Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/theatre-program-gives-new-meaning-to-playtime Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript Arts education is typically not a staple of some heartland communities, so for nearly 40 years the Missoula Children's Theatre has been giving disadvantaged children an opportunity to discover their inner thespian. Jeffrey Brown reports. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. JIM LEHRER: Finally tonight, making a place on stage for children. Jeffrey Brown has the story. PERFORMER: I like you. We're too peas in a pod. JEFFREY BROWN: The singers didn't always hit their notes, the dancers were often out of step, and the actors sometimes forgot their lines.But this recent performance of "The Princess and the Pea" in a small gym on the Coeur d'Alene Indian reservation in northern Idaho had to be counted a smash hit, the latest in a nearly 40-year run of productions in communities all across the country where children otherwise have few opportunities to stage a play. PERFORMER: I decree this test take place tonight. JEFFREY BROWN: It all began by accident in 1970 here in Missoula, Montana, where Jim Caron, an out-of-work actor from Chicago, found himself stranded when his V.W. van broke down as he headed for the West Coast.JIM CARON, founder, Missoula Children's Theatre: I noticed an audition poster for a play called "Man of La Mancha," and I'd always wanted to play Sancho. Any good role for a fat guy, I'm there. JEFFREY BROWN: The sidekick? JIM CARON: That's right. That's right. So I auditioned and got the part. And that guy that ended up playing Don Quixote, we became very, very close friends. And he said, "Well, why don't you hang around for a while? We'll start a little theater company." And neither one of us had ever done any children's theater, but we — it was the only thing that wasn't here. JEFFREY BROWN: Karen and Don Collins did just that, and the Missoula Children's Theatre was born, at first with adults performing plays for kids, until a call came one day from Miles City, Montana, a rural town 500 miles away, asking the company to come and put on "Snow White." The two decided to cast local kids for the seven dwarves, unsure of the reception they'd get.