Child's Play Touring Theatre

Schools, Theaters, Community Centers

Victor and June Podagrosi founded Child's Play while Victor was teaching theatre at Parkland College in Champaign, Illinois. Asked to stage a performance of children's writings for a Young Author's awards ceremony, Victor was delighted with the sophistication and storytelling abilities he discovered in children's writing.

Believing they had identified a unique form of educational theatre, the Podagrosis formed Child's Play Touring Theatre and began traveling to rural schools in east central Illinois.

They developed workshops for classroom instruction and toured throughout the area before moving to Chicago as the base for the organization in 1982. From there they continued to evolve and have now traveled throughout the country, visiting 45 states from Alaska to Florida and Maine to California, to bring their programs to the nation’s youth.

Child's Play Touring Theatre was the first theatre company to realize the value of children's own writing and perform exclusively stories and poems written by young authors. Combining the important, imaginative writings of children with the craftsmanship of professional theatre artists and educators, we created a unique stage where children's voices can be heard, examined and treasured.

A nationally recognized, 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization, we inspire young people to read, write and think creatively. Our goal is to help children understand the value and significance that writing and reading has on their lives.

Child's Play Touring Theatre (CPTT) offers a variety of educational programs for students and teachers alike. Some of these programs include writing workshops for students in school and after school programs and summer camps for children and teens, also professional development for educators.

Over the years, we has developed multiple partnerships with other arts education organizations to bring enhanced arts curricula to schools and communities throughout the United States. To date, we have reached over 4.5 million children, educators and adults through workshops, residencies, after school programs, and summer camps, and have performed the original works of over 30,000 young writers.

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Our Artistic Mission is to share, encourage, and validate the creativity of children by performing original works of theatre, music and dance adapted from literature written by young authors.

Our Educational Mission is to motivate children to write and think creatively and to enhance writing education in schools by sharing drama-based approaches to writing instruction.

Our Organizational Mission is to elevate the status of theatre for young people by providing full time employment to theatre artists.