{"id":296724,"date":"2026-09-30T08:06:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T08:06:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/296724\/"},"modified":"2026-09-30T08:06:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T08:06:11","slug":"youth-arts-program-underway-in-carbondale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/296724\/","title":{"rendered":"Youth arts program underway in Carbondale"},"content":{"rendered":"

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrozen Jr.\u201d will be staged at the First Presbyterian Church in Carbondale on Nov. 6-8.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"Pioneer<\/p>\n

Pioneer Performing Arts Center students perform in a previous production, \u201cLegally Blonde Jr.\u201d (COURTESY OF CHRISTINA CAPUTO)\n<\/p>\n

\"Pioneer<\/p>\n

Pioneer Performing Arts Center students perform in a previous production, \u201cLegally Blonde Jr.\u201d (COURTESY OF CHRISTINA CAPUTO)\n<\/p>\n

\"Samantha<\/p>\n

Samantha Guevrekian in her studio in Carbondale in 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA\/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 3<\/p>\n

Pioneer Performing Arts Center students perform in a previous production, \u201cLegally Blonde Jr.\u201d (COURTESY OF CHRISTINA CAPUTO)\n<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a><\/p>\n

Scranton Prep sophomore Marisa Hinkley plays Anna, one of the princesses in the Disney musical. Guevrekian does \u201can amazing job,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a great thing to watch and see happen right in front of your eyes,\u201d Hinkley said.<\/p>\n

Guevrekian said she started the Pioneer Performing Arts Center because her voice students asked to do full-scale productions.<\/p>\n

\u201cI need people to know there is incredible talent here,\u201d she said. \u201cYou know, they shouldn\u2019t necessarily have to travel to a larger city to find high-quality arts education.\u201d<\/p>\n

The center is more than a chance to perform, Guevrekian said. \u201cStudents are learning teamwork, discipline, communication, confidence and really what it means to be a part of an ensemble.\u201d<\/p>\n

Guevrekian is looking for a permanent, dedicated home. For now, the performance hall is the First Presbyterian Church.<\/p>\n

Tickets to \u201cFrozen Jr.\u201d are $15 and available through the center\u2019s website, pioneerperformingartscenter.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Monday update<\/p>\n

THEN: Samantha Guevrekian, a singer who performed with the Metropolitan Opera, announced plans last year for a performing arts center for young people.<\/p>\n

NOW: The nonprofit Pioneer Performing Arts Center in Carbondale has received local grants and is producing \u201cFrozen Jr.,\u201d planning other programming and looking for a permanent home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Just a year after a former Metropolitan Opera singer proposed a youth performance center in Carbondale, the Pioneer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":296725,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[3099,1681,201,182,8782,28,178,180,179,1483,289,181],"class_list":["post-296724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-carbondale","tag-entertainment","tag-lackawanna-county","tag-local-news","tag-parenting-and-family","tag-pennsylvania","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-theater","tag-things-to-do","tag-top-stories-stt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296724","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=296724"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296724\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/296725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=296724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=296724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}