GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KKCO) - The lights on Grand Junction high school stage will shine this weekend on over one 120 kids. They're taking to the stage for the Youth Theater Project's production of Disney’s 101 Dalmatians.

The stars of Youth Theater Project's 101 Dalmatians have big hopes for this weekend's show.

"We work really hard all the time and we work really hard on the sets, and I think it would be really nice if a lot of people came out to see it,” says Lucy McNulty, one of the young stars of the show.

Their director shares that same hope, as the Youth Theater Project has come a long way from where they started four years ago.

"We started off with a regular program that charged tuition and everything and we weren't really reaching a lot of kids,” says Dana Schmidt-Clingman, the show’s director.

So they decided to revamp the program.

"The price for kids theater in town was just getting higher and higher, 200, 300,” she says.

And there were too many kids they weren't reaching, so they decided to completely revamp the program to make it tuition free, where the only cost to parents is a small costume and production fee. All of the revenue they need to fund the show comes from ticket sales, which they're still able to keep low at about five bucks a pop.

"All the money we make on this show goes to pay for the next show, and so on and so forth,” says Schmidt-Clingman.

And the changes really brought in a flood of theater loving kids.

"And we basically went from about 8 kids in each show to 80, 90."

Even more so in their latest show, they have about 126 kids in this weekend's production of 101 Dalmatians.

"All of a sudden these kids started coming out of the woodwork. And that's really what we wanted. We wanted to be able to reach as many kids as possible in the Grand Valley,” she says.

This weekend's stars are eager to make Dalmatians a tail-wagging success.

"Its all choreographed and the words are really well and its fun for everyone,” says Avery Pope, one of the children in the show.

Children and teens from four to 18 will star in this weekend's show. Their director says with many schools cutting theater and arts programs due to budget cuts, a low-cost program like this is certainly necessary to provide for Grand Valley community.

Youth Theater Project will hold two performances of Dalmatians. Both are tomorrow, Saturday, Feb. 11 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.

Admisssion is $5 and you can purchase tickets at the door.