Seattle Children's Theatre

Founded in 1975, Seattle Children's Theatre (SCT) is the second-largest resident theatre for young audiences in North America and among the 20 largest regional theatres in the United States, with an annual operating budget of approximately $6.5 Million. SCT's mission statement reads: "The mission of Seattle Children's Theatre is to provide children of all ages access to professional theatre, with a focus on new works, and theatre education."

SCT employs bargaining unit members of Actor's Equity, United Scenic Artists and IATSE and is a member of Theatre Puget Sound, International Performing Arts for Youth and Theatre Communications Group. Mainstage Season performances are presented at Seattle Center in the 482-seat Charlotte Martin and 275-seat Eve Alvord Theatres from September through June. SCT's Drama School also produces a Summer Season with student actors who work hand-in-hand with professional creative staff and technicians.

Throughout its history, SCT has developed and produced more than 113 new works, many of which go on to be produced by other regional theatres around the country and the world.

SCT programming reaches approximately 220,000 children, parents, and teachers annually.

In 2006, SCT was honored with the Seattle Mayor's Arts Award, which recognizes artists for their contribution to the community and the nation.

Education programs

In addition to its mainstage productions, SCT operates several education programs. Its Education Outreach arm brings theatre-related teaching to schools and other organizations in the Seattle area. Its on-site Drama School provides classes taught by professional artists, and produces Summer Season shows providing young people with participatory theatre education and theatre arts training.^[1] The SCT Deaf Youth Drama Program (DYDP) was founded in 1993 by, brothers Howie and Billy Seago. DYDP introduced children who may have little or no experience beyond their hearing family and schools, to the deaf culture through their interactions with deaf artists, volunteers, and peers from other schools. DYDP lost funding and was discontinued in 2007.

Awards

Seattle Children's Theatre has gained national^[2] and international prominence as a producer of theatre, educational programs, and new scripts for young people. SCT's awards and honors include:

2009 ArtsFund awards Artistic Director Linda Hartzell their award for Outstanding Achievement in the Arts, and awards Eve and Chap Alvord their award for Lifetime Dedication to the Arts. (Eve Alvord is an SCT Board member and one of SCT's theatres is named for her.)
2006 Mayor's Arts Award for contribution to the cultural vitality of the region.^[3]
2004 TIME Magazine's #2 ranking in the top five children's theatres in the nation.
2004 Tibet Through the Red Box receives the AT&T: OnStage award,^[4] making Seattle Children's Theatre the only theatre for young audiences to receive the prestigious award for three productions.
2002 Holes receives the AT&T: OnStage award.
2001 $50,000 award from The Pew Charitable Trust and Theatre Communications Group to continue a multi-year-collaboration with Speeltheater Holland, internationally acclaimed puppet artists from The Netherlands.
2000 Cyrano performed at the opening night festivities of Theatre Communication Group's annual conference; this is the first such invitation offered to a theatre for young audiences.
1999 The Book of Ruth receives the AT&T: OnStage award, making us the first theatre for young audiences to be so honored.
1999 Cyrano performed at The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.
1997 $100,000 award from The Pew Charitable Trust and Theatre Communications Group to facilitate a collaboration with Speeltheater Holland.
1996 $2 million leadership grant from The Allen Foundation for the Arts for the construction of SCT's new Technical Pavilion.
1996 Still Life With Iris granted a Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays award; the first time a script for young audiences had been so honored.
1993 $500,000 National Arts Stabilization Fund award to create a working capital reserve; the first time a theatre for young audiences was so honored.

Production history

1975 First Season Little Red Riding Hood * Winnie-the-Pooh You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown The Tinder Box Gertrude Stein's First Reader

1976 Second Season Hansel and Gretel Imperial Nightingale * Foolery * Tom Sawyer Ice Wolf

1977 Third Season The Prince and the Pauper * Aladdin's Lamp * Pippi Longstocking Alice in Wonderland * Circus Home *

1978 Fourth Season The Wind in the Willows Pinocchio * Step on a Crack * The Legend of Sleepy Hollow A Tale of King Arthur *

1979 Fifth Season The Hobbit The Revenge of the Space Pandas or Binky Rudich & the Two Speed Clock Doc Maynard * Cinderella Ozma of Oz *

1980 Sixth Season Treasure Island The Boy Who Talked to Whales * Five Minutes to Morning Huck Finn * To Kill a Mockingbird

1981 Short Season The Ransom of Red Eye Heidi The Miracle Worker

1981-82 Seventh Season The Diary of Anne Frank Maggie's Gift Outside * Heidi (Part II) * Twilight of a Crane

1982-83 Eighth Season Dracula * The Best Christmas Pageant Ever Families * The Comedy of Errors Mother Hicks *

1983-84 Ninth Season Great Expectations * Pinocchio * The Best Christmas Pageant Ever The Tempest Newcomer Tall Tales from Mark Twain

1984-85 Tenth Season The Count of Monte Cristo The Snow Queen The Best Christmas Pageant Ever Birds * Through Separate Doors The Miser

1985-86 Eleventh Season The Former One-on-One Basketball Champion Puss in Boots * The Best Christmas Pageant Ever Robin Hood * The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde * Little Lulu *

1986-87 Twelfth Season The Curse of Castle Mongrew * Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs * Follow the Drinking Gourd: A Play About Harriet Tubman * Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing * The Three Musketeers * Little Lulu

1987-88 Thirteenth Season The Hunchback of Notre Dame * Rocky and Bullwinkle * Most Valuable Player James and the Giant Peach The Death and Life of Sherlock Holmes *

1988-89 Fourteenth Season Up the Down Staircase The Hoboken Chicken Emergency * The Secret Garden According to Coyote The Would-Be Gentleman

1989-90 Fifteenth Season Rip Van Winkle and the Legend of Sleepy Hollow: A Tribute to Washington Irving * The Magic Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle * Apollo: To the Moon Amelia Earhart: Flights of Fancy Jungalbook Tuck Everlasting *

1990-91 Sixteenth Season Captain Fantasto * The Reluctant Dragon The Magic Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle The Council * Anne of Green Gables * There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom *

1991-92 Seventeenth Season The Firebird * Nancy and Plum * Charlotte's Web Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry * Make Me Pele for a Day *

1992-93 Eighteenth Season Invisible Friends Doctor Dolittle in the Moon * The Invisible Man * The Velveteen Rabbit Dragonwings Ramona Quimby

1993-94 Nineteenth Season Afternoon of the Elves * Jack and the Beanstalk * The Hardy Boys in the Mystery of the Haunted House * The Rememberer * Just So and Other Stories *

1994-95 Twentieth Season Sara Crewe * A Wrinkle in Time * The Yellow Boat Winnie-the-Pooh * the Portrait the Wind the Chair * Little Rock *

1995-96 Twenty-First Season Naomi's Road ** The Day After Tomorrow ** The Magic Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle The Witch of Blackbird Pond * Romeo and Juliet Alice's Adventures in Wonderland *

1996-97 Twenty-Second Season The Taste of Sunrise: Tuc's Story * Bunnicula * Pinocchio * The Short Tree and the Bird Who Could Not Sing ** The Odyssey The Hardy Boys in the Secret of Skullbone Island *

1997-98 Twenty-Third Season Still Life With Iris * Stellaluna * A Day at the Beach * Mr. Popper's Penguins Pink and Say * Frog and Toad * The Tempest

1998-99 Twenty-Fourth Season Kenny's Window * Cyrano ** The Cricket in Times Square * Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse * The Book of Ruth * The King of Ireland's Son *

1999-00 Twenty-Fifth Season The Boxcar Children * The Velveteen Rabbit Time Again in Oz * Apple to Grandma ** The Midwife's Apprentice * When I Grow Up I'm Gonna Get Some Big Words *

2000-01 Twenty-Sixth Season Animal Farm The Red Balloon Prince Brat and the Whipping Boy * Mask of the Unicorn Warrior * Winnie-the-Pooh Sideways Stories from Wayside School *

2001-02 Twenty-Seventh Season Johnny Tremain * The Hoboken Chicken Emergency The Wrestling Season Charlotte's Web Into the West Holes *

2002-03 Twenty-Eighth Season Our Only May Amelia * The Big Friendly Giant The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe The Outsiders Go, Dog. Go! * Nicky Somewhere Else ** The Shakespeare Stealer

2003-04 Twenty-Ninth Season The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle * The Gingerbread Man The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe Tibet Through the Red Box * The Shape of a Girl ** Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle *

2004-05 Thirtieth Season The Magic City * Bunnicula The Secret Garden The Red Badge of Courage * Glittra's Mission ** A Year With Frog and Toad Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

2005-06 Thirty-First Season Seussical Nothing is the Same Sleeping Beauty Peter and the Wolf * The Devil and Daniel Webster * Honus and Me * Junie B. Jones and a Little Monkey Business

2006-07 Thirty-Second Season Harriet's Halloween Candy Jason and the Golden Fleece The Sorcerer's Apprentice * Goodnight Moon * Afternoon of the Elves Everyone Knows What a Dragon Looks Like * Addy: An American Girl Story *

2007 Special Event The Green Sheep

2007-08 Thirty-Third Season Disney's High School Musical The Big Friendly Giant The Neverending Story * Hamlet The Hundred Dresses According to Coyote Busytown *

2008 Special Events The Green Sheep Night of the Living Dead

2008-09 Thirty-Fourth Season Bluenose** The Wizard of Oz Tomás and the Library Lady Pharaoh Serket and the Lost Stone of Fire* A Tale of Two Cities Goodnight Moon I Was a Rat!*

2009-10 Thirty-Fifth Season Mysterious Gifts: Theatre of Iran** If You Give a Mouse a Cookie Peter Pan Perô In the Northern Lands: Norse Myths* Getting Near to Baby Brementown Musicians*

2010 Summer Season The BFG* The Witches* There's a Boy in the Girl's Bathroom Seussical Jr.* The Laramie Project* Hair*

2010-11 Thirty-Sixth Season The Green Sheep The Borrowers Morgan's Journey Lyle the Crocodile Go, Dog, Go! The Man Who Planted Trees Jackie and Me*

2011-12 Thirty-Seventh Season Harold and the Purple Crayon* Robin Hood A Year with Frog and Toad A Single Shard* HELP The Very Hungry Caterpillar

2012-13 Thirty-Eighth Season Dr. Seuss’s The Cat in the Hat Danny, King of the Basement The Wizard of Oz Dot & Ziggy The Edge of Peace* Adventures with Spot* Crash*

2013-14 Thirty-Ninth Season Pippi Longstocking: The Family Musical Dot & Ziggy James and the Giant Peach* Pinocchio The Boy at the Edge of Everything* Art Dog*

2014-15 Fortieth Season The Garden of Rikki Tikki Tavi Dick Whittington and His Cat* Mwindo* Goodnight Moon Robin Hood

= World Premiere
- = American Premiere

Controversy

An information technology worker William Edgar Hoke, 38, of Seattle who worked for the Seattle Children's Theatre was arrested and subsequently convicted of possessing at least 13,000 pornographic images Of Child Pornography over 3 years of browsing illegal bulletin boards, which he accessed from both home and work computers. There was no indication that Hoke had unsupervised contact with children at SCT. He was charged by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as part of Operation Predator, a program aimed at bringing to justice those who prey upon children. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison as well as 10 years probation.^[5]^[6]

References