Courtesy photo – Directors Hannah Smith and Declan Brennan.

Footlight Theater, a new children’s theater company based here in Berthoud, hopes to bring exciting children’s theater to Northern Colorado. Directors Hannah Smith and Declan Brennan have known each other for years, meeting in an audition for Putnam County Spelling Bee in Dallas, and have become fast friends ever since. Their friendship blossomed into talking about ideas for a children’s theater company. But The Dallas area was just too competitive and over-saturated, and they began to search for a better place. Due to various circumstances, both of them moved to Northern Colorado, deciding to open a children’s theater company here along the Front Range. Northern Colorado felt like the best place anywhere to have a children’s theater company, and Footlight was born. They have set up shop in downtown Berthoud with a place to offer classes and learning all things theater for kids. They will have a busy schedule with several productions planned over the next few months. And a robust class schedule is hoping to offer up to ten classes each week.

Starting on the fourteenth of January, they will begin offering classes in many different areas of the theater world, from acting and audition preparation to playwriting. With weekly lessons for 12 weeks of each class ending in a performance in April. They will have a mini session on the seventh of January to introduce their programs with a taste of four lessons for ten dollars.

Their first production of Bugsy Malone Jr is opening next week with performances at a local school in Loveland. The production has 16 kids from Berthoud, Loveland, Fort Collins, and Johnstown. In a fun comedic show based on a movie from the 70s starring Jodie Foster and heartthrob Scott Biao. This show has a catchy score and a fun plot of running a town populated by kids. This show is perfect for showing off the talents of our local kids and introducing our community to this energetic theater company.

Footlight Theater Company will hold auditions for their next production starting next week for a show called Be More Chill for teenagers, followed by additions at the end of January for Bye Bye Birdie and Heathers: Teen Edition in March. They hope to build a thriving children’s theater company here in Berthoud for children to explore their creative theater talents. It is exciting to have a children’s theater company with fresh ideas and the energy to help realize a kid’s dreams here in Northern Colorado. Support this new exciting company by seeing their production. Bugsy Malone plays at Bill Reid Middle School on January 13th, 14th, 19th, and 20th. Tickets can be purchased through their website. More information can be found on their website footlightmt.org.