Research Project: Children's Theater
MUSI 730 – Gerber
April 26, 2017
Research Summary – The Development of Children’s Theater (1850-1950)
The mid-eighteenth century was the beginning of the development of children’s theater in America. Starting with children’s reactions to Pantomime, it was realized that children have a specific taste for theater forms. At first, children’s theater seemed to be extracurricular in providing something fun and simple to do. It carried the reputation of being easy, not requiring as much preparation or management, and not worth the time of mainstream directors. Over time, the reputation of children’s theater changed as it developed into a reputable theater form alongside adult theater.
During the mid-nineteenth century, adult theater was gaining more and more popularity with minstrel shows, comic opera, and vaudeville. Though these forms were attended by children with their parents, the content or plots of the shows was inappropriate for children. As theater communities realized that the children will be their future audience members, children’s theater finally received reputable attention. As directors invested more interest in the youth that would eventually be their audience, they realized the unique expertise that was required to successfully work with children, either as actors in the show or as audience members. The challenges that children’s theater posed transformed this endeavor into something quite advanced. Children’s theater had gained the reputation of having the ability to improve one’s theatrical craft and artistry in a way that adult theater could not. In addition to new benefits for adults, children’s theater served a significant purpose for youth actors and audience members by exercising certain cognitive, emotional, and social skills or concepts.
Directors began transforming well-known works of children’s literature into theatrical productions that not only were suitable for a child audience, but also employed children as cast members. As children were assuming more professional roles in mainstream theater, directors were accruing knowledge on how to successfully work with children. Over time, it was learned that a high level of expertise was required to successfully execute a show involving children or for a child audience, a quality similar to adult theater. More participation in children’s theater led to the development of The Children’s Theatre Conference, an organization that would be a helpful vehicle in spreading effective techniques for working with children. By the year 1950, children’s theater was an established theater form that was comparable to adult theater in terms of artistic vision, conviction, preparation, management, and expertise.