Local Theatre Opportunities

Local Theatre

Our Carroll Theatre students are welcome at all of Helena's local theatre companies. Carroll actors and technical theatre specialists have many opportunities beyond our regular season to get involved in local theatre to enrich their resumes with outside production work.

Grandstreet Theatre

Grandstreet is Montana’s premiere community theatre with over 40 years of continuous service. Each year they produce 10-12 plays and musicals in a beautifully preserved 200-seat turn-of-the-century romanesque granite church and an additional 45-seat black box studio. Nestled at the base of the Rocky Mountains in a small but thriving arts community, Grandstreet enjoys tremendous public support and regularly produces some of the best live theatre in the Northwest.

  • Acting - our students are encouraged to audition for Grandstreets season of shows. It is rare that a musical opens at Grandstreet without at least two Carroll Theatre students in the cast. Grandstreet also has a summer stock company that our students sometimes audition for in February of each year.
  • Tech - Grandstreet welcomes student designers to learn and work with them in the areas of sound, lights, set, costume, scenic painting, stage management, and stage crew when the Carroll faculty deems them ready for those assignments. Their technical system and stage configuration are quite different from Carroll's, so this arrangement is extremely valuable to our students.
  • Education - our students are invited to apply for internships in Grandstreet's Theatre School program. Marianne Adams, Tony nominated theatre educator, welcomes qualified Theatre Education students and interested Theatre majors and minors to assist in their after school theatre school program.

Last Chance New Play Fest

The Last Chance New Play Fest is an annual 10-day event featuring new works by Montana Playwrights. It is run by the non-profit Experimental Theatre Cooperative, and operates in a Fringe-oriented manner, which individual producers bringing their shows to the Fest. It generally produces a mix of full-length and one-act plays, plus a themed ten-minute play festival.
  • Acting - our students are encouraged to audition for LCNPF shows. The experience of working in the community is a good learning experience for actors, and working with in the less-structured fringe environment provides new insights and opportunities to grow
  • Tech - qualified students are used as directors, stage managers, designers, and run crew for LCNPF shows
  • Writing - Carroll students are eligible to submit to the ten-minute play festival

Raven's Feather Productions

Their mission is to produce exciting contemporary drama for modern audiences. They encourage participation from everyone in the local scene with a vision for local theatre.  Their aesthetic is black box, published works, or established fringe pieces. Our students are encouraged to audition, apply to be designers, and volunteer as ushers. 

 

Helena Civic Center

Originally built as a Shrine temple in 1920, the Helena Civic Center is now owned and operated by the City of Helena. The Helena Civic Center offers the community a unique place to enjoy concerts, conferences, conventions, banquets, balls, wedding receptions, expositions, art shows and other special events.

The Helena Civic Center houses two major facilities: the 1,925 seat Auditorium Theater and the 15,000 sq. ft. Ballroom exhibition hall, which is used for banquets, craft shows, dances, weddings, trade shows and conferences. Visit Helena as she was to learn more about Helena Civic Center's history.

  • Acting - The Civic Center does not produce shows, so there are no acting opportunites at the Civic Center
  • Tech - qualified students are hired as stage hands and run crew for shows at the Civic Center. There are jobs and internships available. Since the equipment at the Civic Center is significantly different from what is used at Grandstreet and Carroll's FLEX, the additional training in this house is extremely beneficial to our students.

Helena Avenue Theatre

Although playwriting and new plays are our primary interest, the Montana Playwrights Network is not just for playwrights. We also welcome storytellers and writers who create or perform stories, write memoirs, essays, and poetry and who wish to strengthen their creative works by learning and practicing playwriting techniques. We also serve teachers who work with students of all ages in developing and strengthening writing and reading skills within the schools and general population through stories, storytelling and playwriting.