Children's Theatre artistic director Peter Brosius pointed to these moments as milestones for the theater during his 20-year tenure:
1. CTC won the Tony Award for regional theater in 2003, while "A Year With Frog and Toad" got three Tony nominations. "It was a badge of honor not just for us, but for the entire field," he said.
2. The 298-seat Cargill Stage opened in 2005, expanding programs for preschoolers and teens.
3. "Reeling," playwright Barry Kornhauser's paean to the silent-film era, premiered to wide acclaim in 2006.
4. "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" (2008 and 2013) made people laugh so hard, "we measured it," he said." The audience at full tilt was as loud as a 747 at takeoff."
5. "Five Fingers of Funk," Will Powers' hip 2008 musical about a high school band, drew repeat visits by "kids of every race," he said.
6. "Iqbal" (2009) focused on child laborers in a Pakistani factory. Brosius said kids who saw the show wrote CTC letters saying that "instead of birthday gifts, they were asking guests to help organizations that were helping courageous kids half a world away."
7. "Romeo and Juliet" was staged in 2009 in a rollicking, promenade style. Brosius dragged his Shakespeare-averse daughter to the show: "It was so muscular, visceral and alive, she and her friend couldn't stop talking about it."
8. "Seedfolks," a solo show about people who build community through an urban garden, premiered in 2014 and went on to tour the United States and South Africa.
9. "Akeelah and the Bee" premiered in 2015 and then transferred to Washington, D.C.
10. "Diary of a Wimpy Kid," a musical adapted from Greg Kinney's popular books, sold out its 2016 premiere run.
