About Us

A Message From Artistic Director Stan Foote

We leap! We spring upwards! See it, experience it, be it, interact with it, feel it warm your soul. OCT is leaping into its 20th anniversary season with a five play season of spectacular, thought provoking, funny, heartwarming and zesty plays in the most beautiful theaters in the region. OCT is leaping with our social service partners attempting to provide theater experiences for every child. No qualifier here, every child! We leap in our Acting Academy, to provide outstanding classes taught by the very best theater professionals in the region. We leap in our Young Professional program providing mentorship for sixty committed young theater professionals from our region. We leap into the cafeterias, the gymnasiums, the auditoriums and the theaters of the schools of Oregon and Washington performing two shows a day four days a week free of charge for the entire school year. We leap nationally becoming one of the best Theaters for Youth in the country. Creating new plays that première in Portland, Oregon but quickly explode on the stages of children’s theaters all over the country.

With our hearts wide open, we invite you to take the Big Leap, with us!

Family Performances

Bring the whole family to see a show and create lifelong memories. We offer a season of plays suitable for a range of ages and fun for the entire family. Our season subscription packages are a great value, and a way to ensure you get the best seats and don’t miss out on fabulous theater adventures throughout the year.

School Field Trips

We have years of practice helping teachers organize field trips that support classroom learning. For many children, a trip to one of our plays is their first, eye-opening experience attending a professionally-produced play. We are committed to making such experiences affordable and easy to organize. Each year we provide free or discounted tickets to schools that would otherwise be unable to attend.

Acting Academy

Our Acting Academy teaches young people the art and craft of acting. Acting Academy students learn theater skills from Portland’s best teachers and professional actors. Our class sizes are small enough to ensure that each child gets plenty of attention. We invite young people who are very serious about acting to join our Young Professionals, a mentoring program providing advanced coaching and professional opportunities.

In-School Programs

Through our Loud & Clear program, we provide school workshops that use theater techniques to build confidence and improve oral presentation skills to reach benchmark standards in public speaking.

In partnership with Kaiser Permanente, our Educational Theatre Program provides free touring productions that promote healthy living. The programs prompt peer-to-peer learning experiences that reach students in a creative, nontraditional way. 

Community Partnerships

We work with several community social service agencies to provide theater experiences to the children they serve, both by inviting them to our plays and by bringing workshops to their sites.

For twenty years, Oregon Children’s Theatre has been creating extraordinary theater for young audiences. We bring great stories to life on stage, with productions distinguished by their professional polish and awe-inspiring staging. We stand out by presenting our plays on Portland’s grandest stages and by using the best directors, actors and theater designers we can find.