City of Los Altos Recreation Department

This review is specific to LAYT or Los Altos Youth Theatre, which is run by the City of Los Altos Rec Dept and which perfoms in the Bus Barn.
My daughter has been involved with LAYT for the past three years and I cannot say enough good things about this program. The adults who work in the program are skilled, good teachers and nice people. The kids are such good kids and talented and they always help each other. We have in the past been involved with other theater and music groups and have usually experienced «people problems»; you know weird politics, favoritism and people getting caught up in PR, notoriety of the organization, and leaving the actual performance experience in the dust. Not so with LAYT. (Those programs were not local to Silicon Valley, I don’t mean to imply anything about local programs.)
The shows are always very good. The recent showing of The Secret Garden was seriously knock your socks off fantastic. I really wish more people had been able to see it.
Coming up, March 2013 is the adapted Disney musical, The Little Mermaid. This is going to be a great show for your kids to see. At many of the shows the small kids sit in the front row so they can see everything close up. The cast loves to see how the smaller kids react to the drama as it unfolds. Sometimes one or two will whisper «oh, no» or «don’t do it!».
The bus barn is a sweet intimate little theater with only 100 seats. Buy your tickets early, especially for the matinees. There are always delicious refreshments to be had during intermission for only a dollar each item. Proceeds go to the scholarship fund.
If you have a child who is interested in theater but who feels intimidated about the audition process, he or she should definitely audition with this group. LAYT has a reputation for it’s casual low-​key audition process. They are always short on boys to play male roles, by the way.
Auditon information can be found following the LAYT links on the Recreation Department website. Check frequently for upcoming auditions and shows.

I just signed my 4 year old for her 3^rd class through the City of Los Altos Dept. of Recreation. I resisted the push to put my daughter on the achievement oriented merry-​go-​round for a whole year after she started pre-​schoool, but her stay-​at-​home father decided he needed something organized for her to do 1 more day a week so we signed her up for Kidz Love Soccer. Indeed, she loved it.
She is just now finishing the pre-​ballet class. She loves that, too! And it has helped her with her sense of balance. Her first class may just have been the most adorable thing I have ever seen. And her teacher is great! She has a great balance between learning positions & movements and just plain having fun. Perfect for a 4 year old!
So next will be yoga. I particularly appreciate that there are some not so expensive options through the rec. department. Some of the things– like the summer camp at Redwood Grove– are out of my price range, but our live has definately been enriched by the less expensive options!