Bloomington Civic Theatre (BCT)

Bloomington Civic Theatre finally has a permanent home. BCT was founded in 1955 by a group of volunteers who believed a theater group would be a desirable addition to the culture for the new city of Bloomington. One of their earliest dreams was to have a space for rehearsals, set construction and a functional stage for performances. The City of Bloomington has made that dream a reality with the opening of Bloomington Center for the Arts in August 2003. Before then, BCT performed on school and college stages when available. Sets and costumes were built and sewn in homes, garages, empty storefronts and barns. The Bloomington Recreation Department advanced the fledgling group $30 to begin their creative endeavor. We performed The Curious Savage at the old Bloomington High School on 98 th and Penn Avenue South on June 24 th and 25 th , 1955. For the first four years, we produced straight dramas only and in 1960 we presented our first musical, Guys and Dolls which critics labeled, "a miracle in Bloomington."   For almost 50 years, performers and technicians have come from all over the metro area to audition and volunteer for our productions. Under the artistic direction of John Command, Bloomington Civic Theatre currently produces four musicals a season - providing an amazing venue for amateur performers and entertaining, high quality, and reasonably priced shows for the theater-going public.

BCT is incorporated as a non-profit, 501(c) (3) corporation. We are governed by a volunteer Board of Directors which is elected annually by the theatre membership. The Board meets monthly to develop policy and procedures for the organization and monitors our participation in other councils. BCT employs a full-time managing director and part-time staffs for creative and production purposes. In addition, hundreds of volunteers contribute their time and talents to ensure the success of our organization. We are a member of the Bloomington Fine Arts Council, the Minnesota Association of Community Theatres (MACT) and Minnesota Citizens for the Arts.

As Bloomington Civic Theatre continues to settle in our new home, we are constantly learning, growing and aspiring to a better way of entertaining our patrons.   We invite you to join us - whether you are in the audience, on stage or behind the scenes - as we need dedicated volunteers to continue bringing our dreams of the original volunteers, and those that have followed, to reality.