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Who We Are

Bay Area Children’s Theatre is the foremost theatre company for young audiences in California.

Our award-winning productions and educational programs have reached more than 1 million kids and adults over the past 18 years.

We are imaginative thinkers who collaborate to bring shared experiences to children of all backgrounds, inspiring joy, empathy, and creative thinking.  You are our community!

Educational Values

Children thrive when they learn to think creatively and have access to experiences that unleash their imaginative power.

Five Pillars of Creative Thinking

Bay Area Children’s Theatre celebrates the power of imagination. We know that the next generation has the power to change the world, but we must give them the tools to dream big, work together, and envision a brighter future. For this reason, Bay Area Children’s Theatre anchors all of our programming in the process of learning Creative Thinking.

Imagination

Imagination opens the mind to possibility and empathy.

Storytelling

Humans connect and learn through story.

Collaboration

The best ideas come when we know how to work together as a team.

Self-Expression

Learning to express yourself in words and art allows you to make a unique contribution to the world.

Critical Analysis & Feedback

Critical thinking encourages problem solving, perspective taking, and positive decision making.

Production History

Bay Area Children’s Theatre has produced over 58 shows, including:

  • 44 new works
  • 6 national tours
  • 5 Theatre Bay Area Award winning productions

Bay Area Children’s Theatre dedicates itself to fight Racism and Oppression. We acknowledge and take responsibility for any actions that may have been insensitive or caused injury to BIPOC individuals. We are actively assessing all aspects of our organization in order to take corrective action.

Bay Area Children’s Theatre recognizes that our Berkeley theatre occupies land unjustly seized from the Chochenyo speaking Ohlone people and that our community reaps benefits from the use of this land. We promise to honor these ancestral grounds by sharing the history of its origins with our theatre staff and patrons, in commemoration of the resilience and strength of Indigenous People worldwide.

We recognize that discrimination and oppression are pervasive in our industry and are committed to dismantling it. This will require authenticity, hard work, diligence, self-reflection, adjustments and a long term commitment. We pledge to work towards achieving the highest standards of fairness and equity through the following:

We will tell stories that give voice and expression to BIPOC lives, experiences and history.

What We Have Done

  • Produced a Kids Play About Racism which has reached 300,000 kids.
  • Created Sunday Spotlight to celebrate the role of artists in the fight for social justice, anti-racism and anti-oppression.
  • Produced a series on “Who Inspires You” celebrating Black voices in our community and beyond.

What We Will Do

  • Focus on creating more original works centering the voices of BIPOC writers.
  • Increase partnerships with community organizations.

We will establish and maintain diverse artistic teams, creators and casts.

What We Have Done

  • Of the 28 artists we have hired since June 1, 2020, 82% identify as BIPOC individuals.
  • We have hired a writers room to create our scripts moving forward that is 100% BIPOC artists.

What We Will Do

  • Continue to build relationships with BIPOC designers.

We will hire staff, leadership and recruit board of directors members that reflect the diversity of our community.

What We Have Done

  • Have hired 2 full-time staff members at a Senior Leadership level. Both identify as Black Artists.
  • Have hired 4 more full-time staff members. 75% identify as BIPOC.
  • Creating a strategy for board recruitment in the future to significantly increase BIPOC members.

What We Will Do

  • We will continue to grow our staff through an anti-racist lens, ensuring that our staff represents the diversity of the students we serve.
  • Recruit and bring on new board members with a goal of reaching 50% BIPOC board members.

We will implement inclusive hiring and recruitment practices.

What We Have Done

  • Created and implemented completely new hiring practices with an anti-racist, inclusive lens, that includes more voices in the decision-making processes.

What We Will Do

  • Continue to improve the process by evaluating and getting feedback.
  • Assess recruitment practices.
  • Build new relationships with potential recruitment pools.

We will engage in active dialogue and commit to listening and responding quickly to the needs of our artists, our staff, and our community.

What We Have Done

  • Implemented town hall style meetings for all company and artists.
  • Increased usage of slack to include all artist/educators.
  • Created clear channels for staff and artists to communicate to multiple different people in leadership if there is a challenge or problem they need addressed.

What We Will Do

  • Put into practice the elements that we have implemented during the Pandemic in a more “normal” work environment in which shows are happening in person and people are interacting in person.

We will hold our company and selves accountable to on-going anti-racist training, learning, and conversation.

What We Have Done

  • Weekly company meetings on anti-racism at BACT.
  • Book Discussion monthly.
  • Expectation that every employee is taking responsibility for self-education including podcasts, books, documentaries with sharing ideas and resources.
  • Active participants in Listen, Learn Lead with TYA.
  • TYA Board/Leadership Anti-Racism training.
  • Used Anti-Racist and Anti-Oppressive Future for TYA Interactive Guide to continue conversations and action items.

What We Will Do

  • Work with a paid consultant to continue the work that we have started on our own.
  • Yearly financial commitment to training with a line item in the budget moving forward.

We will review and revise our policies and procedures to align the organization's mission statement to these new goals through an anti-racist lens.

What We Have Done

  • Created new employee handbook.
  • Created new policies and procedures for internal communication, structure, processes and goal setting.
  • Created new mission and values statement that is currently being reviewed by staff and board.

What We Will Do

  • Continue to evaluate and revise all policies and procedures as work returns to more “normal” mode.
  • Finish the process of implementing new mission, vision and values.

We will continue to communicate this progress through consistent updates with the board of directors, the staff, and you, our community.