YouthFest 2025
Join us in Des Moines for YouthFest 2025, where talented young performers from across the country come together to showcase their skills. This festival celebrates the creativity and passion of youth in theatre through performances, workshops, and more!
Thank You for an Incredible Festival
AACT YouthFest, June 22-24, 2025, in Des Moines, Iowa
YouthFest
National Festival
AACTFest Cycle
Seven outstanding youth theatre companies from across the country took the stage at AACT YouthFest 2025 in Des Moines, Iowa, showcasing incredible talent, creativity, and passion for theatre. Each performance was adjudicated in an open forum designed to encourage learning, growth, and celebration of young artists.
In addition to powerful performances, participants engaged in workshops, activities, and social events designed just for them - including fan-favorite events like Showtune Karaoke!
We’re deeply grateful to the Jack K. Ayre and Frank Lee Ayre Foundation for their generous support, which provided travel and housing funding to help bring these young performers together.
This year’s format, held in the days leading up to AACTFest and hosted by the Des Moines Playhouse, allowed for extended youth performances, expanded youth-centered workshops, and exciting social opportunities, making it our most dynamic YouthFest yet.
Thank you to all the performers, directors, families, volunteers, and supporters who made YouthFest 2025 a week to remember. We can’t wait to see what these talented young artists do next and look forward to our next YouthFest celebration!
What's New for 2025
Previously, YouthFest took place alongside AACTFest, our national festival, which meant a limited schedule and only a few youth performances.
For 2025, YouthFest will be held in the days leading up to AACTFest, hosted by the Des Moines Playhouse. This change gives us the flexibility to offer extended youth performances, welcome more youth performing companies, and expand the number of youth-centered workshops. We’re also planning to introduce even more YouthFest events and opportunities—including exciting social activities like Showtune Karaoke with a live pianist!
All YouthFest registrants will also receive a special discount on AACTFest registration, opening the door for up to seven days packed with performances, workshops, keynotes, mentoring, networking, and lifelong memories for both you and your students.
- The deadline to pre-select your T-shirt size is now closed, as we’ve have submitted the T-shirt order for printing. Onsite, size availability will be limited. To redeem your T-shirt, please visit registration to choose from the remaining sizes
Festival Dates & Locations
- YouthFest: Sunday, June 22 - Tuesday, June 24 at Des Moines Playhouse, Des Moines, Iowa - Schedule at a Glance
- AACTFest: Wednesday, June 25 - Saturday, June 28 at Hoyt Sherman Place [more information here]
- Des Moines Marriott Downtown is the official festival hotel for both YouthFest and AACTFest [more information here]
- Travel & Hotel Discounts are available [more information here]
- Refund Policy - [more information]
Get the Whova App
Plan your festival experience with ease! Scan the QR code to download the Whova App and:
✅ View the full schedule
✅ Build your personal agenda
✅ Get real-time updates
✅ Connect with fellow attendees
✅ Access maps, info, and more!
Don’t miss a moment of the magic... Whova is your all-in-one festival guide!
Applying to Perform?
Important dates:
- Deadline to submit was July 31, 2024
- Notification of Acceptances will be sent no later than September 16, 2024
- Publicity and Marketing Materials are due to AACT no later than October 10, 2024
- Selected Theatres are to complete their Funding Requests by October 10, 2024
- Notifications of funding amounts will be sent by November 30, 2024
- Theatre Companies must register by March 1, 2025
- Submit AACT YouthFest Technical Form by March 1, 2025
Inquiries can be sent to AACT YouthFest Chair, Katy Merriman at [email protected].
Online Forms
- Entry Information (Form T1)- View/Complete
- Warranty of Company Compliance (Form T2) - View/Complete
- Technical Information Form (Form T4) - View/Complete
- Program Information Form - View/Complete
special thanks to youthfest 2025 sponsors
the Jack K. Ayre and Frank Ayre Lee Theatre Foundation
AACT YouthFest 2025 is made possible in part by a grant from the Jack K. Ayre and Frank Ayre Lee Theatre Foundation.
Jack K. Ayre celebrated his 90th birthday before passing away in December 2011. At his birthday party, he sang with a barbershop quartet – one of his favorite activities – and celebrated with his cousin and lifelong friend, Frank Ayre Lee.
Though as adults they lived on opposite sides of the country, the cousins kept in touch through letters that displayed a love for the written word and an irreverent sense of humor. Jack had participated in theatre productions at Drew University in New Jersey and at a community theatre in Connecticut in his younger years, and continued that interest when he moved to California. Mr. Lee was also an avid aficionado of theatre, and had dabbled in playwriting, adapting Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book for a children’s theatre production, and penning McSteg, a tongue-in-cheek discourse, ribbing his cousin Jack and based on a scene in Shakespeare’s MacBeth.
The Jack K. Ayre and Frank Ayre Lee Theatre Foundation was created by the children of Frank Ayre Lee as a tribute to their father, who passed away in August 2012, and a legacy for the creative endeavors of Jack, who was an advertising executive and public relations director. The family is proud to honor both men through a lasting legacy that supports and inspires the next generation of theatremakers through AACT YouthFest.