LCT announces 2026 productions

The Lighthouse Children’s Theatre (LCT) is proud to announce their 2026 productions of The Lion King Kids and Legally Blonde the Musical Jr. This year’s audience will enjoy two productions for the price of one! Both performances will occur three times, back to back over three separate days of June 26, 27, and 28th. One ticket will admit you for both performances on the day of your choosing. Show times for Friday and Saturday are 6 pm for Lion King Kids and 7:30 pm for Legally Blonde the Musical Jr. Sunday’s performance is a Lion King Kids matinee beginning at 2 pm with Legally Blonde wrapping it up starting at 3:30 pm. All performances will be held in the El Dorado Springs Middle School Gym. Starting June 6th, $5 pre-show tickets will be available from any cast member or at The Home Store in downtown Eldo. The price at the door will be $6.

Coming off of last year’s very successful Adams Family production, Directors Shayne Daniel and Emily Bridges approached the board with a plan that would provide more in-depth theatre training to current members. The plan included splitting cast members across two separate productions according to their age and skill appropriate levels. The LCT board accepted their proposal but not without some hesitation. Would they have enough interest, enough children to adequately fill the cast list of two shows? If not, could they afford two shows? After all, the added royalty fee alone could wipe out a budget and they still would have the extra cost of an additional set, props, costumes and more. These things considered, a great deal of time and consideration was given to the choosing of the two productions. With fingers crossed and back-up plans in their heads, LCT opened auditions on March 28. As more and more kept coming, it was clear the board had made the correct production choices. Almost triple the usual interest, LCT ended the day with more than 60 registrations, more than enough to complete both shows’ cast lists.

Small but mighty, the El Dorado Springs area is full of talent and LCT is excited to be the venue to shine that talent to hundreds. To do so, the board is also implementing a change in the matinee performance this year. Instead of Saturday, it will now be performed on a Sunday afternoon. Several factors entered into this decision, but the primary one was the hope to expose our organization to new audience members who maybe have never seen a LCT production before. “They say it takes a village and at LCT our village is amazing,” stated Teresa Lyness, LCT Board Secretary, “through LCT, the kids, their family and board volunteers, work hard, putting in countless hours and dedication to provide a unique high-quality musical that is rarely seen in small communities such as ours. So why wouldn’t we want as many as possible to be able to see it? We are hoping that the addition of a Sunday performance does just that. That it brings in people who have never seen one of our productions. I have no doubt they will leave in awe of these amazing kids’ hard work and talent!”

LCT’s motto is that every child deserves a spotlight. It is only with the community’s support we are able to make this happen. Growth does not come without growing pains. LCT is no exception to that. Being 100% voluntarily managed and operated, in addition to funds, more hands are always needed. If you have a passion for the arts, and a willingness to help, LCT has a place for you. Learn more at https://www.facebook.com/lctofeldo and watch for more articles following the progress of our young thespians. More importantly, mark your calendar, purchase the tickets, and show your support by being there on June 26-28!