Our
Mission
Adventure Theatre's
mission is to educate, entertain and enrich
the lives of children and their families,
which we accomplish through performances
and classes, and by reaching out into the
community, taking performances to children
who might not otherwise be able to experience
live theatre. An over-arching goal of Adventure
Theatre is to create new generations of
artists and audiences.
Our
History
Adventure Theatre,
founded in 1951, is the longest-running
theatre program for children and families
in the Washington metropolitan area and
has been one of the main attractions at
Glen Echo Park since 1971.
The idea of quality
theatre for children in the Washington,
DC metropolitan area was born when a group
of women met at their children's nursery
school. They believed that children deserved
to see quality theatre designed especially
for them and presented by adults.
Adventure Theatre
opened its first season in February,1952,
with a production of Jack and the Beanstalk
at Leland Junior High School in Bethesda.
After years of producing shows at various
locations, Adventure Theatre supporters
successfully negotiated with the National
Park Service in 1971 to establish a permanent
home in the Old Arcade Building in historic
Glen Echo Park. Adventure Theatre opened
in its new home with a performance of Goldilocks
and the Three Bears in 1972. Since then,
the theatre has been in continuous operation,
offering seven or eight weekend plays each
season.
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Adventure
Theatre
Board of Directors 2007-08
Trish
Glowacki, President
Sandra Eskin, 1st Vice President
Margie Ingram, 2nd Vice President
Madeline Peeler, Treasurer
Terry Roberts, Secretary
Carol Leahy, President Emeritus
Norman
Aronovic
Don Connolly
Marco Luzuriaga
Joan MacCartee
Robin Mansfield
Joan Ronnenberg
Marilyn Shockey
Peter Somerville
Melanie Williams
Staff
Michael
Bobbitt, Artistic Director
Guy Brochu, Business Manager
Meryl Cullom, Education Director
Brendan McDougal, Technical Director
Stephanie Nealer, Director of Development
Meg Maxwell, Office Manager
JR Russ, Production Manager
Ed Tamulevich, Summer Education Director
Danny Tippett, Box Office Manager
Tyler Whitmore,
Communications Director
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Adventure Theatre's professional traveling
troupe, the In-School Players, was launched
in 1974, taking performances to area schools
and, more recently, offering field trip
opportunities for school groups to see educational
plays on our stage in Glen Echo. Beginning
in 1974, Adventure Theatre partnered with
the Junior League to start the Picture Book
Players, a performance troupe for preschool
and early elementary aged children. The
volunteer Picture Book Players have continued
performing for our youngest audiences even
after the formal partnership with the Junior
League ended.
The first drama
classes were offered at Adventure Theatre's
Glen Echo facility in 1978. Since then,
our education program has expanded to include
a wide variety of after-school and weekend
theatre classes, performance workshops for
scout troops, as well as the popular summer
musical theatre workshops.
We are thrilled
to be back in our newly-renovated, high-tech
theatre, complete with a new stage and audience
seating, a state-of-the-art sound and light
system, new rehearsal and education spaces,
a party room and lots more.
Adventure Theatre
has been a cherished family institution
in the Washington area for more than 50
years, and with all of our new facilities
and programs, we expect to remain a valued
source of artistic enrichment for our community.
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