Children's Theatre Company

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The Children's Theatre Company (formerly known as The Moppet Players from 1961[1] to 1965) is a regional theatre established in 1965 in Minneapolis, Minnesota specializing in plays for families, young audiences and the very young. The founding is credited to John Clark Donahue[2] and Beth Linnerson.[1] Many productions are adaptations from children's literature[2] including Pippi Longstocking, The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins, Cinderella, How The Grinch Stole Christmas, A Year with Frog and Toad and Alice in Wonderland that have been in the company's repertoire for many seasons. Among their early premiere productions was Richard Dworsky's musical version of The Marvelous Land of Oz, which was one of several productions to be issued on video in the early 1980s. The casts themselves are frequently young adult performers.[2]

The programs began operating from space donated in a restaurant before moving to an abandoned fire station donated when the troupe affiliated itself with the social service agency Pillsbury-Waite Settlement House.[1]

In 1965, CTC was a department of the Minneapolis Institute of Art, then moved to the Minneapolis Society of Fine Arts in 1972 or '73. By 1975, it self-incorporated as an independent non-profit and ran an afternoon theater school under the Twin Cities' Urban Arts program. In 1981, CTC opened The Children's Theatre Conservatory School, an accredited theater and high school.[2] Students were taught regular academic curricula for the first half of the day and then studied performance arts for the second half.[3]

The theater was founded by John Clark Donahue along with John Burton Davidson, Shirley Diercks, Martha Pierce Boesing and Beth Leinerson. Jon Cranny served as the theater's second artistic director from 1984[2] until 1997, when Peter C. Brosius, became the theater's third artistic director in 1997. The theater's production of A Year with Frog and Toad, which completed a run at the Cort Theatre on Broadway in June 2003. In 1998, under Brosius' leadership, the theater established THRESHOLD, a new play laboratory which has create world premiere productions by Nilo Cruz, Jeffrey Hatcher, Kia Corthrun, and Naomi Iizuka. Along with new play development, Brosius has helped launch new education programs, including the Neighborhood Bridges program.

Architect Michael Graves designed the expansion for the theater in 2001.

Sex abuse convictions and lawsuits

CTC artistic director John Clark Donahue was charged in 1983 with sexual contact with three male students aged 12 to 15. He was first suspended by, then resigned from, the CTC. Donahue pled guilty in October 1984, and was sentenced to a year in prison and 15 years' probation during which time he was to completely disengage himself from the Children's Theatre Company.[4]

On December 1, 2015, two students who claimed to have been sexually abused by Donahue in 1977 and 1983 filed suit under the Minnesota Child Victims Act against the theater and Donahue and an unnamed ex-employee,[5] later named as Jason McLean. CTC was found negligent and McLean was ordered to pay $3.8 million in damages.[6][7] CTC later pled the court to assess almost $300,000 in legal costs against one of the plaintiffs,[8] but later rescinded the request and apologized.[9] McLean is apparently living in Mexico.[10]


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References

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External links