Columbia Center for Theatrical Arts


Columbia Center for Theatrical Arts is a Greater Washington D.C. Area regional theater school based in Columbia, Maryland. CCTA is a non-profit 501 organization that is funded, in part, by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Maryland State Arts Council, and the Howard County Arts Council from Howard County, Maryland.

History

Founded in 1972, as the Columbia School for Theatrical Arts it is known for its productions of musicals and new plays. CCTA was founded by Toby Orenstein. She was asked by businessman and builder James Rouse to create a non-profit theatrical arts school for the then-new Maryland city of Columbia. Its mission is to educate through the arts. CCTA has three distinct departments: it offers a conservatory, theatrical arts productions, and outreach programs.

Theatre Programs

Conservatory

The conservatory offers performing arts-based programs to the local community. These include different programs for children in primary and secondary school. The Young Columbians are a performing troupe created by CCTA. The conservatory has been the recipient of five grants from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Outreach Programs

The CCTA has a number of incentives such as fundraising, scholarships. The Labor of Love is an annual event that raises money for the AIDS Alliance of Howard County. Another project was the Labels Project in 1992 which was formed to educate young people on how to combat bias and prejudice by supporting individuality, celebrating diversity and teaching adolescents tactics for resisting peer pressure.
CCTA's Outreach Programs are aimed to help make theatre arts available and accessible to local students in need. Partnerships now exist with Baltimore City Public School System and the Loyola University Maryland. CCTA performs the original play Ben Carson, M.D. to local youth. CCTA has a program for students with special needs at Glenelg High School, under the direction of Kassidy Sharp, and the Kennedy Krieger Institute of Baltimore.

Recent productions

Past productions include the 2016 world premiere of Magic Under Glass, the musical, based on Jaclyn Dolamore's book. Performance venues include the White House, Wolf Trap, Walt Disney World, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Merriweather Post Pavilion, The Fillmore, Lake Kittamaqundi, Howard Community College, Toby's Dinner Theatre, The Ellipse, House of the Temple, the Washington D.C. Temple, and others.

Board of Directors