“Stop! Convince me that those shoes are magic.” It could only be one pair of famous shoes that director Myron Lewis is talking about: Dorothy’s.

On a recent weeknight in the gymnasium of Akron’s Arlington Church of God, Lewis rehearsed the students of YEPAW (Youth Excellence Performing Arts Workshop) as they prepared for two performances of “The Wiz” on Saturday at the Akron Civic Theatre, a restored historic theater in Akron.

In 2007, Knight Foundation made a five-year grant of more than $500,000 to expand the original YEPAW, a successful weeklong summer program founded by Leslie Parker Barnes. The year-round Knight Arts grantee program, YEPAW365, draws on the arts to train urban students as community leaders. (In 2010, Knight Foundation made a grant of $100,000 to expand the group’s summer programming by creating the YEPAW Institute, a yearlong arts education program for urban high school students.)

Nearly all of the students in the program are black. The youngest of them are seventh-graders, like Jasmine Moore (Dorothy), who attends a local arts magnet middle school. The oldest are high school seniors. Prominent, successful members of the community visit during the year to coach the students and act as role models.

There’s a family feeling to the membership. At this rehearsal, Parker Barnes points out the keyboardist, Allen Swope. “He grew up in YEPAW. That’s his wife and two kids,’’ sitting beside him, watching.

Community members serve as assistants to mentor the students. Parker Barnes makes it a point to take the students as a group to places they might not visit on their own, like the Akron Art Museum (a past Knight Arts grantee) or the Akron Symphony.

“Some of them had never been in the Akron Civic Theatre (a Knight Arts grantee), much less on stage,’’ before rehearsing ‘The Wiz,’’’ said Parker Barnes in between watching the rehearsal. (“Sell it, y’all,’’ she called out to a student who was holding back.) While some students have obvious stage talent, they don’t have to be active in the arts to belong to YEPAW — although they all take part in arts-related activities. More than 50 students are performing in “The Wiz.”

After having brought the Dance Theatre of Harlem, Ailey II and a Cleveland theater company to Akron, Parker Barnes thought it was time for the students to perform their own fundraiser.  She didn’t have to convince them to do “The Wiz;” everyone already loved it. And this has been the best year ever for ticket sales, with the students themselves selling the tickets.

Looking around the gym, from the girl in high-tops and false eyelashes to the boy wearing a T-shirt, shorts and a glowing green ring,  it’s a long way from Broadway. But when that boy sings the song “Believe in Yourself,” it’s a very good place to be.

Youth Excellence Performing Arts Workshop (YEPAW) presents “The Wiz “at 2:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 31, 2012 at the Akron Civic Theatre, 182 S. Main St., Akron. Tickets $10 and $25; 330-253-2488 or at www.akroncivic.com. YEPAW, 1084 Seventh Ave., Akron; 330-786-9601; www.yepaw.org.