Bay Area Children's Theatre's 2022-23 Season Leaps Ahead Following Back-to-Back Sold Out Productions

Oakland, California Oct 31, 2022 (Issuewire.com) - Bay Area Children's Theatre's (BACT) exciting 2022-2023 season opened with back-to-back sold-out productions of Llama Llama Live and Elephant & Piggie reaching nearly 16,000 children and adults. Next up, the Tony Award-winning Broadway show A Year with Frog and Toad opens this November in Berkeley and San Francisco, providing families with a must-see holiday classic. This coming February, BACT will produce the West Coast premiere of The Day You Begin following its world debut at the Kennedy Center, and the West Coast premiere of Giraffes Can't Dance, with more dynamic productions to follow this season. 

BACT has renewed its commitment to introducing children of all backgrounds to the excitement of theater by re-launching the successful Student Matinee Program, which provides free weekday tickets to thousands of students throughout the Bay Area, helping ensure that every child has access to arts education. This program and other community outreach initiatives are on track to serve over 25,000 students this season.

BACT is entering a new era as Nina Meehan, the organization's CEO and founder, has stepped down from her role to pursue new opportunities. To date, BACT has produced more than 60 shows and six national tours, including 41 new works, and reached more than one million children and adults. Most notable productions include the adaptation of Chelsea Clinton's book, She Persisted, Grace Lin's Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, the New York Times bestselling Goodnight Goodnight Construction Site series, and A Kid's Play About Racism. 

Current managing director Christina Larson and artistic director Khalia Davis will continue to lead the organization, maintaining the company's vision and overseeing the day-to-day operations. The BACT board is confident in the leadership of Christina and Khalia, both of whom have been with the organization for over 10 years. In the coming weeks, the BACT board will begin a search for a new executive director.

"Nina's unwavering belief in the power of how arts and theater to help children unleash their imaginative potential has been a gift to the Bay Area theater community," said Christina Clark Bloodgood, board president of Bay Area Children's Theatre. "Her tenure with BACT has delivered dynamic productions, and broadened artistic reach to diverse and underrepresented communities."

"It has been an honor and a great joy to have worked with the amazing artists, multi-talented staff members, devoted board members, and loyal supporters who have dreamed with me over the years and dedicated themselves so successfully to bringing laughter, learning, and creativity to children and their families," Meehan said. "Our gifted administrative and artistic team is well positioned to continue carrying out this mission, which I believe is essential to the well-being of generations to come."

About Bay Area Children's Theatre 

Founded in 2004, Bay Area Children's Theatre (BACT) is the foremost theater company for young audiences in California. BACT strives to inspire young audiences with imaginative productions, introduce children of all backgrounds to the excitement of live theater, and create an engaging, entertaining, and educational environment in which children and their families can explore and enjoy the arts. Our award-winning productions and educational programs have reached more than 1 million kids and adults over the past 18 years and won fifteen Theatre Bay Area Awards. For more information, visit www.bactheatre.org.

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