As long as it’s been around (40 years) and as many people have seen its shows (more than 25,000 students each year), it’s still a mystery to many what the Rainbow Company Youth Theatre is. “People say we’re the best-kept secret in Las Vegas,” jokes program specialist Kristopher Shepherd. But with a new grant from Cirque du Soleil and a yearlong celebration of its 40th anniversary at hand, it might just be Rainbow Company’s time to finally get the recognition it deserves.

Rainbow Company was founded in 1976 on the (still) radical idea of treating kids like adults. The company decided against putting adults in fluffy bunny costumes and having them perform for kids, instead teaching the kids how to do every aspect of theater production and letting them put on the show. “It was the idea that if you held kids to a high standard, they would achieve that standard,” Shepherd says. “And that would teach them all the basics you need in life in order to be a good person: how to work together in an ensemble, how to play nicely with other children—those things that we as adults need to have. It’s a philosophy that works brilliantly, and it has for the last 40 years.”

That philosophy is meant to work for everyone. Tickets to shows are only $5. Classes are available for kids ages 4 to 18, and they’re all affordable, with financial assistance available to further defray costs.

“Theater is becoming such an exclusive art form,” says Karen McKenney, the company’s artistic director. “It costs so much money to go to see a show. We’ll never build a new audience if we can’t introduce everyone to live theater and classes. That’s been my personal commitment forever.”

Rainbow Company Youth Theatre teaches its participants how to do every aspect of theater production and lets them put on the show.

It’s a commitment that Cirque du Soleil can get behind. Cirque recently donated $10,000 to Rainbow Company for its next (W)Rites of Passage production. Two teaching artists will visit schools and work with students to create stories, poems and other writings about what it means to grow up in Las Vegas. Rainbow Company will then turn the writings into a show. “Cirque has been such a wonderful supporter,” McKenney says. “I can’t believe their generosity toward the community in general and arts specifically. They are very interested in supporting emerging artists, which is perfect for Rainbow, because we’re dealing with emerging artists every day.”

And a lot of those emerging artists have grown up. As Rainbow Company celebrates 40 years with a yearlong series of events, the groundswell of community support from people who have been affected by it is reaching critical mass.

“It never fails to amaze me, in dealing with arts or business; there is always somebody who comes up to me and says, ‘I was involved, my kids, my best friend,’” Shepherd says. “We’re at the point where we have kids whose parents and grandparents were in the company.”

McKenney adds, “Forty years in this community is a lifetime. I think it would be a milestone in any community, but in Las Vegas it’s even more important. I think that the longevity of this program also has to do with the quality of students that come out of it. They come out of here with a sense of responsibility. We don’t just train theater artists—we train citizens.”