"Spotlight on the Future" Campaign

FAQ:

Q: What is Fantasy Playhouse Children’s Theater and Academy?

A: Fantasy Playhouse Children’s Theater and Academy (FPCTA) is a 501-c3 organization that brings the magic of theatre and arts education to the Tennessee Valley by reaching more than 31,000 residents annually, including 21,000 children and youth. FPCTA’s mission is to encourage an appreciation for the arts that has been proven to last a lifetime as participants become self-confident, academically successful, creative-thinking citizens who are more likely to invest in their communities as adults. FPCTA’s core programs include live children’s theatre productions, classes, camps, workshops, and educational outreach through school partnerships. Recognizing the transformative power theatre arts can have in the life of a child, FPCTA prioritizes theatre arts access for all by engaging local underserved communities.

Q: What is Fantasy’s “Spotlight on the Future” capital campaign? A: The Spotlight on the Future capital campaign is a plan to develop a new home for Fantasy Playhouse Children’s Theater & Academy. A 35,700 square foot theatre arts campus will feature classroom space to support all aspects of theatre arts education and as well as a 355 seat theater.

Q: Who will this project serve?

A: Since our launch in 1961 we have entertained over 600k people throughout our region and each season, Fantasy Playhouse attracts audiences and students from 47 counties in Alabama and 23 in Tennessee. The new Fantasy Playhouse campus will be a high-profile, accessible arts and culture destination for families, building on our organization’s legacy and providing the exact theatre arts education programming opportunities that families relocating to our area expect for their children. As well as serving the entire Tennessee Valley community and beyond, this one of a kind facility theatre arts training campus will allow FPCTA to also be a community asset to the Terry Heights neighborhood that they have served for over 18 years.

Q: Where will the new building be located?

A: The southeast corner of Holmes Avenue and Triana Boulevard. (712 Triana Boulevard NW, Huntsville, AL. 35805) Be sure to drive by and take a look at our sign!

Q: Why this location?

A: Besides being centrally located for all our audiences and students, the land that will host our new campus has an amazing story of its own. First as the ancestral homeland of the Muscogee people, and more recently as the growing Terry Heights and Hillandale Neighborhoods in West Huntsville. FPCTA have been actively serving the students of Second Mile Development Preschool for 18 years with classes and performances. Our new home will mean we will be even more connected to the stories of this community.

Q: Why is the new building needed?

A: So many reasons!

  • FPCTA does not have the space or facility to host their own productions and other performance venues are not always accessible for its multigenerational audiences.

  • The current office and classroom building lacks the facilities for hosting more advanced instruction for important aspects of technical theatre: lighting design, set design and construction, properties fabrication, and sound design.

  • FPCTA doesn’t possess the space/equipment to facilitate instruction in other technology-based curriculum related to theatre arts, namely film and music production.

  • FPCTA educational programming enrollment has increased 400% since 2014, meaning that every available space is pressed into service.

Q: What cool features will the building have?

A: This building will be a state of the art facility. Listed below are just some of the details and features!

  • 355-seat jewel box-styled theater with an arts access viewing room for nursing mothers, vocal toddlers, or sensory-sensitive children.

  • Fully-equipped production support areas that double as technical theatre teaching classrooms: scene shop, costume shop, dressing rooms and adjacent green room,

  • A second 80 seat flexible blackbox performance space.

  • Dance studio

  • Tech theatre computer modeling lab

  • Music/Vocal studio

  • Film Studio

  • Outdoor activities area with a small amphitheater

  • Non-cooking cafe/Coffee bar

  • Retail space

  • Bike path

  • Fully-equipped to be inclusive and accommodating to many different types of needs, both physical and financial. For example: specialized parking spaces, booster seats, tactile map for the visually challenged, assistive listening devices, playground equipment for children of all abilities, and wheelchair with companion seating. More ASL programming will also be included.

Q: Who designed the building?

A: ARCSPACE STUDIO

Are you interested in becoming part of this awesome project? We encourage you to be a donor superstar!!!! Corporate and Private superstar donors interested in supporting this transformational project may contact Lauren.Delorme@FantasyPlayhouse.com.

Let the Magic Continue!

#SpotlightOnTheFuture