Area Attractions: Children's Theatre Company (MN)

Disclosure: I received a tour and sneak peek of a few rehearsal scenes to facilitate this post. All opinions are my own.

My daughters and I had a fun trip on Friday to see preparations for the Children's Theatre Company's upcoming production, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. We were also planning to go on Saturday to see the show, but unfortunately due to the power outage and a sump pump failure and trying to save food, we missed it. However, I can say that the scenes we were able to see during rehearsal were cute. My girls were laughing the whole time, and the set and acting had a very whimsical feel to it.

It also was very interesting to be able to talk with the CTC Artistic Director and the two stars of the current show, to get a feel for the planning and collaboration that goes on to make the shows just right - and for how important the CTC feels their work is. The actors don't look at it as "just children's theater" but as theater that demands the best acting they have to offer, no matter who the audience is. And they clearly have fun with it - and working with each other - as well. The director shared a story about working on a recent production, and doing preparation work for it, designing several puppets to be used as props in one scene. However, they weren't afraid to scrap the whole puppet part when they realized how wonderful the actors were doing without it! They also go to great lengths to acquire rights to plays and create a season that will have a wide appeal, reaching kids of all ages.
If you're in Minnesota, the CTC is a wonderful way to introduce your kids to theater. The upcoming season will have shows geared for the youngest kids - such as Eric Carle's The Hungry Caterpillar - and tweens - an original sibling-rivalry-meets-space-adventure tale. Depending on when you sign up for packages, you can see shows for as low as $14 per person per play - a great deal to see quality theater (they've won a Tony and are the only young people's theatre company to do so).
If you have a budding actor in the house, you can also check out the CTC summer camps. Interested in going to see the current show? Tickets start at just $10 (call Sunday afternoon for the following week's performances), or if you purchase tickets you can use code 4085 online to save $10 off regular price tickets online or by phone.