Northwest Childrens Theater & School

NWCT is such a welcoming place. My daughter has been taking classes there for 3 years, and loves it! She has not only learns a lot about acting, but has so much fun. Everyone who works there is so helpful, and they are some of the nicest people. the way they run camp is so organized! I was impressed.
The mainstage shows they put on every year are high quality. My daughter loves all of them. The performers are very talented. The set and the costumes add to the each show. I have never seen a show at NWCT that I didn’t like. I highly recommend NWCT, for classes and to watch their shows.

I love this place, always have. But I realized HOW MUCH MORE I completely adore this place after our family booked a party for Peter Pan and had 20 of our other friends and families join us. It was incredible. I realized that before, during and after Peter Pan, and even now, a day later, that I need to take my children to the theater more. In fact, our friends were raving about it so much, they said, «You know? A movie costs just as much – why not skip it and see something live more often?»
Great advice – We’ll take it! :-)

My kids have been in summer theater camps and we’ve been to several shows at NWTC. I first learned of it while teaching grade school in the 90’s. The theater building is very old but it’s a great atmosphere and everything is well organized. I’ve enjoyed every experience I’ve had here, the staff are always friendly and my girls love going here. We are planning to take my youngest and some of her friends here in the next couple of months to see Rapunzel and then visit Saint Cupcakes in celebration of her birthday. Really looking forward to it!

Our family saw Willie Wonka for my son’s 5^th birthday. I was very impressed with the quality of the production. The adult and student talent was very good and the costumes were great. The kids loved the show. During the curtain call my birthday boy even yelled, «That was awesome!» Not a bad response for his first theatrical experience. I think we will need to look into NWCT’s classes. We will definitely be seeing more shows. This was a wonderful family evening.

Nothing says «I am a total masochist» like going on a field trip with my kiddo and 65 other kindergartners!
The saving grace of the day?
The play.
This afternoon we all were lucky enough to attend the very last performance of ‘Go Dog Go’.
I LOVED the play.
My son LOVED the play.
The theater was nice. The seating isn’t the kind of seating I would suggest for us older folk if the play is more than an hour long but was alright for that hour.
The cast was phenomenal. Young, talented, very good at what they do.
We look forward to going as the ‘whole family’ to see a play in the Fall/​Winter of 2011.

My daughter was part of the Summer Nights class that was offered this summer and I was very impressed. The quality instruction combined with endless enthusiasm made this class a great experience for my child. The class is focused on singing, dancing and acting (the musical theater triple threat) and developing each child’s weakest area and by the end they were confidently doing all three. The final show was terrific. Highly recommend.

Every holiday season we take the kids to see a live theatre production. For years we saw The Nutcracker, but after multiple performances by different groups, we had sugar plum fairy fatigue.
The past two years we’ve seen a show at NWCTS. Last year, it was Beauty and the Beast. This year we saw The Wizard of Oz. Both were wonderful… funny, charming and kid-​appropriate. A nice blend of singing, acting and dancing.
The quality of the acting, costumes and sets is wonderful. The lead roles are usually played by adults, but kids and teens (who probably take classes through their theatre program) fill in many minor rolls.
The staging is a bit rough. Performances are held in the Northwest Neighborhood Cultural Center. They proudly announce that the stage is 100 years old. Painfully old. You sit in church pews and ruts have been worn in the thin seat cushions by 100 years of derrieres. Extra cushions are available in the back, and I highly recommend you grab one on your way in (they do run out).
The Wizard of Oz was also 2−½ hours long. A bit much for little ones. We’ve seen productions by the Oregon Children’s Theatre and they tend to run an hour or less. However, OCT doesn’t seem to stage shows during the holidays.
In December, the theater is freezing so bring a warm coat. If you can make yourself comfortable, you’ll have a fine time watching the show. And don’t forget to bring your camera. Most of the cast will come out to the foyer after the show for a meet-​and-​greet and photos with the little ones.
They are only a couple blocks from Saint Cupcake if you want to grab a sweet treat after the show.

I attended a presentation of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast with a field trip group from my kid’s middle school.
The theater itself seems ancient enough to have seen the second run of Much Ado About Nothing. The bench seating will have you calling your chiropractor two minutes after the curtain goes down, although they did have a pad to sit on. (But the pad slides around when you shift your weight.)
Despite the surroundings (which I suppose could be thought of as charming depending on one’s point of view) the performance was very good. The actors were all enthusiastic, professional and well rehearsed. Costume changes were quick, the song and dance numbers were executed flawlessly and the character portrayals were spot on. The Gaston was funnily smug, the Beast was a likable mix of grouchy and vulnerable, and the kid playing Chip was *not* an irritating precocious snot. Lumiere was particularly funny and steals the show.
The middle schoolers enjoyed the production. They were thrilled with the «wolves» running up through the aisles and growling as they went past. There was a Q&A after the performance where they were interested in finding out if Beauty and the Beast were really boyfriend/​girlfriend in real life — and whether they really kissed. (The actor playing the Beast said that unfortunately [for him, I presume] the actress playing Beauty is married. As for the kissing, they said it was a special effect done with smoke.)
Aside from a few problems with the sound system where you couldnt hear some of what the minor characters were saying (the primary characters had inconspicuous headsets), and choking on the special effects smoke at least four times during the show (apparently not the same stuff used for kissing), it was overall a fun time that I would recommend.