For many years, Christopher Yingling dreamed of having a theater company. When it came time for him to create one, he turned to some of his closest friends.

New Leaf Theatre Company, a new community theater group that had its first performance in January, is run by five friends: Yingling (artistic director and president), John Williams (executive director and vice president), Frank Cerminaro (financial director and treasurer), Olivia DiIorio (production manager and secretary), and Meghan Basiliko (social media manager). The five team members have varying degrees of theater experience, but each is committed to growing the organization.

“It’s cool because these are all friends of ours,” said Williams, of Wyncote, who is married to Yingling. “Christopher was astute enough to recognize that we all have very specific skill sets that would work well for this.”

Founded in friendship, New Leaf is planting its roots in Northwest Philadelphia. The company is currently preparing for its first full-length musical in October.

Focusing on growth

New Leaf is named for the growth of a plant, which the company is metaphorically emulating.

“We wanted a community theater that specifically focuses on growth,” Williams said. “We want our artists, our actors, and our community to all be growing in their craft.”

The team began to meet in July 2025, before starting operations in January with a cabaret performance called “New Year, New Leaf” at St. Peter’s Church in the Great Valley in Malvern. Since there is no brick-and-mortar location for New Leaf, the group has been using members’ homes or rented venues for rehearsals.

“We’ve been calling ourselves a little bit nomadic,” Williams joked.

The company’s next cabaret was entitled “Food, Glorious Food!” and was at The Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill in June. The show included performances of food-themed songs from musicals and a silent auction on items from Chestnut Hill food establishments.

Next on the schedule for New Leaf is the full-length musical, “Ordinary Days,” which will run Oct. 9-11 at the Cheltenham Center for the Arts.

“It’s a musical by Adam Gwon about four New Yorkers whose lives intersect in uncommon or unexpected ways,” said Williams. “These four New Yorkers are yearning for personal connection with each other, and so we get to find out how their lives intersect and how they get to connect with one another and with their community in New York through the New School.”

Long-term goals

Establishing New Leaf has been a learning experience for the team.

“Starting a theater company from the ground up has many challenges,” Williams said. “First of all, none of us really have business experience, so learning how to do all the documentation and fill out all the forms was a fun little learning curve. … Then, as a whole, finding venues when you don’t have a space is probably the hardest part. We’re always reaching out to different organizations or churches that have a space that would be willing to let us rehearse there.”

Although the company doesn’t have a permanent home base, that is a long-term goal, said Williams, formerly of Erdenheim. He said the group would love to be in Chestnut Hill on Germantown Avenue.

Other goals include maintaining their schedule of two cabarets and one full-length musical for 2027, as well as working with younger artists.

“We hope to work with some sort of venue or community center that would let us host a summer camp,” Williams said. “We want to involve more of the younger artists and younger community in the area.”

Through the hard work of founding the company, Williams said the team has grown and seen positive results.

“I’ve learned that it’s not easy, but it’s very worth it,” Williams said. “The hard work that comes with that you don’t see, the community usually doesn’t see, or maybe even the actors that participate don’t see, is a lot more that you could imagine. But it’s worth it when you get it up and running because I feel that we’ve built something with good intentions and with community in mind. … It’s just very rewarding when you go and learn from those challenges.”

Overall, Williams said the group is excited to fill a need for musical theater in Chestnut Hill specifically.

“We love Chestnut Hill and we think that it’s such a vibrant community that actually has a need for something like this,” Williams said. “There’s obviously Stagecrafters, which performs theater, but they don’t do many musical theater productions. We see a need for musical theater for amateurs — not amateur productions, we want to provide excellent productions — but with non-professionals.”

To learn more about New Leaf Theatre Company, visit newleaftheatreco.com.

Maggie Dougherty can be reached at Margaret@chestnuthilllocal.com.