Palo Alto Children's Theatre

Plenty of towns have youth theater programs. Few have given children their own fully equipped theater and kept it running for generations. The Palo Alto Children's Theatre is a city department, not a private company. It casts young people in full productions, teaches classes and camps and takes theater into the public schools. Families who have never set foot in it often know it through a friend's child in a Seussical chorus.

The theater lives inside the Lucie Stern Community Center at 1305 Middlefield Road, beside Rinconada Park. This guide covers its history, the 2026 to 2027 season as the city has published it, how tickets work and how children can get on stage or backstage.

History

The Children's Theatre grew up alongside the Lucie Stern Community Center in the 1930s. The Friends of the Palo Alto Children's Theatre say it was founded in that decade with the generosity of community members like Lucie Stern. An older city description is more specific. It says a gift from Stern in 1937 made Palo Alto one of the first children's theaters in the nation to have a fully equipped theater just for the young people of the community.

The start date is 1932. The catalog record for Children and the Theater: The Palo Alto Experiment in Recreation, a 1952 film made by the theater's own staff and held in a California archive, traces the program from its inception that year. It names Hazel Glaister Robertson as the founder. The film was the last she supervised and the only one in which she appears on screen. Stern backed the program personally too. A 2013 profile of her recounts that she brought ice cream to rehearsals. Our page on Lucie Stern tells her side of the story.

The program has stayed with the city ever since. Today the city says it serves more than 57,000 community members each year. It has also won a Theatre Bay Area Open Door Achievement Award for its work to make performances accessible.

How it works

The Children's Theatre is three things at once:

• A producing theater. Young actors fill the casts of full-length musicals and plays on the Main Stage, with adult directors and professional design.
• A school. Classes, camps and production experiences are open to children and teens from age 3 through high school.
• An outreach program. Outreach Productions tour to students in grades 3 to 5. Dance in Schools classes reach kindergarten through second grade in all twelve PAUSD elementary schools.

Teens can go further. The city's pages list a Teen Arts Council, a backstage crew program and a Ten Minute Play Contest for young writers. Kids who would rather build sets or run lights than sing can find a place here too.

Being a city program shapes the feel. Shows are pitched at families rather than at a subscription audience, the casts come from local schools and the staff work alongside the city's other arts sites, such as the Art Center on Newell Road. For many Palo Alto children the theater is their first time on a real stage under real lights.

The 2026 to 2027 season

The city publishes two public series. Main Stage shows are full-length productions with young casts. The Playhouse Series offers short storytelling shows with simple sets, aimed at children ages 2 to 6. These are the dates the city lists:

A Year with Frog and Toad is the musical based on Arnold Lobel's books, following the two friends through four seasons. The Three Little Pigs comes from George Stiles and Anthony Drewe, the writing team behind Honk! and the stage Mary Poppins. Judge Luckey directs both. Seussical closes the season with Horton, the Cat in the Hat and the Whos.

Summer brings a separate set of shows, the Summer Hot Dog series, with its own auditions. The city has not posted the 2027 summer titles yet. Check the city's Main Stage page for any changes before you plan around a date.

Tickets and the box office

Tickets are sold online through the theater's ticketing site, which the city links from its Children's Theatre page. There are two ticket types: child tickets for ages 0 to 18 and adult tickets for ages 18 and up. Prices vary by show and we do not list them here.

• Box office hours. The city lists Wednesday to Saturday, 2 to 6 p.m., plus one hour before each performance.
• Phone. The box office line is (650) 463-4970. General questions go to the main office at (650) 463-4930.
• Sold out? A waitlist opens one hour before each performance at the box office, in person only.
• Indoors. All Main Stage performances are held indoors.

Holiday shows sell well, especially weekend matinees of the December production. Buy early if you are planning around school break or visiting relatives.

Accessible performances

Each Main Stage show this season has at least one accessible performance. The city lists them as:

1. A Year with Frog and Toad: sensory friendly and ASL-interpreted, Wednesday, December 9, 2026, at 6 p.m.
2. The Three Little Pigs: ASL-interpreted, Wednesday, February 3, 2027, at 6 p.m.
3. Seussical: ASL-interpreted, Wednesday, May 5, 2027, at 6 p.m.

Sensory friendly shows have smaller audiences, softer lighting and sound cues and house lights left low rather than dark. They are a good first theater outing for children who find a full house overwhelming.

Classes, camps and auditions

Classes and camps run through the year from the Lucie Stern complex. Registration follows the city's seasonal Enjoy! catalog. Our guides to classes for kids and summer camps compare the Children's Theatre with other local options.

Auditions for Main Stage and summer productions are posted on the city's auditions page. Casting is competitive for the bigger musicals, but the theater offers many ways in, from ensemble roles to crew. Schools can also book field trips to performances.

A nonprofit, the Friends of the Palo Alto Children's Theatre, raises money to support the program. Its site, fopact.org, explains how to donate or volunteer.

Plan a family outing

A matinee pairs easily with other stops in the same block. The Junior Museum and Zoo is next door and Rinconada Park has lawns and a playground for burning off energy after the show. The Children's Library on Harriet Street is a short walk away. Toddlers who are not ready for a full show can start with a Playhouse performance. See our toddler guide for more ideas.

For the rest of the local stage scene, including TheatreWorks and Palo Alto Players in the same complex, read our theater guide. December visitors can fold a show into the season's other events with our holiday guide.

Frequently asked questions