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About Us

Our Mission

Adventure Theatre cultivates new generations of audiences and artists by creating memorable theater experiences in an intimate and interactive environment. We produce stage adaptations of traditional and popular children's stories, offer creative theater-education programs, and build community through outreach initiatives.

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.

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 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, party rooms, 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.



 

Adventure Theatre
Board of Directors

Peter Carnathan, President
Marco Luzuriaga, Treasurer
Stephanie Nealer, Secretary

Phil Corcoran
Bruce Douglas
Sandra Eskin
Phyllis Gerstell
Joan MacCartee
Anika Mann
Sean P. Murphy
Madeline Peeler
Lee Pushkin
Peter Somerville
William M. Sullivan, Jr.
Tyler Whitmore
Melanie Williams

Staff

Michael Bobbitt
Producing Artistic Director
mbobbitt@adventuretheatre.org
(301)634-2261

Michael P. Sandner, Esq.
Managing Director
msandner@adventuretheatre.org
(301) 634-2265

Andrew Berry
Technical Director
aberry@adventuretheatre.org
(301)634-2272

Amanda Russell
Marketing, Communications & PR Director
arussell@adventuretheatre.org
(301)634-2267

Colin Grube
Production Manager
cgrube@adventuretheatre.org
(301)634-2264

Kathryn Hnatio
Director of Education
& Outreach
khnatio@adventuretheatre.org
(301)634-2268

Kathleen Richards
Development Director
krichards@adventuretheatre.org
(301)634-2262

Camilla Morrison
Administrative Manager
cmorrison@adventuretheatre.org
(301)634-2271

Adventure Theatre
Glen Echo Park • 7300 MacArthur Blvd. • Glen Echo, MD 20812
Phone: 301-634-2270 • Fax: 301-634-2269
For ticketing: tickets@adventuretheatre.org • For general information: info@adventuretheatre.org
In cooperation with the National Park Service, Montgomery County, and the Glen Echo Park Partnership for Arts and Culture