Originally the children's section of Southampton Operatic Society for many years, we gained our independence in 2018 when Dynamic Youth Theatre was established by Steve as a registered charity in its own right. Led by a committed and experienced board of trustees  the charity specialises in developing the performing arts in children. We put on two productions a year, our last being 'Joseph & The Technicolor Dreamcoat' in January 2026. Steve & Karen have been involved for nearly 20 years, with Karen having various roles over the years including treasurer, licensed chaperone, designing the programmes, sourcing props and being part of the stage crew. Steve looks after the charity governance, performance licensing, IT support & membership systems, the sound design & production for our performances, and also sometimes finds himself making streetlamps, trees in buckets full of concrete, bookshelves and other items of set and props.

But Karen & Steve are only two of the nine trustees of DYT and not the most hardworking either (did we really just admit to that?). Other trustees, such as Wendy who plans and directs our shows, Em & Anita who choreograph them, Rachael who is our musical director, Cait and Joe (also our Safeguarding Officer) who help manage the rehearsals, are involved with the children every week as they work on our latest production. Then you have Jason who chairs our board, stage manages the productions and builds our sets.

And that's not forgetting all of our volunteer chaperones, Adge, Steve & Nat who do our lighting design, and even some of the older children who help at rehearsals. We also have numerous volunteers who help us with fundraising such as Carmen, Dave, Noah and Ffionn to name but a few. Then finally of course there's our daughter Sam, who designed and looks after DYT's website. In their younger years both Sam and Tasha were performing members of DYT.

So DYT is a real team effort which has a family feel about it. Even some of those who were child members in productions years ago, such as Joe and Cait for example, and who are now adults with families of their own, have stayed with us and are now trustees!

All of us care very deeply about DYT and the life skills it gives to our young members, so all of the proceeds from our party's casino will be donated to DYT to help fund the charity (so spend lots!).

If you want to learn more about DYT you can visit our website here.