Missoula Children's Theatre

International tour project - MCT's oldest and largest program tours throughout all the states, canada, and overseas to schools and to us military bases worldwide. In a typical season, as many as 1,100 weeklong residencies are scheduled. MCT's touring actor/directors (tads) tour in pairs, drive signature red trucks and work with a different cast of 55-65 children at each weekly tour stop. Tads come to town at the invitation of a community organization such as a school, parents' group, military base, arts council, service club, etc. A residency entails casting local children in an original children's musical, performed for an audience after an intense week of rehearsals. Currently, MCT has 31 touring shows, all based on classic fairy tales. The residency also includes 3 art enrichment workshops. Approximately 1,100 residencies per year is an opportunity to cast 65,000 children; teach workshops to 160,000 participants; and entertain a total audience of approximately 750,000 people of all ages. MCT has incorporated an intergenerational residency week into the programming. The same scripts, costumes, and sets are used but the team auditions a cast that ranges in age from 5-105. School age children participate with senior citizens and the MCT missions of developing life skills flourishes for all those who participate. We are recovering business lost during covid. For our fiscal year ending may 31, 2023, we were able to complete 845 residencies. There was one intergenerational residency this fiscal year. In fiscal year ending may 31,2024, we anticipate business to be at 87% of normal.

Local children's programs - MCT offers seven week-long day camps and three six-week performing arts classes which take place at MCT headquarters in missoula. Every child who signs up is cast, and all programs culminate in performances on the MCT stage. The seven-day camps feature shows in the international tour project repertoire, and the three longer classes are opportunities to stage world premieres and/or more complex shows new to missoula. Additionally, children's programs include 2 week-long summer camps on flathead lake for teens (performing arts camp), a week-long summer camp at seeley lake for younger teens, and an accredited, five-week summer theatre program for high school students called next step prep. MCT also offers six, 1 day "play in a day" classes for days that school is not in session. Theatre for young audiences is a program put on each fall by MCT actors that is specifically produced for k-8 audiences. There are four to five shows over a two-day period, to include a performance adapted to be sensory friendly. For the fiscal year ending may 31, 2023, we were not able to carry out next step prep, but are planning to resume next fiscal year.

Community theatre - MCT typically presents a five-show series, including well-known musicals and dramas for general audiences, spanning october to may. MCT produces, directs, and designs these productions in-house. The shows present talented casts of all ages and have many repeat season ticket holders year after year. The final dress rehearsal of each show is presented for an audience, with the admission "price" being a can of food for local charities. MCT also adapts one community theatre production each year to a sensory friendly format. This performance has a reduced ticket price and often financial assistance is available. The objective is to make the production accessible to patrons that might not otherwise attend a theatrical performance.