Vision, Talent, and Urban Youth

One of my favorite students has also been the most difficult. (We'll call him Jay) Jay has a powerful, rich, and beautiful voice that is untrained. At his audition he blew away all of the staff. His voice just filled the whole theater. His audition was so surprising, b/c this is the same kid that liked to roll around stage during class, try Superman tricks off of the stage, and generally disrupt rehearsals. It honestly was like pulling teeth to try to get him to hold it together long enough on stage to run through the show. Unfortunately, lack of support from home, especially an older brother that thinks that theater isn't cool, keeps Jay from returning.
However, what do we do with the Jays? It is our mission to recognize the undiscovered, God-given talents of urban youth. And it is also our desire to challenge these students to excellence. Too many Jays, and we get no where. The talented and dedicated students get bored and frustrated, by his antics and are really held back by the lack of effort.
As we grow and improve, so do our students. We have kids that are discovering that they are amazingly gifted in the arts. Our shows are improving. Its difficult to say, but if we want to riase the bar for all of the kids by putting together an excellent musical in 6 weeks time, we don't have time to fight with kids like Jay to make it happen.
Meanwhile, the level of excellence totally energizes and spurs on so many of the other students. At the end of our last production of Annie the students were so proud of themselves. You could see it in their faces and how they carried themselves. It is our desire to see students turn this success in the arts into success in school and in life. Its a powerful thing to watch happen.
But where is the balance? How do we challenge the students we have, keep discovering new talent, and give kids like Jay a chance?
I'd love your thoughts and experiences.