Mission
Nashville Children’s Theatre is a professional theatre company providing the children, families and educators of Middle Tennessee with extraordinary shared theatrical experiences that inspire imagination and develop creativity.

History
In 1931 Nashville Children’s Theatre was formed by the Junior League of Nashville as an amateur theatre. At that time, the Junior League was fulfilling a commitment to establish children’s theatre in many U.S. cities. For years, NCT performed in numerous local landmarks, including Belcourt Theatre, and at Vanderbilt and Belmont Universities. In the late 50’s, Ann Stahlman Hill undertook the monumental task of creating a permanent home for NCT. Hill had designed sets and costumes for NCT and also served on the theatre’s board for years in the various positions of secretary, treasurer and president. She organized a collection of like-minded individuals, and with her leadership they petitioned legislatures, persistently fundraised and pulled any necessary string, until NCT had a home beside the Howard School building and Lindsley Hall, opening in 1960.

In the wake of Nashville’s desegregation of schools, NCT was asked to consider programming during school hours so that children could have a common space to explore what they had in common. NCT’s volunteers decided to reinvent the institution as a professional company in order to serve that need. By the late eighties, it became obvious to the now professional theatre company that further reinvention was required to meet the needs of a family audience. That change called for a more ambitious approach to programming, and eventually, a reconfiguration of our space to facilitate that programming. Aside from the addition of a black box theatre called the Ida Cooney Playhouse and the rearranging of some office space, NCT’s building had remained much unchanged since it creation in 1960.

In 2005, NCT launched its first ever Capital Campaign to renovate all aspects of the theatre. Mayor Bill Purcell and the City Council were encouraging, and provided leadership and support to our efforts. Our Board of Trustees, lead by Capital Campaign co-chairs Monica Flynn-Urness and Julia Polk, (who both displayed the same passion and dedication that Ann Stahlman Hill had carried), rose to the challenge and raised more private money than anyone at NCT might have thought possible only a couple of years before. With those resources, we were able to redesign, reconfigure and expand our facility to make it possible for us to better serve. A renovated NCT was opened with a celebration in December of 2007.
NCT’s story is one of continual reinvention to meet the expanding needs of the community that it has consciously endeavored to help build.