In the early 1970’s The University of Colorado Theatre Department acquired a three-year Title III grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to produce a theatre that toured to both city and rural schools with children’s plays and Shakespeare.

The Colorado Caravan was composed of six actors with minimal set and props and great costumes, who traveled in one van to schools and communities across the state. Each semester they toured to around 35,000 children and teens, many of whom were seeing a live theatre performance for the first time. They developed a unique drama-friendly teaching style. The children’s plays were unadorned tales presented in a straightforward manner. They rediscovered Imagination. This style of theatre is especially desirable to teachers also. They learned enough about children and theatre that the University established an M.A. degree program in Developmental Drama, and students who took that degree established theatres like the Colorado Caravan all over the world.

When the program closed, Chuck used the experience he gained with CU’s Colorado Caravan to establish the Overland Stage Company, which toured Wyoming schools and communities. The Colorado Shakespeare Festival continues these school tours today.

The history, theory, teaching techniques and scripts from these theatres will be available in the future at Developmental Theatre: Fearless Creativity.