The Fulton Youtheatre Adapts The Heart Knows Something Different for the Stage Fulton Theatre of Lancaster, PA, founded in 1852 The Heart Knows Something Different by The Fulton Youtheatre Youth Communication staff visit Lancaster, PA! K. Hefner, A. Desetta, L. Chan & Barry Kornhauser YouthComm staff pose with the cast The Fulton Theatre is a National Historic Landmark The Heart Knows Something Different by Fulton Youtheatre The Heart Knows Something Different by Fulton Youtheatre The Heart Knows Something Different by Fulton Youtheatre The Heart Knows Something Different by Fulton Youtheatre The Heart Knows Something Different by Fulton Youtheatre The Heart Knows Something Different by Fulton Youtheatre The Heart Knows Something Different by Fulton Youtheatre The Heart Knows Something Different by Fulton Youtheatre The Heart Knows Something Different by Fulton Youtheatre The Heart Knows Something Different by Fulton Youtheatre Q&A with teen cast, Keith Hefner and Al Desetta

This summer, The Fulton Youtheatre in Lancaster, PA adapted Youth Communication’s book, The Heart Knows Something Different, for the theatre.

Youth Communication staff attended the opening performance on July 10, 2009 and were thrilled to watch a sophisticated adaptation of the anthology of stories written by teens in the foster care system. The cast of 20 teens spent one year developing and rehearsing the roles, and interpreting the stories with sensitivity. The play included original songs, dance, simultaneous ASL interpretation (much of it by deaf teens in the company), and English/Spanish translation, also by the teens—which all worked smoothly into the production.

At the end of the play, the teen cast, Keith Hefner (executive editor of Youth Communication) and Al Desetta (the editor of The Heart Knows Something Different) answered questions from the audience. Some of the teen actors said they strongly related to the teen writers in the book (a few had been in foster care themselves) or felt that they better understood the experiences of youth in foster care after performing the play.
 
This performance was the first since the Fulton Youtheatre received the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities 2008 Coming Up Taller Award (which Youth Communication received in 2000). We are honored to be partners with this amazing youth program.

Order The Heart Knows Something Different, the book that inspired the play.

Read the review: “Fulton Youtheatre Tells Stories of Heartbreak, Healing” Intelligencer Journal, Lancaster New Era, July 10, 2009.

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