CTC at the Renaissance Festival

CTC performs commedia dell'arte at Minnesota Renaissance Festival.  1971.

PLEASE BE ADVISED that co-founder and artistic director John Clark Donahue, as well as a number of staff and/or school faculty members of the theatre (actor/instructor Jason McLean, for one) have been convicted and/or charged with criminal and/or civil crimes of sexual abuse of minors.  In winter of 2019, in civil court, the Children's Theatre Company was also found guilty of negligence in these matters which occurred during the time period of the 1970s and 1980s (and probably earlier).  Consequently, please be aware that the images and links within this blog include the contributions and participation of certain minors who were victims/survivors/witnesses of sexual and emotional abuse and residual trauma,  as well as certain adult perpetrators, enablers, and/or former victims.

 
Come late summer/early autumn in the Twin Cities, the Minnesota Renaissance Festival is a cherished event to hundreds of thousands.  Since the Festival's first year in 1971 in a field in Jonathan, and for about a decade thereafter, The Children's Theatre Company and School had a presence at the Festival, performing commedia dell'arte plays on the portable stage designed and decorated by Jack Barkla while also maintaining a "booth" -- whether it be the Flemish "Meat Hat Hut" or the fully-operational Italian bakery "La Casa degli Allegri Panini" which still stands at the Festival grounds in Shakopee.  Although the CTC resources were always challenged by the building, maintenance, and staffing of this project (particularly at a time when the Theatre and School were embarking on a new performance season and school year), CTC's involvement in the "Ren Fair" was deemed important for its public relations/publicity goals and proved to be a splendid partnership with an organization of sympathetic aesthetic and audience demographics.



Kathleen Sullivan, Gerald Drake



Minneapolis Tribune Picture Magazine October, 1976: