The Tyrone Community Players' Children's Theater Project

The Children's Theater Project of The Tyrone Community Players was formally established in 1994. It was officially organized to offer a consistent opportunity for the young thespians in our community a chance to express their theatrical and artistic talents under the mentorship of experienced adults.

The Children's Theater Project tries to allow a wide variety of experiences for youngsters: from becoming an involved audience member, to performing with adults and in all-young people productions, participating in the creative and artistic "backstage" areas of theater and sponsoring art and theater camps in the summer. The last all-youth production offered by The CTP of the TCP was Disney's 101 Dalmatians, produced in 2010 and incorporating a cast of 30 actors between the ages of 8 and 16.

This season brought How I Became A Pirate to the TCP stage, providing a youth oriented production performed by TCP adults. We are presently working with 20 youth actors aged 6- 15 years in the TCP's main stage production slated for March 23 and 24th, 2012 in the TAHS auditorium, Rodgers and Hammerstein's The King and I.

The past activities of The Children's Theater Project include two original productions entitled FGMIT's Accidental Magic written by Cindy Bennett and Once Upon A Happily Ever Always, book by Cindy Bennett and score by Will Jones. The TCP has also performed Treasure Island, Cinderella and The Invisible Dragon to name but a few.

The future of The Children's Theater Project offers boundless opportunities for our community's youth. An all young performers production is in the works for next season (still a secret) and a very progressive, new style summer camp is being discussed. The most important factor of this project for The TCP is to continue providing a wide variety of artistic avenues for young people to explore...from drawing to designing to performing...

2011-12 Children's Theater Production - "How I Became a Pirate"

A musical rendition of the popular children's book.

This delightful story of a young boy and his unexpected voyage on the seven seas with a band of swarthy, aarrgging pirates will be presented in the Parish Hall of St. Matthew's Church on Saturday, October 1st at 2PM and 7PM.

Cindy Bennett, director for this production geared at young and young-at-heart audiences, is thrilled to announce a veteran cast who will make up the motley crew of buccaneers. "The adults who will take the children on their sea-faring voyage are having great fun developing this show along with their pirate crew and characters", said Bennett. "They are extremely talented actors you have seen before who have stashed a few surprises up their billowing sleeves."

Performers for this musical will be lead by Linden Markley playing the 10 year old Jeremy Jacobs, a boy who gets to lead us all on a childhood fantasy. Linden has, at her young age, been seen in numerous TCP productions including HONK, 101 DALMATIANS and, most recently, SEUSSICAL at The Grier School. Her pirate crew will include Gib Lucas as Captain Braid Beard, Nancy Sloss as Swill, Alicia Rodriquez as Max The Pirate, Betsy Beck as Pirate Pierre and Phil Baskin as Sharktooth The Pirate. Musical Direction is under the able guidance of Paula "Fingers" Pheasant.

This presentation is produced under the auspices of The Tyrone Community Players' Children's Theater Project, a program dedicated to providing opportunities in the performing arts for area children, and supported by local partners, Graystone Court, Albemarle and American Eagle Paper Mills.

View photos from the show

Past Children's Theater Productions

2010-11
Disney's 101 Dalmations

2001-02
FGMIT's Accidental Magic

2000-01
Once Upon A Happily Ever Always

1994-95
Cinderella

1993-94
The Invisible Dragon

1990-91
Treasure Island