The Jewel Box Children’s Theater Company
Long Beach Playhouse, 5021 E Anaheim St, Long Beach, CA 90804
About
The Jewel Box Children’s Theater Company offers activities such as creating original skits and songs, learning some Broadway show stoppers, vocal warm ups, simple music and theatre games, and ensemble singing warmups and techniques to help blend and harmonize. The program includes singing, musical theater performance lessons, acting lessons, audition prep lessons, performance troupe singing and dancing, makeup design and application with a focus on make up safety and hygiene, and costume illustration techniques and concepts of costume design. Participants can also learn sewing to create a Halloween costume or cosplay.
• Ages: 9–18 years old
• Schedule: Summer Camp sessions run in one-week blocks, with options from July 6–10 and July 13–17, 9am–3pm, along with ongoing Community Sing-a-long rehearsals, a Broadway Sing-A-Long event, Free Friday Family Workshops, and seasonal performances.
• Price: $350 per student per week for Summer Camp, with a 10% discount for multiple week registration and a 10% sibling discount.
Anna Kate Mohler and Andrew Zacharias co-founded The Jewel Box Children’s Theater Company in 2016, and the organization operates as a 501(c)(3) non profit. The mission of The Jewel Box Children’s Theater Company is to help children build confidence and realize their full creative potential through the arts using a holistic approach that fosters confidence, creativity, artistic expression, self advocacy and a collaborative spirit, and to create meaningful programming that helps build strong, vibrant communities where children thrive. The organization states that it creates equitable theater and music classes that are accessible and inclusive for all children in the greater Long Beach area and is dedicated to diversity, equity and inclusion in the arts through accessible, meaningful, community driven, multigenerational arts programming, with a stated commitment to fostering an environment of racial diversity, equity and inclusion.
The leadership team includes co-founder Anna Kate Mohler, co-founder and partner Andrew Zacharias, and a Board of Directors made up of Patricia Maldonado McMaster, Laura White, Brian Gibbs, Naomie Worrell-Tate, and Kari Venaas. Staff credentials include music educator and composer Andrew Zacharias, who holds a bachelor’s degree in music performance and a master’s degree in composition and has taught at USC’s Iovine and Young Academy, Cypress College, The Orange County School for the Arts, and The Segerstrom Center for the Arts Studio D, and has served as music director for shows at The Long Beach Playhouse, STAGES Theater, and The Maverick and performed with the Long Beach Symphony, The New Mexico Philharmonic and the Omaha Symphony. Laura White holds an MFA from The London School of Performing Arts and works as a special education teacher with Long Beach Unified School District, and Brian Gibbs has more than a decade of global experience in Class III medical device education and marketing, with an MBA from The Paul Merage School of Business at UC Irvine and a BA in Economics from UCLA.
The Jewel Box Children’s Theater Company offers a Community Sing-a-long choir that meets weekly and includes vocal warm ups, simple music and theatre games and singing, ending with a sing-a-long performance and feast with the Gold Star Singers at Gold Star Manor. Free Family Friday Workshops are weekly workshops that explore different art forms and are family friendly with parent participation encouraged. Private lessons are 30-minute musical theater performance, acting and audition prep lessons tailored to each individual student. Additional programs include a Makeup Design Class covering theatrical make up design and application along with make up safety and hygiene, and a Costume Design Class that introduces illustration techniques, concepts of costume design, and sewing to create a Halloween costume or cosplay.
The Spring Show involves students helping create the characters, write the story and songs, and put together an original musical from the ground up. Teen Collective focuses on creating original theater with peers and learning how to create a show. Jewel Box Radio Hour allows participants to join the cast of an original radio show and help create the characters, write the script and the songs. At the end of each week of Summer Camp, campers have the opportunity to perform for their friends and family at the Long Beach Playhouse.
The organization states that scholarships are available and reserved for low income families who need financial assistance and may otherwise not have access to extracurricular activities. The Jewel Box Children’s Theater Company reports that it is committed to bringing free music and theater instruction to underserved areas in the community, serving over 2,000 students annually, and that it can bring theater and music workshops to schools, parks or libraries. Jewel Box works with home school charters and families and is a vendor for iLead, Blue Ridge, Excel, Sky Mountain, and Sun Coast home school charters, and is an approved vendor for the Long Beach Unified School District. Jewel Box performers will be helping act out Peter and The Wolf on stage with the Long Beach Symphony at the Long Beach Symphony RuMBa Foundation Family Concert.
In 2022, co-founder Anna Kate was recognized by Lena Gonzalez and the California State Senate for her dedication to arts equity, and in 2024 she was named a 69th District Woman of Distinction for her work with The Jewel Box Children’s Theater Company. The studio facility located at 2050 Santa Fe Ave is described by the organization as one of the only arts organizations serving residents in West Long Beach district 7.
Last updated June 16, 2026.
• Ages: 9–18 years old
• Schedule: Summer Camp sessions run in one-week blocks, with options from July 6–10 and July 13–17, 9am–3pm, along with ongoing Community Sing-a-long rehearsals, a Broadway Sing-A-Long event, Free Friday Family Workshops, and seasonal performances.
• Price: $350 per student per week for Summer Camp, with a 10% discount for multiple week registration and a 10% sibling discount.
Anna Kate Mohler and Andrew Zacharias co-founded The Jewel Box Children’s Theater Company in 2016, and the organization operates as a 501(c)(3) non profit. The mission of The Jewel Box Children’s Theater Company is to help children build confidence and realize their full creative potential through the arts using a holistic approach that fosters confidence, creativity, artistic expression, self advocacy and a collaborative spirit, and to create meaningful programming that helps build strong, vibrant communities where children thrive. The organization states that it creates equitable theater and music classes that are accessible and inclusive for all children in the greater Long Beach area and is dedicated to diversity, equity and inclusion in the arts through accessible, meaningful, community driven, multigenerational arts programming, with a stated commitment to fostering an environment of racial diversity, equity and inclusion.
The leadership team includes co-founder Anna Kate Mohler, co-founder and partner Andrew Zacharias, and a Board of Directors made up of Patricia Maldonado McMaster, Laura White, Brian Gibbs, Naomie Worrell-Tate, and Kari Venaas. Staff credentials include music educator and composer Andrew Zacharias, who holds a bachelor’s degree in music performance and a master’s degree in composition and has taught at USC’s Iovine and Young Academy, Cypress College, The Orange County School for the Arts, and The Segerstrom Center for the Arts Studio D, and has served as music director for shows at The Long Beach Playhouse, STAGES Theater, and The Maverick and performed with the Long Beach Symphony, The New Mexico Philharmonic and the Omaha Symphony. Laura White holds an MFA from The London School of Performing Arts and works as a special education teacher with Long Beach Unified School District, and Brian Gibbs has more than a decade of global experience in Class III medical device education and marketing, with an MBA from The Paul Merage School of Business at UC Irvine and a BA in Economics from UCLA.
The Jewel Box Children’s Theater Company offers a Community Sing-a-long choir that meets weekly and includes vocal warm ups, simple music and theatre games and singing, ending with a sing-a-long performance and feast with the Gold Star Singers at Gold Star Manor. Free Family Friday Workshops are weekly workshops that explore different art forms and are family friendly with parent participation encouraged. Private lessons are 30-minute musical theater performance, acting and audition prep lessons tailored to each individual student. Additional programs include a Makeup Design Class covering theatrical make up design and application along with make up safety and hygiene, and a Costume Design Class that introduces illustration techniques, concepts of costume design, and sewing to create a Halloween costume or cosplay.
The Spring Show involves students helping create the characters, write the story and songs, and put together an original musical from the ground up. Teen Collective focuses on creating original theater with peers and learning how to create a show. Jewel Box Radio Hour allows participants to join the cast of an original radio show and help create the characters, write the script and the songs. At the end of each week of Summer Camp, campers have the opportunity to perform for their friends and family at the Long Beach Playhouse.
The organization states that scholarships are available and reserved for low income families who need financial assistance and may otherwise not have access to extracurricular activities. The Jewel Box Children’s Theater Company reports that it is committed to bringing free music and theater instruction to underserved areas in the community, serving over 2,000 students annually, and that it can bring theater and music workshops to schools, parks or libraries. Jewel Box works with home school charters and families and is a vendor for iLead, Blue Ridge, Excel, Sky Mountain, and Sun Coast home school charters, and is an approved vendor for the Long Beach Unified School District. Jewel Box performers will be helping act out Peter and The Wolf on stage with the Long Beach Symphony at the Long Beach Symphony RuMBa Foundation Family Concert.
In 2022, co-founder Anna Kate was recognized by Lena Gonzalez and the California State Senate for her dedication to arts equity, and in 2024 she was named a 69th District Woman of Distinction for her work with The Jewel Box Children’s Theater Company. The studio facility located at 2050 Santa Fe Ave is described by the organization as one of the only arts organizations serving residents in West Long Beach district 7.
Last updated June 16, 2026.
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