Child's Play Touring Theatre

Child's Play Touring Theatre (CPTT) is a non-profit arts-education touring theatre company based in Chicago. Founded in 1978 by June and Victor Podagrosi, CPTT was the first theatre company where professional actors take original works written by children and perform them on stage. Since its founding, CPTT has performed in 40 states from Alaska to Florida and Maine to California, reaching an audience of over 4.5 million and performing the works of over 17,000 young writers.

Child's Play Touring Theatre was founded in 1978 by Victor and June Podagrosi in Champaign, IL while Victor was teaching theatre at Parkland College. The idea for CPTT emerged after Victor was asked to stage a performance of children's writings at a Young Author's awards ceremony and was inspired by their storytelling abilities. Victor said he enjoyed using the writings of children "because there's so much truth in there. Their imagination is so very pure and simple." CPTT became a non-for-profit organization in 1980 and relocated to Chicago in 1982.

Since its founding, Child's Play has performed at a number of notable venues including the Goodman Theatre, Smithsonian Institution, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Ravinia, Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, The Field Museum, Museum of Science and Industry (Chicago) and at events such as International Children's Festival at Wolf Trap.

Child's Play is a nationally recognized 501(c)(3) non-for-profit organization that is entirely self-funded through donations and sponsorships. Sponsors have included National Endowment for the Arts, Turtle Wax, Dykema Gossett, and DeVry, Inc. CPTT relies primarily upon the support of volunteers.

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