The group had a long string of successes, performing for President Jimmy Carter at the White House for the U.S. bicentennial. There have been several performing ensembles at the CCTA using that moniker since then, but Orenstein said one of the original members may return to direct a new hybrid.
She called those early days with the Young Columbians "an awesome time and one of the highlights of my life."
Del. Elizabeth Bobo of Columbia, a longtime friend of the director, said the theater arts matriarch has had "an enormous, positive impact" on the lives of young people.
"I've watched her during rehearsal, and you can just see how kids respond to her gift," said Bobo. "I truly believe her students are being coached by her not just in theater, but in the art of living."
"I just know it is urgent that we introduce children to live musical theater," Orenstein continued. "It is a teaching-thinking tool and an art form that needs to live."
With that concern in the back of her mind, she said she would like to have theater space solely for CCTA productions, which take place in different venues. Summer camps are held at Reservoir High School in Fulton and Glenelg Country School in Ellicott City. After-school programs are held in Howard, Montgomery and Anne Arundel counties.
Orenstein maintains a hectic weekly schedule overseeing 200 employees at the two theaters and the center but said she is "working to find balance" between career and family.
"I am so fortunate to have my children and grandchildren close by, and at this stage in my life, they are key to me," said the longtime Columbia resident.
She and her husband of nearly 49 years, Hal Orenstein, have two children and four grandchildren. Her son Jeff Orenstein lives in Olney with his wife, Marla, and two sons, Scott, 14, and Brett, 10. Her daughter, Mindy Hirsch, and her husband, Brian, live in Clarksville with their two children, Aaron, 8, and Jenna, 6.
She began co-directing some of the shows, she said, to free up some time for family and friends, with whom the couple love to travel.
"This is an exciting turn in my life, to train some of my actors who have expressed a desire to direct," she said. "I love to see someone get the knack of it and to help them to turn the light bulb on."
