CONTRIBUTED BY OPELIKA COMMUNITY THEATRE
OPELIKA —
Opelika Community Theatre (OCT) was founded in August 2015 by a group of five individuals. Formerly known as Opelika Theatre Company, its mission was to create a community theater to support, embrace and include talented people of all ages interested in the performing arts.
For seven years, Southside Center for the Arts, located at 1103 Glenn St., has been its home base. OCT is proud to be sponsored by the city of Opelika and provides several community outreach programs annually, such as the Black History Month Annual Talent Showcase, and The C.A.S.T. Program (Creative Aging for Senior Theatre). OCT also established the O-ACT Academy for ages 3 and up, offering classes in acting and musical theater from beginner to advanced levels.
OCT has also been appointed as the second chapter in Alabama for the Penguin Project Foundation, which provides the opportunity for individuals who are developmentally and physically challenged to be able to experience performing in a modified version of a Broadway show assisted by individual mentors on stage. The Penguin Project is projected to launch sometime in mid to late summer 2023.
The Missoula Children’s Theatre (MCT), the nation’s largest touring children’s theater, has been touring extensively for more than 40 years now from Montana to Japan, and will visit nearly 1,200 communities this year with up to 44 teams of tour actors and directors. A tour team arrives in a given town with a set, lights, costumes, props and make-up, everything it takes to put on a play — except the cast.
The team will take up residency with Opelika Community Theatre’s Summer Theatre Camp. Camp dates are June 5 through 10, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. Camp slots are allocated for 64 students ages 5 to 17, with 16 slots limited to ages 5 through 8. Camp is located at the Southside Center for the Arts.
On the first day of camp, The MCT team will hold auditions to cast the show, and select four student directors to assist the MCT team. The show is rehearsed throughout the week and two public performances are presented on Saturday, June 10. All MCT shows are original adaptations of classic children’s stories and fairytales — a twist on the classic stories that you know and love.
The camp also consists of musical theater classes, basic dance, improv, scene studies, acting exercises and much more. The MCT tour team and OCT will be emphasizing creativity, social skills, goal achievement, communication skills and self-esteem during the week. These are all characteristics attained through participation in this unique, educational project. MCT and OCT’s mission is the development of life skills in children through participation in the performing arts.
The Missoula Children’s Theatre is based in Missoula, Montana, and also runs many local programs there. These include musical theater day camps and performing arts classes for local children, a summer residency Performing Arts Camp for students from around the world, and the Missoula Community Theatre, as well as touring teams that travel nationally and internationally. MCT has also held residencies at Alabama Shakespeare Theatre in Montgomery, as well as Birmingham, Atlanta and surrounding areas.
OCT creates an opportunity for talent of all ages to participate in large-scale productions, offering weekly classes at Southside Center for the Arts.
OCT students are trained with the necessary tools to prepare them for college and professional auditions. Several OCT students have received college scholarships and commercial performing opportunities.
OCT sustains membership in several professional theater organizations such as American Association for Community Theatre, South Eastern Theatre Conference and Alabama Conference of Theatre.
For more information regarding OCT and summer camp, call 334-400-9660, email opelikatheatrecompany1@mail.com or visit www.opelikatheatrecompany.com.