Childrens Theater Company And School

CTC's Theatre Arts Training program (TAT) provides instruction in storytelling, acting, dance, voice, directing, and playwriting for young people ages 2-18. In addition to sequenced classes during the school year, Theatre Arts Training also offers summer and other school vacation camps for students at all skill levels and programming for homeschool groups designed to meet their educational goals. TAT also includes the Pre-Professional Institute, which provides high school students with an intensive, four-year, conservatory-style learning experience. The Senior Company program provides students with demanding material that seeks to challenge them as artists, educate them in a professional setting, and inspire them to be active voices in their community. FY24 marked year three of an innovative, in-depth partnership with Bethune Arts Elementary in north Minneapolis. Bethune is a "Turnaround Arts" school, where students experience a collaborative learning environment that includes arts integration into all core subjects. CTC's PreK-5th-grade, year-round immersion includes family engagement around CTC productions, Creative Play for preschool and Kindergarten, a 1st-grade Early Bridges critical literacy program, after-school and summer programming for grades 1-5, and professional development for classroom teachers. Students across the Metro benefited from short-form residencies with CTC teaching artists. In Twin Cities public schools, CTC delivers grade 1-5 workshops serving students and teachers with high-quality, research-based theatre arts and storytelling activities. Tied to state and national standards, these activities boost students' achievement in language and theatre arts. Through the Neighborhood Bridges pedagogy, students build critical and cultural literacy as they question texts, uncover whose perspective has been marginalized, and re-tell stories from their own points of view. CTC's Early Childhood Initiative combines theatre arts-based learning experiences with best practices in early childhood education to support the healthy development of early learners ages 2-6. CTC takes a comprehensive approach to early childhood education that includes both age-appropriate learning opportunities, including Early Bridges, and productions designed specifically for early learners. Through the Creative Play program, CTC also focuses on serving early learners from communities coping with complex trauma and toxic stress. The program utilizes theatre-based activities aligned with trauma-informed care practices to support developmental repair in early learners.

New Work: Through our ongoing cycle of commissioning, developing, and premiering new work, CTC is expanding the national canon of theatre for youth and their communities. CTC develops and produces more new plays designed for young audiences and their families than any other theatre in America. Since Mr. Brosius' arrival as Artistic Director in 1997, CTC has commissioned, developed, and produced nearly 60 world premieres, including works by Carlos Murillo, Larissa FastHorse, Naomi Iizuka, Cheryl L. West, Lloyd Suh, and Philip Dawkins. Generation Now, a partnership between Penumbra (St. Paul, Minn.), Ma-Yi Theater Company (New York City), Latino Theater Company and Native Voices at the Autry (Los Angeles), and CTC will commission and develop 16 new plays by Black, Indigenous, Latine, and Asian American Pacific Islander writers over a period of 5 years. The output of Generation Now promises to radically expand the inclusiveness of each theatre, expand the canon of work produced for multigenerational audiences, and create a model of transformative partnership. As a cohort, we strongly believe that if we are to have an extraordinary theatre culture in this country, we must start young, and it must be intergenerational, inclusive, inspiring, transformative, and lifelong. A grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation funds the project called Generation Now. This season's development activities at CTC also included the following workshops: Milo Imagines the World by Christian Albright, Christian Magby and Terry Guest; Drawing Lessons by Michi Barall; Lord of the Rings by Greg Banks; Comanche Girl on the Moon by Dustin Tahmahkera; and One Small Alice by Ifa Bayeza.

CTC continued its fellowship program in 2023-24, consisting of formal leadership development pipelines that aim to reflect the larger community. The fellowship programs create opportunities for early career theatre artists and administrators with a priority on those whose lived experience is frequently missing from the organizational structure of theatres. This season-long, full-time, paid fellowship program strives to address economic and institutional barriers to careers in theatre. They occupy positions in stage management, production management, and performance.