Marlyn Michaels' love of theater has led her to take on roles as actor, director, and producer.

Since 1982, she also has directed the Youth Performing Arts program at the Ruth Hyman Jewish Community Center of Monmouth County in Deal.

Michaels, who lives in Deal, can't quite believe that it's been 25 years that she's been working with so many of the JCC's talented young people.

"When you do something you love, time flies," said Michaels. "Each cast and each production has been a unique experience. The cast becomes part of your extended family, and the bond you make with each cast member is something spectacular."

Also spectacular will be a tribute planned in her honor by the JCC.

On Saturday, Dec. 8, some 30 of her former students were scheduled to take the stage at JCC's Axelrod Performing Arts Center to perform song and dance numbers from the plays she directed. Also on the program was a presentation to Michaels of a crystal plaque at the champagne and dessert reception and the announcement of a seat in the Axelrod center that will bear a plaque with her name.

"Throughout her long history with the JCC, Marlyn always sat in the front and center of the row during auditions, rehearsals, and performances," said Amy Greenspan, JCC fund-raising director and event coordinator. "Even before the Axelrod center was built, Marlyn always sat in the front and center of the then auditorium. When her young singers, dancers, and actors take center stage, they never have to look far for Marlyn's smiling, encouraging face.

Michaels said she often thinks about the performers she's directed and what they have gone on to do in subsequent years.

"This tribute gives me the opportunity to reach out and connect with many of them," she said. "In speaking with them, I realize what wonderful young adults they have become. The fact that they would take time from their busy lives to come to this event is very, very moving."

Although many of her former charges pursued careers beyond the entertainment field, there are some who have achieved show business success. Among them is Ashley Tisdale, Michaels' niece, whose early performances were under her aunt's tutelage at the JCC during the 1990s. (For the uninitiated, Tisdale is one of the stars of Disney's High School Musical movies and the Suite Life of Zack and Cody.) Among other projects, Michaels helped the then eight-year-old child prepare to join the national touring company of the show Les Miserables.

"Ashley was a talented little girl who has grown into a talented young woman," said Michaels. "When I directed her in productions at the JCC or helped her prepare for auditions, she was an eager student, and when she was rehearsing and performing, she received no special treatment because I was her aunt — she was just another cast member."

Although many colleagues, friends, and members of Michaels' family, including two of her three sons and their families, were expected to attend the Dec. 8 tribute, professional obligations and shooting schedules prevented Tisdale from making an appearance. Michaels said her niece was preparing a taped message to be broadcast during the evening.

Michaels grew up in a Conservative Jewish home in which her love of theater surfaced. During her childhood, she produced and acted in backyard performances while living in Asbury Park and Bradley Beach. She credits her father, Nathan Morris, who wrote and produced his own television commercials for kitchen gadgets and novelty products he invented and manufactured, with being her first acting teacher.

"He told me that if I wanted people to believe me, I would have to sell them on what I was saying to them," Michaels said. "It was good advice, and it fed my show business aspirations."

Her mother, Betty Morris, also was a performer who won many ballroom dancing contests in her hometown of Reading, Pa., and in Atlantic City. And Michaels often listened to the recordings of Broadway musicals that her parents frequently played on the family stereo.

"I loved the very idea of theater — you could be whoever you wanted to be and you could imagine yourself living wherever you wanted to live," Michaels said.

She began taking voice lessons at age 13 and eventually studied theater and music at New York University. She taught the first and third grades at Hillel Yeshiva in Ocean for 23 years while also directing shows at the JCC; during the past quarter-century, she also performed with New Jersey's Metro Lyric Opera Company, the Homestead Dinner Theater, and the Ocean Township Summer Showcase.

Despite her many live appearances, Michaels realized that her ultimate love of theater lay in producing and directing, and from 1977 to 1982, she directed shows at Hillel, performances by the Deal Players, productions at Ocean Township Junior High School (now known as the Ocean Township Middle School), and at Temple Beth Miriam in Elberon.

Michaels also has displayed her writing skills throughout her career. She has written a book of poetry for women, authored several children's stories, and wrote the script for Hip Hop Wiz, a musical she described as a combination of The Wizard of Oz, The Wiz, and Wicked that was presented at the JCC last August.

"The cast and crew have always come through for me," Michaels said. "They have never let me down, and I hope I have been there in the same way for them. I've tried my best to encourage and nurture them over the years. They have deserved my very best efforts."