About CCTA

The driving force behind the Columbia Center for Theatrical Arts (CCTA) is artistic director and founder, Toby Orenstein. Early on, a teaching experience in Harlem had a major impact on Toby’s life . . .

One of twelve teachers selected to work with the "All Day Neighborhood School Project", Toby helped Eleanor Roosevelt realize her dream—to motivate and stimulate disaffected, under privileged inner-city youth to learn in a different way—in other words, help make a connection between the student and the subject using new and "different" techniques. It was here that they discovered teaching through creative dramatics intellectually stimulates children!

According to Toby, “Education is not just about curriculum, but about approach, creating a safe, caring, fun, interactive stage to experience the subject at hand. Children grow and learn when they are nurtured and loved.” Although Toby’s time in this program was short lived, it changed her forever. This commitment to person and process—not the product—is what guides her to this very day.

In 1959, Toby moved to Maryland with her husband Hal. After several years of teaching, directing and producing, she was asked by Jim Rouse to create a theatrical arts school for the new city of Columbia, MD. It was then she founded the Columbia School for Theatrical Arts (now Columbia Center for Theatrical Arts).

Today, CCTA continues with Toby’s original mission by creating new theatrical experiences that are not only educational and entertaining but are also proactive and inspirational! Our programs and productions teach life experience and pass along sound moral messages to to young audiences.

While originally conceived as an “arts school” where children learn through the performance process (putting on a show), CCTA has grown in several areas. Today CCTA employs more than one-hundred teachers, directors, writers, actors, musicians, technicians and consultants under the guidance of four full-time and 10 part-time staff members.

CCTA has three distinct departments to help meet the goals set forth in its original mission. These departments are:

Our Mission is to educate through the arts by creating theatrical experiences that "inspire thought, action, creativity, and change".

CCTA is dedicated to making these experiences available and accessible to as many members of the community as possible with an emphasis on reaching and nurturing our children regardless of gender, race, religion, ability, age, or socioeconomic status.

1. The Conservatory offers several performance arts based programs designed to nurture and develop the whole child. They include a professional student ensemble - The Young Columbians, musical theatre classes, after school drama programs at area schools, summer performing arts camps and the nationally-recognized Teen Professional Theatre Workshop that provides a unique theatrical experience to highly motivated and talented young actors.

2. Theatrical Arts Productions (TAP) produces professional productions each year that are related to school curriculum and reflect current social issues and concerns. These productions are enjoyed by thousands of students each year at venues throughout the area. Our 2007-08 season features: Sundiata, The Lion King of Mali; Ben Carson, M.D.; The Diary of Anne Frank; and Seussical, The Musical!.

3. Outreach Programs, designed to make theatre arts available and accessible to the neediest students in our region. They includeThe Ben Carson Project, a program that each year braings several thousand students from the Batimore City Public School System to free performances of Ben Carson M.D. and The After School Theatre Project (Howard County, MD and Baltimore City.

The Columbia Center for Theatrical Arts is a non-profit 501(C)3 corporation and is continuously searching for new and innovative ways to reach the deserving children of our communities. There are several ways corporations, small businesses, performance venues, and schools can establish working partnerships with CCTA. For more information, contact Melissa Rosenberg at

410-381-0700 or info@CCTArts.com.

Toby believes that if you can reach a child at a young age—while their mental and physical skills are still developing—you can steer them away from anti-social behaviors, help them develop coping skills, and help build higher self-esteem, transforming their lives and enriching the community.