Oddfellows Playhouse Youth Theater

Oddfellows Playhouse, founded in 1975, is Connecticut’s oldest and largest youth theater program. It serves over 1400 children ages 1 - 20 annually through classes and performance opportunities in theater, circus, dance, music and visual arts. 

Programs include after-school and Saturday classes, Oddbridge Extended Day program (providing transport from Middletown schools, snacks & supervised arts-based activities before formal classes begin), Neighborhood Troupes in Middletown Public Housing, Circophony Teen Circus, Teen Repertory Company, and the Children’s Circus of Middletown, a 5-week summer program serving 175 kids ages 5 - 15. Oddfellows also hosts the Teaching Artist Hub, a resource center for CT teaching artists.

Oddfellows has a historic commitment to providing high-quality arts experiences to all young people, regardless of their family’s ability to pay. No one is turned away for economic reasons.

We believe access to high-quality arts experiences is a fundamental right. Throughout its history, Oddfellows has remained committed to artistic excellence and social change. Our mission has three parts: 1) an artistic dimension to provide high-quality theater by and for young people; 2) an educational dimension to promote the growth of young people--in skills, knowledge, and self-confidence--through the performing arts; and 3) a social action dimension to offer opportunities, especially to underserved and at-risk youth, to promote the development of a genuinely multiracial, multicultural society.