Creative Arts Theater is the city's resident professional children's theater company. The staff of six professional performers tour recreation centers and libraries with multiple performances at most sites. With a repertory of more than 125 shows, Creative Arts Theater's puppets run the gamut from hand puppets to nine-foot body puppets. Masks, live actors, original music, and dance are often integrated into the mixed media productions, which are usually based on children's literature. Recognized throughout the United States for their work with puppets, the company has performed for more than one million children and their families during the past 40 years.

Current Performances

The performances listed below are free and open to the general public. For more information, please call the Creative Arts Theater at (813) 931-2106.

Become a Storyteller!

Learn the art of story telling.  Instruction begins in January for children ages 5-18 at community centers located throughout the City of Tampa and Hillsborough County. Outstanding storytellers will be featured at the all day culminating festival at the 32nd Annual Tampa-Hillsborough County Festival.

The Tampa-Hillsborough County Storytelling Festival

The Tampa-Hillsborough County Storytelling Festival engages people of all ages in the enjoyable pursuit of literature and nurtures the preservation of the oral tradition of storytelling. The festival takes place at Hillsborough High School, located 5000 N. Central Avenue.

The Festival provides an opportunity for inter-generational, multi-cultural interaction through story and exposure to nationally renown storytellers. Both children and adults receive training and actively participate in the ancient art of storytelling. The festival includes hundreds of school-aged Festival Quality Storytellers, regional storytellers of all ages, balladeers, puppets, storybook characters, and much more!