President’s Annual Report
2024-2025
This 2024–2025 Season has been filled with excitement! The Children’s Theatre, Inc celebrated its 30th anniversary. We held a reception to celebrate with alumni and previous board members. Reflecting on our successes and maintaining our vision of the benefits of children's theater in our community. It was my second year of being President of this organization’s board of directors.
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MISSION
The mission of the Children’s Theatre, Inc. is to foster and encourage children in the development of and commitment to the highest standard of theatre through instruction, direction, and production of quality performances, whereby, its audiences may gain an appreciation for the arts.
GRANTS
We received grants from the Kent County Fund for the Arts and Delaware Division of the Arts for this season. Thanks to their support, we were able to run our three shows this season.
The Children’s Theatre, Inc. received funding for the 2024-2025 season from these same state and county organizations. The Delaware Division of the Arts awarded us $2,800. We received a $2,500 grant from The Kent County Fund for the Arts. We are grateful for the opportunities and support that we have received from these organizations.
Our productions are supported in part by Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts. The Division promotes Delaware arts events on:
Special thanks to Craig Horleman for writing coverage for Sleeping Beauty and Mike Finney for writing coverage for Shrek and Freaky Friday. We would also like to thank several parent volunteers for being the photographers for Sleeping Beauty, Shrek, and Freaky Friday We thank the Delaware State News for their enthusiastic support and press coverage of our productions.
FUNDRAISING
In addition to the grant funding, we participated in the DoMore24 fundraising initiative in March. This successful state-wide fundraising campaign brought in $1,226.49 in donations and additional stretch funds to TCT. We look forward to participating in this campaign again in 2026.
At our spring show, we raffled off an official Children’s Theatre water bottle filled with donated gift cards.
AUDIENCE COUNT
Sleeping Beauty sold 377 tickets for both of its shows. Shrek had 1231 total tickets sold (this counts 2 public shows plus 2 school shows) and Freaky Friday sold 467 tickets for its performance weekend.
Our total ticket sales have increased 18% from last year’s totals which is very exciting.
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2024-2025 SHOWS
Sleeping Beauty (October 2024)
The first show of the season was a magical one!
Thirty-six children helped to transport
the audience from the Schwartz Center for the
Arts to the enchanted kingdom of Nevernod.
The audience helped to derail the crafty witch’s
plan to fool the prince. It was a fun show,
enjoyed by all in attendance.
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Shrek, the Musical (March 2025)
Shrek was kicked out of his swamp on a
quest to save the princess for a vertically-
challenged-king; he discovers friendship
and true love along the way! The cast of
forty-one incredibly talented kids, including fairy
tale creatures and a dragon, mesmerized
the audiences with their top-notch singing
and dancing.
The venue was the Schwartz Center for the Arts.
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Freaky Friday (May 2025)
The plot of Freaky Friday is a familiar one;
parents and teens frustrated with the lack of
empathy for how hard their day-to-day life
can be! What better way to see each other’s
perspective than by “trading places” for just
one day?...
The audience witnessed a range of emotions
as mom and daughter found a new respect
for each other, and realized just how much
they loved one another, through an eventful
24-hours during the switch. The cast of 39 brought
this story to life at the Schwartz Center for the Arts.
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Community Involvement
The Kent County Public Library offered us a perfect space to perform excerpts of both of our musicals, Shrek and Freaky Friday. We look forward to working with them on future endeavors.
We participated in the Dover YMCA Healthy Kids Day held in April with a table activity.
We also had a table at Dover Days in May, along with a preview performance of Freaky Friday at the outdoor stage right on the Legislative Mall.
This summer we partnered with Melissa Brenner of First State Improv to host Improv Camp at TCT’s Reith Hall for one week.
Platinum Sponsors
Law Office of Laura A Yiengst, LLC
Fifer Orchards
Edelman Spine & Orthopaedic Therapy
Gold Sponsors
Delaware Ballet
Delmarva Animal Emergency Center
Forrest Avenue Animal Hospital
Flower Child Music Studios
Top City
McGinnis Auto & Mobile Home Salvage, LLC
Silver Sponsors
Children First Learning Center, Inc
If you or your business would like to be a sponsor to our tax exempt organization, please send your check to The Children’s Theatre, Inc. c/o Treasurer, P.O. Box 823, Dover, Delaware 19903. All donations are tax deductible. Your name will be printed on all programs for the 2025-2026 season. We thank you in advance for your generous support.
Our treasurer, Aaron Lefort, has kept a close watch on our finances this year. We have been creative with ways to increase revenue to keep up with rising expenses. We have been selected to be the recipient of the Gals that Give fundraiser on November 20, 2025; at the time of this report, we are preparing for this event.
SCHOLARSHIPS
This year’s scholarship was presented to a very deserving high school senior for $500. The scholarship committee recommended Justin Truitt for this honor. His application, letters of reference, community service and commitment to The Children’s Theatre, Inc. made him the perfect candidate for this award, which is now in its fifth year. This candidate has grown up in the theatre, and has been immensely helpful behind the scenes as well as on the stage. This Fall, Justin will be attending Delaware State University to study Music Education with a minor in Theatre Arts.
We wish him much success as he graduates and starts this next exciting chapter.
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The Children’s Theatre’s 2025-2026 Season
TICKETS: All seats for all public shows are $15.
Auditions for Clue: Saturday, Sept 13 @ at Reith Hall, 304 South Governor’s Avenue, Dover, DE. Doors open at 3:30 p.m. and close at 4:00 p.m. when auditions will begin. Performance dates are November 15 & 16, 2025
Auditions for The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe will be January 2026, more details to follow. Performance dates are March 2026.
Auditions for Disney’s Descendants, the Musical are March, 2026 (TBD). Performance dates are May 2026 (TBD).
**Please note that dates are subject to change, the venue for our shows may change, ticket price may change.**
This 2024 - 2025 year in review was prepared by Tracy Fennemore and presented at the annual meeting on August 19, 2025.
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The Children’s Theatre, Inc. organization is supported, in part, by a grant from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts. The Division promotes Delaware arts events on www.DelawareScene.com.
Funding in part also provided by The Kent County Fund for the Arts.
