Young People’s Theatre, Newcastle, Inc. (YPT) is the premier theatrical training institution for youth in the Hunter and has nurtured the careers of many young people with aspirations to continue in the industry. It has provided training and performance opportunities for young people between the ages of 8 and 18 for over 70 years. 400 students attend weekly classes at YPT. As well as staging 6 productions a year, YPT provides technical training and mentors youth directors. Our history is marked with stories of high achievement and potential disaster, ie. from the establishment of a permanent base in Lindsay Street Hamilton in the early 1970s to the loss of our theatre buildings in a devastating fire in September 1995. The Hunter’s theatrical icon, Young People’s Theatre, is the living fulfilment of a dream born in 1948 and grown during the 1950s in the minds of the Novocastrian theatrical team, William and Betty Ford. YPT continues to foster their aim of “theatre for young people by young people” in both class and performance environments.