Parents, fire up that laptop and direct your browser to chicagochildrenstheatre.org/camps. Because it’s open enrollment for Spring Break Camp, Spring Classes and a full summer of Summer Camps at Chicago Children’s Theatre.
Spring Break Camp dates are March 29-April 2, which coincide with CPS Spring Break. This camp is set to be a one-week, in-person, physically distanced experience for kids K-5, Monday through Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., with free before and after care. The camp’s theme, It’s A Jungle Out There, will playfully explore what life might look and feel like post pandemic with new and familiar routines.
Starting April 5, CCT kicks off its new Spring education session with a wide variety of classes that meet weekly through early June.
Most Spring classes will be live on Zoom, like Kid Talk for grades 3-5, in which students learn to make their own courageous versions of TED Talk videos, Tuesdays at 4:30 p.m., and Global Artists for Sustainability, an online international class for ages 9-12 to create a theater piece around UN goals for sustainability, co-led by CCT and Mumbai’s The Pomengrate Workshop, Saturdays at 8 a.m.
Two Spring classes – Playmakers Ensemble for grades K-2 and Movie Makers for grades 3-5 – will be held on-site at CCT if conditions allow. To learn more and register, visit chicagochildrenstheatre.org/classes.
And for parents who plan way ahead, CCT has opened enrollment for its 2021 line-up of Summer Camps, both virtual and in-person.
Choose from an array of one- and two-week in-person Summer Camp adventures like Acting for the Camera: Cut to Commercial (June 23-25), Musical Theatre Camp: The Least Popular Trolls (July 12-23), Camp Red Kite for children on the autism spectrum (August 9-20) and GirlProv! Improv for Empowerment (August 16-20).
Prefer to stick with virtual learning?
Register your child for Camp Red Kite Online (June 28-July 9), Online Acting for the Camera: Sci-Fi Edition (July 12-16) or Online Adventure Camp: When Pets Ran the World (August 9-13).
Live or virtual, performing arts classes at Chicago Children’s Theatre teach kids the basics of acting, songwriting, scenic and prop design, choreography and collaborative story development as students work together to create original, dynamic performances for friends and family.
In-person camps will be held at Chicago Children’s Theatre, The Station, 100 S. Racine in Chicago’s West Loop. Visit chicagochildrenstheatre.org/camps for full Spring and Summer schedules, including camp descriptions, suggested age ranges, all Covid safety precautions, and registration fees. Capacity is limited for all classes and camps so please reserve early. Financial aid is available.
Chicago Children's Theatre, The Station, 100 S. Racine in Chicago's West Loop
More about Chicago Children’s Theatre’s Covid-19 safety precautions
With physical distancing becoming the norm, Covid numbers declining, Chicago K-8 schools reopening and the promise of vaccines coming for all, Chicago Children’s Theatre is carefully reintroducing in-person camps and classes at its West Loop home.
Camp sizes will be limited to two groups of 10 students. These groups will travel, create and rehearse in their own pods and perform separate final shows. On-site safety protocols also include:
- Any person entering the building must wear a mask
- Any person entering the building must agree to a temperature check upon arrival
- Any person entering the building must adhere to physical distancing guidelines, except within family pods
- Handwashing is mandatory for all students before and after class
- Hand sanitizer is stationed around all building entrances and exits
- Windows in classrooms and lobby are opened whenever possible
- Three high-end air purifiers are stationed in each classroom and the lobby
Chicago Children’s Theatre will only hold in-person class or camp if the five-day average of new cases in Chicago in the days leading up to class are below 1,500 new cases daily. If averages are above this threshold, class or camp will be held online via Zoom that week.
For the full list of Covid-19 safety precautions, visit chicagochildrenstheatre.org/education-policies-faqs.
More learning opportunities via Chicago Children’s Theatre
Chicago Children’s Theatre’s main hub offering free, on-demand theater, storytelling and craft making destination is CCTv: Virtual Theatre and Learning from Chicago Children’s Theatre.
Programming includes original productions like Diamond’s Dream, a short puppet film by Jerrell L. Henderson and Caitlin McLeod about a boy who rides the CTA Red Line with a spirit girl lost to Spanish flu 100 years ago, toy theater productions of Frederick: A Virtual Puppet Performance based on Leo Lionni’s Frederick, read by Michael Shannon, Doll Face Has a Party!, a doll-in-quarantine tale directed by Brian Selznick, and My Magic Breath, a co-production with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra that uses classical music to teach kids mindful breathing, narrated by Chicago First Lady Amy Eshleman.
Chicago Children’s Theatre has also launched two free, original podcasts on Apple iTunes and other streaming platforms: X-Marks the Spot, a five-part, serialized audio adventure tale designed with the visually impaired community in mind, also meant to inspire young listeners to engage more deeply with all five of their senses, and Walkie Talkies, a series of story-based podcasts created by local theater artists that encourage families to get outside and explore Chicago neighborhoods together.
Click images above to screen (left) Diamond's Dream and (right) Leo Lionni's Frederick
Click images above to screen (left) Doll Face Has a Party! and (right) My Magic Breath
About Chicago Children’s Theatre
“The Chicago theater scene is legendarily vibrant, so naturally a number of companies tailor productions to younger audiences. The cream of the crop is Chicago Children’s Theatre.”
– Chicago Tribune
Chicago Children’s Theatre was founded in 2005 with a big idea: Chicago is the greatest theater city in the world, and it deserves a great children’s theater.
Sixteen years later, Chicago Children’s Theatre is the city’s largest professional theater company devoted exclusively to children and young families, with an international reputation for fostering diverse new works, employing professional writing, performing and directorial talent, and achieving high-quality design and production values.
In January 2017, Chicago Children’s Theatre celebrated the opening of its permanent home, The Station, 100 S. Racine Avenue in Chicago’s West Loop community. The Station, so named for its origins as the former rough-and-tumble 12th District Chicago Police Station, is now home to a beautiful, fully repurposed, LEED Gold-certified performing arts, education and community engagement facility that welcomes all Chicago families.
In 2017, Chicago Children’s Theatre became the first theater for young audiences in the U.S. to win a National Theatre Award from the American Theatre Wing, creators of the Tony Awards. CCT also received the 2019 National TYA Artistic Innovation Award from Theatre for Young Audiences/USA.
Chicago Children’s Theatre’s Education Division continues to grow its roster of youth performing arts and STEAM classes, workshops, winter and spring break camps, and summer camps. The company also provides thousands of free and reduced-price tickets to under-resourced CPS schools each year.
Chicago Children’s Theatre is led by Co-Founders, Artistic Director Jacqueline Russell and Board Chair Todd Leland, with Board President Armando Chacon. For more, visit chicagochildrenstheatre.org.