By Anne Ruisi
What began in 1947 as a Junior League volunteer project to bring a theater experience to Birmingham children is today a professional theater company that has entertained generations of school-age children.
Birmingham Children’s Theatre is celebrating its 75th anniversary with a 1920s-themed gala benefit, An Enchanted Evening, on Oct 13 at The Fennec.
“It was very much a grassroots effort,” Carolyn Featheringill said of the organization’s early days. Her mother-in-law, Nita Featheringill, was one of the founders.
It was just a few years after the end of World War II when Junior League members decided on a project that would concentrate on children and introducing them to live theater, Featheringill said.
“Family lore says they made the costumes and traveled around (the Birmingham area) to bring theater to them,” Featheringill, a member of the organization’s board of directors, said.
At times, family members even pitched in to help when needed. In the early 1970s, Featheringill’s husband, who was 6 feet, 6 inches tall, was recruited by his mother to play the giant in a production of “The Brave Little Tailor.”
The first performance was at Philips High School, said Ashley Woods, Birmingham Children’s Theatre executive director. In the first 20 years, the group performed at the Alabama Theatre and Clark Memorial Theatre and was based at the Highland Park Recreation Center for a while.
In 1972, during the theater company’s 25th anniversary season, a fire at the Highland Park Recreation Center destroyed everything, with two shows left to finish the season, Woods said. By then, there were paid staff and paid actors, and the troupe was scaling up to larger productions.
Today, Birmingham Children’s Theatre is a fully professional theater company for young audiences, Woods said.
As in its early days, performances are given around Birmingham and have expanded throughout the state, but the theater company is based at the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center.
There are eight staged productions a year, with shows directed at children from the toddler years to middle school. “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star,” which ended its run in late September, for example, is geared to toddlers and is an interactive production incorporating movement, play and discovery, Woods said.
While toddlers might seem too young to enjoy theater, they really aren’t, she said.
“It’s a great gateway to get kids involved” in theater, she said. “It’s a new experience.”
The organization’s nine full-time staff members include the theater group’s Education Department, which conducts after-school classes and summer camps, among other responsibilities. They also offer professional development to educators, Woods said.
One new production that will be performed in March next year is “Miss Fancy: Elephant Queen of the Zoo,” a play based on the elephant who charmed and delighted Birmingham children in the early part of the 20th century.
The play was commissioned in 2019 but its production was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Woods said.
“We’re excited to be part of it,” she said.
An Enchanted Evening will include dinner, jazz and performances. For more information or to buy tickets, go to bct123.org/enchanted-evening.
