Enjoy TYKEs' blockbuster season of dazzling shows!

At TYKEs, we promise you the most spectacular children’s theatre in town, a warm and child-friendly atmosphere, and great convenience too. Our breathtaking costumes and sets, superbly professional actors and incredible scripts will transport you to faraway lands, fantastical places and exciting new experiences. TYKEs performances take place in the beautiful Hart Theater at the JCC, 1200 Edgewood Avenue in Brighton. Our home features convenient free parking, an intimate theater space, state-of-the-art sound and lighting equipment, plenty of clean restrooms, healthy snacks and a huge, comfortable lobby area.

Let us entertain and inspire your whole family with best-loved fairy tales, favorite bedtime stories and children’s books... all seen through the magic of live theatre. Please come join us!

— Gina Donahue and Freyda Schneider, TYKEs' co-founders


Gina Donahue, TYKEs co-founder, holds a degree in Theater Performance from State University College at Brockport and has studied Vocal Performance at University at Buffalo and privately for many years. She has acted in numerous productions in the Rochester area and has also worked in theater public relations. Some of Gina’s performance credits include roles in Rapunzel and Little Red Riding Hood, with TYKEs (of course!), and with Pittsford Musicals, Shipping Dock Theatre and JCC CenterStage. She has appeared in the A&E Biography on George Eastman, and in several television commercials. Gina also spent two years performing the role of Maria in Great Lakes Production’s dinner theatre comedy Joey and Maria’s Comedy Wedding. She lives in Greece with her husband and their two beautiful young daughters.


Freyda Schneider, TYKEs co-founder, has worked in the Rochester theatre community for many, many years, both on-stage and behind the scenes in theatre administration and management. Her performance credits include roles with the comedy troupe EstroFest, Blackfriars Theatre; Learn It Live and Thalia Productions (theatre-based corporate training organizations); the University of Rochester’s Standardized Patient Program (using theatre to teach doctors how to more effectively interact with patients); the JCC CenterStage, Franklin Productions, and the RMSC Players. She periodically appears in local films, commercials and industrial videos. Freyda holds a B.S. degree in public relations from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University and a Masters degree in Communication from Cornell University. She lives in Pittsford with her husband, two beautiful children and two huge dogs.

Mission

TYKEs (Theatre Young Kids Enjoy) is a non-profit organization created to captivate children and their families with best-loved bedtime stories, fairy tales and literature brought alive on stage by adult, professional actors. TYKEs inspires an appreciation of the arts, fosters an awareness of literature, and promotes communications and social interaction skills while teaching important life lessons. TYKEs strives to make its performances accessible to all children regardless of their ability to pay.

Philosophy

TYKEs was co-founded by Gina Donahue and Freyda Schneider — two seasoned professional actors/theatre administrators who have young children themselves. With many years of experience in the children’s theatre industry, they created TYKEs with true regard for children (theirs and yours!) and the sincere desire to make children’s theatre a uniquely positive, pleasant, educational, and high quality experience. TYKEs places great emphasis on commissioning the most professional set pieces, costumes and props to create an awe-inspiring atmosphere for children. TYKEs’ scripts emphasize significant audience interaction, allowing children to become connected to the performance in a meaningful way. During some past performances, audience members were even invited to come right up on stage and become characters in the show!

Venue

TYKEs performs for both school audiences and the general public at the beautiful Hart Theater in the Jewish Community Center, 1200 Edgewood Avenue, Rochester, NY 14618 (in Brighton), in addition to providing tour shows upon request throughout Upstate New York.