OUR ORIGINAL LOGO |
OUR MODERN LOGO |
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OUR HISTORY
1991
- Original Kids Theatre Company was founded as a not-for-profit charitable youth organization by David Conron with 12 members.
- First Home- Alma College in St. Thomas.
1994
- First production for the general public was at Summer Camp. It was “Cats of Alma”, performed in the outdoor theatre at the College. The production was directed by Art Fidler and Reed Needles.
- That same summer, Original Kids moved to London and rented space in the basement of the London Regional Art and what is now museum London.
1996
- After two years using the Museum Theatre, Original Kids built its own theatre in the Museum, and called it The Bull-Donaldson Theatre after two volunteers, Keith Bull and Joe Donaldson, who spearheaded its construction.
- In February, Art Fidler retired from teaching and took over as Artistic Director for Original Kids. That summer, Original Kids did its first big theatre production “Annie Warbucks” at UWO’s Talbot Theatre, directed by Art.
1997
- Original Kids tried their first full length productions as part of their season with “The Boy Friend” directed by Tia Pearse and “Daisy Pulls It Off” directed by KC Cann.
1998
- In the summer, a troupe from Original Kids represented Canada at the World Youth Drama Festival in Lingen, Germany in an original work, The Dreamers under the direction of James Schaefer.
1999
- Original Kids moved to it's current home, the Spriet Family Theatre in the Covent Garden Market. The theatre was named after the Spriet family. Thanks to the generosity of Andy and Helen Spriet, prominent philanthropists in London, the project was made possible.
- Original Kids Summer Camp moved to Spencer Lodge on Windermere Road
2000
- Original Kids begins offering a yearly, theatre focused trip to New York City's Broadway every March Break for High School aged Original Kids Main Cast members.
2002
- Art Fidler withdrew from the Artistic Directorship to take on Marketing and Special Projects and the position was ably filled by his Assistant Artistic Director, Dale Hirlehey. It was at this time that OK's rehearsal space was given the name “The Art Fidler Rehearsal Hall”.
- 50+ Original Kids mount "Bye Bye Birdie" -- the first production staged at the Wolf Performance Hall inside the new London Public Library, Central Branch inside Galleria Mall (now Citi Plaza).
- Original Kids carry in the enormous red ribbon at the ribbon cutting ceremonies for downtown's premiere arena and entertainment venue, the John Labatt Centre (now Budweiser Gardens).
2003
- Original Kid's current Executive Director Jeffery Crane was hired as the organizations bookkeeper while he attended Western University.
2005
- Summer of 2005 we developed a partnership with the London Arts Council and The London Public Library to produce an outdoor pay what you can production in the Rotary Reading Garden at the London Central Library. This was the first known production in Canada of a new piece from Broadway called "A Year With Frog & Toad".
- Original Kids was awarded an Ontario Trillium Grant for $29,600 to upgrade our technical equipment.
2010
- The London Fringe Festival featured our first official Original Kids Alumni production, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.
2011
- Original Kids Theatre Company celebrates its 20th Anniversary.
- Original Kids runs a gala at Sunningdale Golf & Country Club to raise money to replace our sound equipment.
- In December 2011 we brought our Box Office in house that began the creation of a leadership development program for our youth.
2012
- Our Box Office system evolves into a youth leadership development program.
- In February, Original Kids ran its 2nd gala at Sunningdale Golf & Country Club to complete our technical equipment upgrade. With the performance help of alumni including Kyle Blair & Alexis Gordon, we are able to surpass our two year goal of $20,000.
- Dale Hirlehey left the organization and was replaced by our current Artistic Director Andrew Tribe.
2013
- Original Kids reaches a membership of 310 performers in the Main Cast Company.
- Original Kids introduces its first annual Playfest with an Awards ceremony.
2014
- Original Kids is selected to represent Canada at the 13th World Festival of Children's Theatre in Lingen, Germany with their original collective creation, "Dream Journey". The production was also an entry in London Fringe Festival.
- Original Kids amends its by-laws allowing two non-voting youth members to sit on its board of directors.
- Art Fidler retires from Original Kids.
2015
- Camp OK introduces a new month long Leadership program for the summer of 2015 named the LEAD Program.
2016
- Original Kids hosts a reunion evening celebrating 25 years, on the mezzanine of the Covent Garden Market on February 13, 2016 with over 400 in attendance.
- Original Kids presents the Canadian premiere of the new Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, "School of Rock", based on the popular film, while it is still running on Broadway.
2017
- The Spriet Family Theatre completes a $40,000 renovation, expanding the creative possibilities of what can be achieved on stage.
2018
- As a part of the London Fringe Festival, Original Kids presents a site-specific, immersive theatre project, "The Awesome 80's Prom"
2019
- We celebrated our last summer for Camp OK on the ground of Huron College.
2020
- During the COVID-19 world pandemic, Original Kids programming pivoted to a virtual fall season of eight productions and three T.A.G. classes.
- Our summer camps Camp OK and Kamp Kidlets were able to work alongside the Middlesex-London Health Unit and operate in-person summer camps. Camp OK operated on the grounds of the Western Fair District and Kamp Kidlets operated in our home at the Spriet Family Theatre.
2021
- Camp OK moves its summer programming to the grounds of King's University College.
2022
- Our Main Cast company ran a site specific production at Storybook Gardens (Peter & The Starcatcher).
- Camp OK moved to Brescia University College.
- With the help of our local community and the Ontario Trillium Foundation we invested nearly $50,000 to upgrade our technical resources (sound & lighting equipment).
- We hired our fifth Artistic Director, Corey Agnew.
2023
- We replaced the flooring and the seats in our Spriet Family Theatre (plus added 7 additional seats!).
- We ran a fundraiser in September, at the Covent Garden Market to sell the name plate to each seat. This helped us to pay for our $70,000 theatre renovation.
CURRENTLY
- In its 33rd year, Original Kids is exclusively dedicated to young artists.
- The Main Cast program continues to grow back to it's pre-covid enrollment.
- Our summer camp has grown back to our pre-covid capacity while being hosted at Brescia University College.
- T.A.G. Program has been designed to offer training to Company beginners, offering a series of workshops by theatre professionals and concluding with a final gala showcase.