Portland Drama Club

Portland Drama Club offers after-school musical theater and drama classes where students rehearse and put together a production, including plays and musical theater. The program runs after-school performance programs in elementary schools and also offers intensive, performance-based summer camps that focus on musical theater and performance skills. Portland Drama Club is a nonprofit that teaches performance and includes activities such as learning movement, vocal, and acting technique, as well as technical aspects of putting on a show.

• Ages: 5–18 years old

Portland Drama Club’s Artistic Director and Founder is Caroline Timm Schwiebert, who previously ran a similar program for 12 years in Los Angeles before moving to Portland. The program states that if a student joins the Club, the student gets a part in the production. Its mission is to teach Portland’s youth the power in themselves through play, practice, and performance, and to reach as many of the city’s kids as possible in as many neighborhoods as possible. The program states a goal to provide a creative, safe space for children to have fun and gain confidence while learning skills necessary to perform for an audience through musical theater, with an emphasis on life skills such as empathy, teamwork, patience, listening, focus, hard work, awareness, confidence, discipline, personal responsibility, body control, and problem solving. Portland Drama Club states a commitment to creating safe, inclusive spaces where all children can explore their creativity, share their stories, and celebrate who they are becoming, and its commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion extends to students’ families, staff, and the wider community. The organization states support for Black Lives Matter and solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.

Portland Drama Club also runs after-school performance programs in elementary schools in Portland and is seeking community and individual partners and donors to increase scholarships, hire additional staff, offer programs in more schools and communities, and expand its programs to kids across the area. Testimonials from parents and students describe long-term participation in after-school programs and summer camps, experiences in multiple plays, and observations about teaching quality, productions, and the program’s role in their children’s and teens’ lives. Several testimonials specifically mention Caroline as a teacher and mentor, describing her as personable, fun, nurturing, funny, organized, dedicated, and caring, and note that she creates a supportive, safe atmosphere for students.

Last updated March 30, 2026.