South Bend Civic Theatre: the children's stage

The company. South Bend Civic Theatre was founded in 1957 and is the oldest continuously operating community theatre in the South Bend and Mishawaka area. From 1968 it played most of its productions in The Firehouse at 701 Portage Ave., and in January 2007 it moved downtown to 403 N. Main St., into the former Scottish Rite building's Wilson Theatre, 209 seats, with the Warner black-box studio beside it. Its children's history is the part this section claims. In 2009 the company launched its Theatre for Young Audiences, school-day productions aimed at the county's elementary and middle school students, and the program's scale by its tenth year is the measure of it: in 2019, more than 9,000 area students attended Theatre for Young Audiences productions, most of them seeing a play performed for them, in a real theatre, as a school day.

The school around the stage. Around the productions stands a year-round school of its own: classes running from kindergarten through grade 12, a Civic Youth Company for its advanced young players, and the Kids4Kids program, which puts children on the stage as performers for other children. The company's own production history before 2009 certainly included plays for young audiences, community theatres always have them, but no citable production list fixed its earliest children's titles, and the article dates its children's program from the 2009 launch the sources do fix.

Sources

1. BroadwayWorld, South Bend Civic Theatre profile: founded 1957; oldest continuously operating community theatre in the area; The Firehouse, 701 Portage Ave., from 1968; 403 N. Main St. from January 2007, Wilson Theatre 209 seats and Warner studio; Theatre for Young Audiences launched 2009; more than 9,000 students attended TYA productions in 2019.
2. South Bend Civic Theatre, education pages (sbct.org): year-round classes, kindergarten through grade 12; Civic Youth Company; Kids4Kids.