San Carlos Children’s Theater
San Carlos Children's Theater, 1314 Old County Road, San Carlos, CA 94070
About
San Carlos Children’s Theater offers after-school drama classes, dramatic and musical theater classes, musical theater camps, specialized workshops, and full-scale productions. The program also runs after-school theater programs, camps, custom programs, and special offerings such as the Summer Camp Mini Musical, Seussical Kids, The Jungle Book Spring Production, and the Ghostlight program. Families can take part in free activities like movie nights, scavenger hunts, game nights, and Sing-A-Longs, and the program also offers Adult Musical Theater Dance and auditions for Shrek Jr, Something Rotten, and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.
• Ages: 1–18 years old
San Carlos Children’s Theater is a non-profit organization committed to educating youth in all aspects of theater production and engaging its extended community, while nurturing creative expression, self-confidence, teamwork, and an appreciation for the arts. It offers a wide range of dramatic and musical theater classes, camps, productions, and custom programs for ages 1–18, with a focus on creative and critical thinking skills, leadership, self-confidence, and teamwork in a supportive, safe environment. Since its inception in 1990, when it began as a program of the San Carlos Parks and Recreation Department, it has operated under an independent Board of Directors formed in 1991 and has been celebrating creative enrichment and outstanding service since 1990.
The organization’s leadership team includes an Executive Operations Director, an Executive Artistic Director, a part-time Technical Director, a Costume Designer, a Set Designer, an Accountant, and a Marketing Manager, with named leaders including Vanessa Poon (Executive Operations Director and Interim Executive Operations Director), Caitlin Savage (Executive Artistic Director), and Eve Dutton (Marketing Manager). San Carlos Children’s Theater offers youth leadership opportunities through its Youth Advisory Board and roles for students as junior assistant directors or choreographers, technical crew assistants, or class and camp aides. Its Broadway Rising Stars performing troupe presents Broadway-style routines for community audiences, and the Ghostlight program serves youth 12 and older who are interested in deepening their skill and involvement in the performing arts.
San Carlos Children’s Theater is committed to the community and provides after-school theater programs to public schools in San Carlos, Redwood City, and Belmont. It hosts free family activities such as movie nights, scavenger hunts, and game nights, and participates in local events including San Carlos Hometown Days, the San Carlos Goblin Walk, and Belmont’s Celebrate the Music festival. The organization is working to create partnerships with programs that serve disabled, diverse, or underserved communities and has a racial equity, diversity, and inclusion statement and related initiatives. It acknowledges that it is located on the unceded territory of the Ramaytush Ohlone peoples, the original inhabitants of the San Francisco Peninsula.
San Carlos Children’s Theater has received Bay Area Parent Magazine’s “Best of the Best” award for outstanding theater education every year since 2007 and has been recognized by the City of San Carlos with a special arts proclamation and an official San Carlos Children’s Theater Day. Its Executive Operations Director Donna Avanzino is a recipient of the San Carlos Arts and Culture Achievement Award. For the 2024–2025 season, San Carlos Children’s Theater reports 1,100 students, 42 classes and camps, 5 mainstage productions, 1,400 social media fans, 5,000 email subscribers, and 300 volunteers. The program’s tagline is “Where Character Grows!”
Parent and student feedback includes comments such as a child saying after a “Creating Character” class, “I want to go back to class tonight. It was so fun! A week is too long to wait!” and families sharing that they are happy their kids are having this experience and had “the best time” in shows. Other testimonials describe San Carlos Children’s Theater as “a second family,” a place where children make new friends, and a “community treasure with exceptional teachers who helped my children develop life skills like teamwork and collaboration.” Former students note that what they learned at San Carlos Children’s Theater influences their success in college classes, presentations, and careers, including in computer science, and several parents and students specifically praise individual teachers by name.
Last updated March 19, 2026.
• Ages: 1–18 years old
San Carlos Children’s Theater is a non-profit organization committed to educating youth in all aspects of theater production and engaging its extended community, while nurturing creative expression, self-confidence, teamwork, and an appreciation for the arts. It offers a wide range of dramatic and musical theater classes, camps, productions, and custom programs for ages 1–18, with a focus on creative and critical thinking skills, leadership, self-confidence, and teamwork in a supportive, safe environment. Since its inception in 1990, when it began as a program of the San Carlos Parks and Recreation Department, it has operated under an independent Board of Directors formed in 1991 and has been celebrating creative enrichment and outstanding service since 1990.
The organization’s leadership team includes an Executive Operations Director, an Executive Artistic Director, a part-time Technical Director, a Costume Designer, a Set Designer, an Accountant, and a Marketing Manager, with named leaders including Vanessa Poon (Executive Operations Director and Interim Executive Operations Director), Caitlin Savage (Executive Artistic Director), and Eve Dutton (Marketing Manager). San Carlos Children’s Theater offers youth leadership opportunities through its Youth Advisory Board and roles for students as junior assistant directors or choreographers, technical crew assistants, or class and camp aides. Its Broadway Rising Stars performing troupe presents Broadway-style routines for community audiences, and the Ghostlight program serves youth 12 and older who are interested in deepening their skill and involvement in the performing arts.
San Carlos Children’s Theater is committed to the community and provides after-school theater programs to public schools in San Carlos, Redwood City, and Belmont. It hosts free family activities such as movie nights, scavenger hunts, and game nights, and participates in local events including San Carlos Hometown Days, the San Carlos Goblin Walk, and Belmont’s Celebrate the Music festival. The organization is working to create partnerships with programs that serve disabled, diverse, or underserved communities and has a racial equity, diversity, and inclusion statement and related initiatives. It acknowledges that it is located on the unceded territory of the Ramaytush Ohlone peoples, the original inhabitants of the San Francisco Peninsula.
San Carlos Children’s Theater has received Bay Area Parent Magazine’s “Best of the Best” award for outstanding theater education every year since 2007 and has been recognized by the City of San Carlos with a special arts proclamation and an official San Carlos Children’s Theater Day. Its Executive Operations Director Donna Avanzino is a recipient of the San Carlos Arts and Culture Achievement Award. For the 2024–2025 season, San Carlos Children’s Theater reports 1,100 students, 42 classes and camps, 5 mainstage productions, 1,400 social media fans, 5,000 email subscribers, and 300 volunteers. The program’s tagline is “Where Character Grows!”
Parent and student feedback includes comments such as a child saying after a “Creating Character” class, “I want to go back to class tonight. It was so fun! A week is too long to wait!” and families sharing that they are happy their kids are having this experience and had “the best time” in shows. Other testimonials describe San Carlos Children’s Theater as “a second family,” a place where children make new friends, and a “community treasure with exceptional teachers who helped my children develop life skills like teamwork and collaboration.” Former students note that what they learned at San Carlos Children’s Theater influences their success in college classes, presentations, and careers, including in computer science, and several parents and students specifically praise individual teachers by name.
Last updated March 19, 2026.
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