always has been - a youth theater that accepts children from all towns and communities, with all abilities, any race, any gender, with all  and any level of experience, and to be involved in a variety of ways both onstage and off.

NBYT produces a season of performances by and for children, young adults, & teens, provides after-school arts-integrated and arts-enrichment educational programming, and offers drama classes. NBYT is dedicated to enriching the lives of children and young adults by encouraging creative thinking and collaborative teamwork, fostering self-confidence and self-esteem, and developing social, emotional, and academic skills through involvement in high-quality, affordable, and inclusive programs in the performing arts. NBYT operates its programs in community spaces and schools throughout Greater New Britain, and is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

Staff 

Rae Johnson has a BA in Theatre and Dance from Glassboro State College in New Jersey, and she has worked in theater for over thirty years. Her positions have included teacher, director, costume designer, prop mistress, stage manager,  choreographer, performer, and playwright. She owns and operates CarPort Productions. She has worked up and down the East coast in many theater venues. She performed in Dreamtime, an Off Broadway production, Carousel at North Shore Music Theatre, and West Side Story at Stage One productions.

Patrique Hurd is the new Managing Director here at NBYT, joining Artistic Director Nick LaPorte in November, 2020. She has a BFA in Directing for the University of California and has worked in theater all around the country, both as a Director and actor for over 40 years. She is also the Arts Administrator for the Greater New Britain Arts Alliance. Currently she is running an after school Drama Club at HALS Academy in the Consolidated School District of New Britain as well as entertaining the public on the North Pole Express in Essex.