Registration is now open for Youth Theatre Workshop Summer 2025

We are delighted to announce that registration is now open for this summer’s Youth Theatre Workshop, now in its 15th year. Sign-up today!

TCS continues to hold two Youth Theatre Workshops – one for Grades 1-8 (Session I) and one for Grades 8 and up (Session II). Session I will run for two weeks in July and Session II will be over the course of eight weeks from the end of June through mid-August. Auditions are used to assign roles to all the workshop participants. Internship Opportunities are for Grades 9 and up to work with either or both productions depending upon needs and schedules.


Productions: The workshop for younger kids, in grades 1 thru 8, will run July 21 through August 1, Monday to Friday, 9 AM to 4 PM. The program will culminate with three performances of Disney’s Alice in Wonderland, JR., on Friday and Saturday, August 1-2, 2025. The auditions will be Wednesday, July 16 at 6:00PM and held at Saugus Middle High School at 1 Pearce Memorial Drive in Saugus, MA. If needed, Callbacks will be held the same evening with those needing to be seen again asked to stay a little bit longer. The audition process also functions as a Meet & Greet for parents and youth actor participants to acquaint themselves with each other, the coaching staff for the workshop, and the interns who will be assisting the coaches.

The other Youth Theatre Workshop taking place this summer will run for eight weeks for our teens in Grades 8 and up. Their show this year will be The Spongebob Musical: Youth Edition. Performances will be Friday and Saturday, August 15-16, 2025. Auditions will be on Monday, June 23 at 6:00 PM, with callbacks on Tuesday, June 24 if needed. These will take place at the American Legion Post 210, 44 Taylor Street in Saugus, MA. Rehearsals will be three times a week (Mon, Tue, Thu) from 6:00PM to 9:00PM starting on June 23. The June 23 Auditions will also function as a Meet & Greet for parents and youth actor participants the same way the one for Grades 1-8 will as described above.

Workshop and Performance Locations: The current plan is for a portion of each workshop to take place at the American Legion Post 210 (TCS’ home space) and a portion of each workshop to take place at the Saugus Middle High School Lemoine-Mitchell Auditorium. All performances for each workshop would take place at the school’s auditorium. This is contingent upon having enough youth actor participants sign up for each workshop. We will have a better idea of reaching these numbers by the close of our Early Bird Registration on June 1. Being able to partner with Saugus Middle High School allows TCS to provide an expanded summer theater experience than what we have been able to provide in prior years. We hope that if it goes well this inaugural summer it will continue successfully in years to come. It not only allows us the opportunity to expand the size of production, the number of cast members, and have our youth participants work in a theatre space they are either already familiar with as students or many be in the future, BUT it allows so many more family members and friends to attend and support them due to the larger seating capacity.

Coaching Staff: For Grades 1-8 we welcome Sydney Vallone to the team as the acting/stage directing coach. Sydney was an assistant coach for Frog and Toad, Princess Fiona in Shrek, JR., and Wednesday Addams in The Addams Family, young@part. Our other staff members are all familiar faces behind the scenes for Grades 1-8: music/singing coach will be KG Spungen, dancing coach will be Amanda (née Allen) Goolsby, tech director will be Sean Perry, and stage manager will be Maisey O’Brien. For Grades 8 and up we will have much of the same staff with a slight change. Acting/stage directing coach will be Becca Griffing, music/singing coach will be KG Spungen, dance coach will be Will Fafard, Jr., technical directors will be Tricia Smith and Saahil Rana (Saahil has been a tech intern with us in prior years and is now joining us as a coach – welcome aboard!), and stage manager will be Maisey O’Brien.

The registration materials and more details can be found here.


Step into the wacky world of Wonderland in this vibrant retelling of a Disney classic!

Fall down the rabbit hole with Alice as she navigates the curious world of Wonderland on a journey of self-discovery. When young Alice finds herself in a strange world where everything seems upside down, she must find her way home…and find herself along the way. As she travels through Wonderland, she encounters all of the iconic characters that audiences have come to love: including the ever-tardy White Rabbit, the grinning Cheshire Cat, a cool Caterpillar, the wacky Mad Hatter, and the hot-tempered Queen of Hearts.

Alice in Wonderland JR. features Disney favorites such as “The Golden Afternoon,” “The Unbirthday Song,” and “Painting the Roses Red” along with brand-new songs, including music from the 2010 live-action film. Whether this is your first experience with Alice or your hundredth, you’ll fall in love all over again with this timeless story of adventure, imagination, and pure fun!


A one-hour edition of the hit musical, specially tailored for young actors!

Plunge into this stunning all-singing, all-dancing, dynamic stage show! When the citizens of Bikini Bottom discover that a volcano will soon erupt and destroy their humble home, SpongeBob and his friends must come together to save the fate of their undersea world. With lives hanging in the balance and all hope lost, a most unexpected hero rises up. The power of optimism really can save the world!

The SpongeBob Musical is based on the beloved animated series created by Stephen Hillenburg and features a book by Kyle Jarrow, with original songs by Yolanda Adams, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith, Sara Bareilles, Jonathan Coulton, Alexander Ebert of Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, The Flaming Lips, Lady A, Cyndi Lauper, John Legend, Panic! At the Disco, Plain White T’s, They Might Be Giants and T.I., and songs by David Bowie, Tom Kenny and Andy Paley. Additional lyrics are by Jonathan Coulton, with additional music by Tom Kitt. The musical production was conceived by Tina Landau.

An exciting new musical featuring irresistible characters and magical music, this deep-sea pearl of a show is set to make a splash with audiences young and old. The future is bright, the future is bold, the future is The SpongeBob Musical.

Logo ©2023 Viacom International Inc. All Rights Reserved. Nickelodeon, SpongeBob SquarePants and all related titles, logos and characters are trademarks of Viacom International Inc. Created by Stephen Hillenburg.


Costume Storage Reorganization

Thanks to all who helped out with our costume storage reorganization project, led by the chief organizers Vanessa Phelon and Patrick Cleary. Others who helped out the first weekend include: Jeanette Amaru, Samantha Dawson, Caroline DeBrota, Cambria DiCecca, Amanda and Cheryl-Lynn Goolsby, Liz Hartsell, John Leonard, Tom Monahan, Dana Murray, Larry Segel, Shawyoun Shaidani, Tricia Smith, Lauren Thompson, David Vincent, and Valerie White.

On the second weekend we had the help of Kathy Bedard, Heidi Fisher, Billy Jenkins, John Leonard, Melissa MacNeil, Stephen Nedell, Ian Page, Larry Segel, Avonne Thomson, David Vincent, and Valerie White; again all led by Vanessa Phelon and Patrick Cleary.

Here is the costume storage rental unit Before:

After we filled the storage unit with all the bins, Vanessa and her kids Mels and Joy went in and rearranged all of it. Here is the After:

Still to be done in the coming weeks is filling in the detailed database with all our costume holdings, which will allow costumers to search and find out if we have what they need.

On Saturday 17 May 2025, starting at 10:00 AM, we will do a related project to remodel the Legion basement and reorganize all the stuff that is stored there.

Tickets on sale for Picasso at the Lapin Agile

The Theatre Company of Saugus presents presents the thoughtful comedy by Steve Martin: Picasso at the Lapin Agile. At a bar in Paris in 1904, patrons look ahead at the 20th Century, including a young Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso, and a Visitor from the future. For more info about the show and cast, see our show page.

Performances are April 25-26-27 and May 2-3-4, 2025. At the American Legion Post in Saugus; see our Directions page.

Tickets are now on sale; see our Tickets page. Seating is immersive at tables in the bar.

TCS at the Saugus Cultural Festival

The Saugus Cultural Council is hosting the first Saugus Cultural Festival, at which a number of local groups will perform and show off their work. The date is Sunday 23 February 2025, from 11 AM to 3 PM. The location is the Saugus Middle/High School, which is located at 1 Pearce Memorial Drive / Saugus, Massachusetts.

TCS members will perform a scene from the classic comedy The Importance of Being Earnest, by Oscar Wilde. The scene, about 15 minutes long, will be presented at 1:00 PM on the stage of the Lemoine-Mitchell Performing Arts Center at the school. The TCS performers include:

  • Caroline DeBrota as Gwendolyn
  • Shawyoun Shaidani as Jack (pretending to be Ernest)
  • Valerie Whiteneck as Lady Bracknell

All three will also appear in our April-May 2025 production of the comic play Picasso at the Lapin Agile, by Steve Martin. Caroline will be Schmendiman, Shawyoun will be Einstein, and Valerie will be the Visitor.

Here is the schedule of performances at the Saugus Cultural Festival:

  • 11:15 AM – Saugus Public Schools Acapella Singing Group
  • 11:30 AM – Iskwelahang Pilipino Dance group
  • 12:00 noon – Majur Indian Dance group
  • 12:15 PM – Lucia Ingemi Solo Ballet performance
  • 12:25 PM Phunk Phenomenon
  • 12:45 PM – Keane O’Brien Irish Dance School
  • 1:00 PM – Scene by Theatre Company of Saugus
  • Break
  • 2:00 PM – Veronica Roble’s Mariachi Band

TCS will also host a table in the lobby promoting our upcoming production of Picasso at the Lapin Agile. Let us know if you wish to help us out that day talking to the public about TCS: tcsaugus@gmail.com. Plan to visit our table when you come to see the festival.

Picasso Painting Night Fundraiser

Join us for our special Fundraiser to benefit our Spring 2025 production of Steve Martin’s Picasso at the Lapin Agile. Picasso Painting Night will be held on Tuesday, April 1, 2025 at 7:30PM.

Join us as we paint together. Our volunteer instructors will lead us through painting a colorful picture, inspired by the works of Picasso, or help you create a painting in a direction all your own. All art-skill levels are welcome as this is a fun night to benefit our production, have fun, play with some colors, and make something that is yours to keep. 

There will be a cash bar serving soft-drinks and libations. An opportunity to win tickets to our show. And who knows, you may even get a glimpse at Picasso himself!

Tickets, by advance purchase only will cost:

  • $25 for an individual
  • $40 for a couple

Click here to visit our Tickets page.

The location is the Theatre Company of Saugus home at the American Legion Post 210 / 44 Taylor Street / Saugus, MA 01906. (The upstairs hall is not wheelchair accessible.)

Click here for an article about the event, attended by Joanie Albee from the Saugus Advocate newspaper.

Staff Needed for Youth 2025 Summer Workshops

The Theatre Company of Saugus is seeking to engage some staff for its two Youth Theatre Workshop programs during the summer of 2025. Stipends are provided.

The current plan is for our Kids workshop (for those in grades 1 thru 8) to run July 21 thru August 3, Monday thru Friday 9 AM to 4 PM, plus performances throughout the final weekend. The Teen workshop (for those in grades 6 to 12) is planned to run in the early evenings starting in early June and concluding with performances August 15-16-17. For some information about the program, see the web page about our 2024 workshops. We are currently seeking for:

  • Stage Director for the Kids program. Responsibilities include directing, casting, and designing the show; as well as working collaboratively with a creative team, teaching theatrical workshops, leading theater games, and providing guidance and support to student interns.
  • Costume Designer for the Teen program

To apply for any of these positions, please send a message to us at tcsaugus@gmail.com. Include a resume and letter describing your experience with theatre and youth education. The deadline to apply is Friday 7 February 2025. Candidates must be COVID-vaccinated and CORI-checked.

Costume & Props Storage Reorganization

TCS has a very cluttered storage unit stuffed with bins of costumes and props. And there’s lots of stuff in the Legion basement. We are going to sort and organize all of it, discard stuff we don’t need, and make a database of everything we have showing where it is located.

On Friday 21 February we will load all the bins from the storage unit into a UHaul truck. Then on Saturday 22 February we will move everything from the truck into the Legion upstairs, where crews will then spend a few days sorting through everything.

We also need crews to do data entry and labelling, and to reorganize the Legion basement and put a floor down on top of the bocce court.

On Sunday 2 March we will truck all the bins back to the storage unit and arrange them on shelves.

We need lots of people to get all this done. Please set aside these dates on your calendar: Feb 21-22-23 and March 1-2.

Click here to sign up for the various work crews. Snacks and water will be provided.

At the start and end of the process we will be working at Extra Space Storage at 222 Central Street / Saugus, Massachusetts, at the loading dock and in unit #372. The sorting and organizing work will be upstairs at the TCS home at the American Legion Post 210 / 44 Taylor Street / Saugus, Mass. Other tasks will be done in the basement of the Legion building, in our storage area on the old bocce court. See our Directions page.

Lady Bracknell at Cultural Council Event

The Saugus Cultural Council is planning an event at Saugus High School to showcase the talents of all the arts organizations in town. The date is Sunday 23 February 2025. TCS will present a cutting of the play The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde.

We are seeking an actor for the role of Lady Bracknell, a very snobby English lady. This role is traditionally female-presenting, but can of course by played by someone of any gender. The actor should also be able to do an RP British accent, and at least plausibly be of appropriate age to be the parent of a young adult. Candidates should be available on the show date, as well as for a few rehearsals leading up to it, which could be on Zoom, at the Legion in Saugus, or nearby in Medford.

To audition for the role, send us a video clip up to two minutes long. Send it to us by Thursday 23 January 2025. Read from this script. Your video should at least include the speech by Lady Bracknell on page 8 starting with “The line is immaterial….”, but can include more than that. You are not required to read Jack’s lines. Send the video to us at tcsaugus@gmail.com.

We will also need volunteers on the day of the event to help us out backstage, and to staff our table greeting the public and handing out publicity materials about TCS. If you are interested in helping out, please write to us at tcsaugus@gmail.com.