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Debut Theatre Company
Theatre for young people, by young people.
We are Northern Colorado's only troupe-structured, non-profit, young person's theatre school. We provide a world-class theatre education and exceptional theatre productions that are affordable and appropriate for all ages. As the only hands-on, year-round, progression-based children's theatre in Colorado, Debut offers troupes, classes, and workshops for a wide range of ages, talents and interest levels.
For 34 years, Debut Theatre Company has given young people in Northern Colorado a place to discover and grow — onstage, backstage, and everywhere in between. As a non-profit, our mission has always been simple yet profound: to prepare young people for life through creativity, problem-solving, communication, and teamwork.
Now we are raising the curtain on our biggest production yet—The Debut Arts Centre, Northern Colorado’s first hub for youth performing arts. For years, we’ve created magic in a well-worn, aging 4,200-square-foot space, with costumes stored in homes and students rehearsing offstage until opening week. Together, we can build a permanent stage for young artists with classrooms, workshops and resources for their creativity to thrive for generations to come.
Help us make the vision a reality. Every gift matters!
Thanks to the extraordinary generosity of Edward M. Warner and Jacalyn D. Erickson, every dollar donated between now and December 31, 2025 will be matched dollar-for-dollar up to $250,000.
This isn’t just about a building — it’s about creating a permanent home for creativity, confidence, and community. Please make your tax-deductible gift today — and double your impact — by donating securely online here through Colorado Gives OR at The Debut Arts Centre where 100% of your donation goes directly to Debut Theatre Company.
Each gift is an investment in the creativity, courage, and power that live theatre and the arts brings to young people and the community.
To learn more about Debut Theatre Company
visit our website at debuttheatre.org
or follow us on Facebook and Instagram.
History
Co-founded in 1991 by siblings Lee Osterhout-Kaplan and Gregg Osterhout, Debut Theatre Company is based in Fort Collins. For 33 years Debut has offered theatre education for ages 8-17 years old through small troupes of 12-15 students. Troupes meet each week to collaborate and create, culminating in an end of semester performance at a variety of local venues that best suits the age and experience level of the troupe.
Debut Players, DTC's signature troupe, is one of only three professional children's performing arts companies found between California and Minnesota. By audition, Debut Players is made up of 17 talented young people between the ages of 10 and 17 years. Recent productions include: Nancy Drew: Detective, Anne of Green Gables, The Fall of the House of Usher, James & the Giant Peach, Robin Hood; Henry & Ramona; The Railway Children; Alice in Wonderland; Dracula; Vintage Radio Shows (during covid); Sarah, Plain & Tall; The Phantom Tollbooth
The apprentice troupes and Debut Players combined perform a total of more than 40 performances per year!
Young people onstage, backstage, and in the audience.
Debut is a "hands-on" company that believes learning is best done by doing and quality arises through pride of ownership and participation. The actors don't just act. They participate in the design and construction of everything from posters to costumes to sets.
Believing that the humanities are a force that binds our Community and its people, Debut Theatre Company is a nonprofit corporation whose artistic and educational purposes are:
-to provide Fort Collins area families with the best of children's theatre through the affordable performance of dramatized literary classics by young people
-to instruct young artists in the craft of theatre through hands-on participation in both the performance and technical skill-building
-to prepare young people for adulthood by applying the fundamental dynamics of creativity and problem solving, responsibility, communication with others and working as a team towards a common goal
We recognize that the arts play an important role in the recreational and cultural well-being of this community. The arts can be a vehicle to reduce discrimination and prejudice; to promote understanding and education; to open minds and expand the sense of self; and to foster an appreciation for others.
Organization name
Debut Theatre Company
other names
DTC
1991
Tax id (EIN)
84-1176103
Category
Arts, Culture & Humanities, Youth Development
Organization Size
Medium Organization
Address
827 Riverside Ave.Larimer County, CO, US