Just a year after a former Metropolitan Opera singer proposed a youth performance center in Carbondale, the Pioneer Performing Arts Center is already producing its second full-scale production, with a cast of 27 students.
Samantha Guevrekian, a voice teacher who has performed with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City and the prestigious Glimmerglass Festival in Cooperstown, New York, obtained nonprofit status in the spring and has overseen two full musicals and other projects. Guevrekian moved to Northeast Pennsylvania in 2021. Her teaching business, Electric City Voice Studio, is separate from the performing arts center.
“Frozen Jr.” will be staged at the First Presbyterian Church in Carbondale on Nov. 6-8.
A Pioneer Performing Arts Center production workshop costs $375, with a sibling discount and full and partial scholarships available. The current cast ranges in ages from 7 to 16 and comes from Lackawanna, Susquehanna and Wayne counties.
Pioneer Performing Arts Center students perform in a previous production, “Legally Blonde Jr.” (COURTESY OF CHRISTINA CAPUTO)
Pioneer Performing Arts Center students perform in a previous production, “Legally Blonde Jr.” (COURTESY OF CHRISTINA CAPUTO)
Samantha Guevrekian in her studio in Carbondale in 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
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Pioneer Performing Arts Center students perform in a previous production, “Legally Blonde Jr.” (COURTESY OF CHRISTINA CAPUTO)
Scranton Prep sophomore Marisa Hinkley plays Anna, one of the princesses in the Disney musical. Guevrekian does “an amazing job,” she said.
“It’s been a great thing to watch and see happen right in front of your eyes,” Hinkley said.
Guevrekian said she started the Pioneer Performing Arts Center because her voice students asked to do full-scale productions.
“I need people to know there is incredible talent here,” she said. “You know, they shouldn’t necessarily have to travel to a larger city to find high-quality arts education.”
The center is more than a chance to perform, Guevrekian said. “Students are learning teamwork, discipline, communication, confidence and really what it means to be a part of an ensemble.”
Guevrekian is looking for a permanent, dedicated home. For now, the performance hall is the First Presbyterian Church.
Tickets to “Frozen Jr.” are $15 and available through the center’s website, pioneerperformingartscenter.org.
Monday update
THEN: Samantha Guevrekian, a singer who performed with the Metropolitan Opera, announced plans last year for a performing arts center for young people.
NOW: The nonprofit Pioneer Performing Arts Center in Carbondale has received local grants and is producing “Frozen Jr.,” planning other programming and looking for a permanent home.