Mission Statement
Lexington Children’s Theatre (LCT) is a fully professional, non-profit organization dedicated to the intellectual and cultural enrichment of young people. Our mission is to create imaginative and compelling theatre experiences for young people and families. Founded in 1938, LCT is one of the oldest continuously operating theatres for young people in the nation and is the State Children’s Theatre of Kentucky, a distinction granted to LCT by the Kentucky Legislature in 1986. Annually, LCT serves over 130,000 children throughout the Commonwealth through our Main Stage performances, Education Department, Touring Productions, and Satellite Theatre based in Eastern Kentucky. Through these programs, LCT’s goal is to reach every child in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, regardless of geographic or economic barrier.
Background Statement
Lexington Children’s Theatre was an all-volunteer organization until 1971. Productions provided recreation and artistic experience for child actors and adult amateurs, with occasional appearances by adult touring companies. The first professional director was hired in 1971, and in 1979 the Board began moving LCT toward resident professional status. A part-time resident ensemble of professional theatre artists was formed in 1984, which became full-time in 1985. We are now a fully professional theatre employing full-time and part-time actors, teachers, directors, designers, administrators and technicians. In 1995 we undertook a significant fund-raising campaign to raise money to renovate a building to become the permanent home to all of our programs. The $3,250,000 construction project was completed in time for the 1998-99 season and provides permanent space for our performances and classes. Thanks to generous donations from the late Lucille Caudill Little and W. T. Young, the building is now debt free. In 1998, we also formed the Resident Professional Intern Company to provide professional training to aspiring theatre students of college age and to supplement the professional staff.
On our Main Stage, LCT produces a ten show season primarily for school audiences during the week and public audiences on the weekends. Selections are made from contemporary dramatic literature for young audiences and scripts based on classic, contemporary, historical, and folk literature.
Since 1980, LCT's Tour Company has provided the best and most affordable opportunity to expose young people in Kentucky to professional theatre. In 2017-2018, LCT's Tour Company reached over 42,000 students.
LCT's Education Department offers year round classes, summer camps, and residencies in our facility as well as in facilities throughout the Commonwealth.
Our Shooting Stars Youtheatre provides summer performance opportunities, theatre classes, and in-school residencies at no charge for the young people in Eastern Kentucky’s underserved Rowan and Elliott counties.
Serving Central Kentucky's underserved is a top initiative for LCT, and is accomplished through a number of venues, including but not limited to our Family Pay What You Can series, ticket subsidies for children who receive free and reduced lunch, and scholarships for our education classes.
Impact Statement
Lexington Children’s Theatre kicked off our 2017-2018 season with a blockbuster,
Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, which
became our best-selling Summer Family Musical ever. The remainder of the season was a mix of
titles that were sure to be well-known to our audiences, such as The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, and Roald Dahl’s James and the Giant Peach Jr. as well as newer or more
artistically challenging titles, like Afternoon
of the Elves and Sacagawea:
Discovering History.
We were very pleased to receive word that our production of The Ugly Duckling, a world premiere
written by Larry and Vivian Snipes, would receive funding from the National
Endowment for the Arts. This spin on the
classic tale by Hans Christian Anderson used innovative techniques that incorporated
an overhead projector and transparencies to create varying backdrops as well as
shadow puppets for the production.
We were also thrilled to present regional premieres of Junie B. Jones Is Not a Crook and Elephant and Piggie’s “We Are In a Play!”
Junie B. Jones toured regionally, in addition
to multiple performances in our theatre, and was eventually seen by over 6,500
young people and families.
In December of 2017 and April of 2018, we debuted our first Sensory
Friendly performances, adapting The Ugly
Duckling and Why Mosquitoes Buzz
to serve families with young people with autism, sensory processing disorders,
and cognitive differences. For Sensory
Friendly performances, modifications are made to lighting and sound, and
limited tickets are sold to maximize the experience for young people and
families. Sensory friendly performances
are part of our ongoing initiative to make LCT as accessible as possible for
all populations, which also include refitting our bathrooms on the second and
third floors into family/gender neutral facilities.
In April of 2018, LCT celebrated the tenth anniversary of our annual
fundraiser, Celebrity Curtain Call.
Celebrity Curtain Call is our annual gala that not only raises funds for
the theatre but introduces local civic and business leaders to the theatre and
our mission. The evening begins with a
cocktail hour with drinks, heavy h’ors doeuvres, and a silent auction. After
cocktail hour, our guests venture into the theatre where they are treated to a
show based on a popular children’s tale that features a cast comprised of local
celebrities including business leaders, media personalities, public officials,
and civic advocates from throughout the Bluegrass. Our 2018 event had an “All Star” cast
comprised of community members who had previously taken part in the
production. Through ticket sales and our
auctions, the event raised nearly $54,000 for the theatre.
Our satellite theatre, Shooting Stars Youtheatre, which serves young
people in Eastern Kentucky, has expanded their programming to include two new
programs – an arts and theatre residency for young people with special needs,
and a residency for young women who are incarcerated at the Morehead Youth
Development Center. Both programs have
proven very successful and will be renewed in our next season.
In 2018, LCT attended the ArtsMidwest Conference, the largest
presenting conference in the area, for the first time, to expand our reach for
our tour company. Our trip was a huge
success, and resulting in bookings in Iowa, Ohio, and Indiana for our 2018-2019
season.
After a two-year hiatus, our elite musical theatre singing group,
Starlight Singers, returned for our 2017-2018 season, and sang at the Lexington
Legends, the Girls on the Run fall 5k, UK Hospital, the Lexington Art League, and
Fayette Mall.
Needs Statement
Lexington Children's Theatre's most pressing needs are currently all financial. We are currently seeking assistance to help subsidize school performances - only half of what each performance costs is actually paid for by ticket purchases.
Additionally, LCT is always seeking a long term source of permanent funding for all programming.
CEO/Executive Director Statement
Lexington Children’s Theatre's purpose is to provide young people high quality aesthetic experiences in theatre arts. We strive to provide our young patrons with performances that entertain, educate and challenge their imaginations. Our programs are designed to aid the aesthetic, personal and social growth of our young audience. In addition to providing entertainment, they encourage appreciation of theatre and of the arts in general. Our presentations offer young audiences comprehensible samples of real-life and imaginary experiences and invite them to participate both sympathetically and actively in the world of our performances. Through participation in theatre young people learn valuable personal and social skills and further their understanding of themselves, their peers and their community.
Our work lifts characters off the page and breathes life into them for our young patrons. In doing so, we hope to challenge our audiences to view stories and life experiences in a different way.
Larry Snipes