Teen Musical Theater of Oregon is a youth theater program in Medford, Oregon, USA, produced by Craterian Performances.
Description
Teen Musical Theater of Oregon includes kids age 13 - 19 but will sometimes add children age 9 - 12, known as Children's Musical Theater of Oregon, depending on the show. Along with children and teens of this age, Teen Musical Theater will sometimes add "Guest Stars" to the shows who take on roles such as Daddy Warbucks in Annie and The Man In Chair from The Drowsy Chaperone. TMTO will generally put on three productions a year - a spring show, a summer show, and a winter show. TMTO will occasionally produce concerts with a smaller, selected cast.
History
Teen Musical Theater began back in 2006 with a spring production of Grease. At that time the production was called Children's Musical Theater of Ashland until it was later renamed Children's Musical Theater of Oregon. The company was founded by composer and keyboardist John Taylor and his wife Rhonda Taylor. His inspiration to found this organization came from the impact John P. Healy Jr. had on him when he was a part of San Jose Children's Musical Theater. Shortly after the 2008 summer production of Oklahoma!, Children's Musical Theater of Oregon was adopted by Craterian Performances. During the spring 2010 performance of Will Rogers Follies, a new branch of Children's Musical Theater of Oregon was created, called Teen Musical Theater of Oregon. While CMTO is still a working entity of the organization, it has taken a back seat allowing TMTO to produce the majority of the Musical Theater of Oregon's productions.
Original productions
The company has made three original productions: Broadway: A Musical Journey, Broadway II: The Journey Continues, and Moving On: TMTO in Concert. The first two being revues of many Broadway songs from many different Broadway shows including Lion King, Damn Yankees, A Chorus Line, The Color Purple and Hairspray. The Broadway series was created as a collaboration between John Taylor and David McCandless. Moving On was created and directed by Cailey McCandless and was a sendoff concert for eight graduating seniors who had participated in TMTO for years.
