ARTS
director who was charged with producing
shows featuring local children. Today it offers
hone skills both on stage and behind the
scenes.
Its classes and performances touch
many young lives.
“We served about 15,000 kids last year
between kids taking classes here, kids
doing shows for kids, young professionals
doing shows for kids here, those young
professionals taking touring shows to the
schools and after-school programs, and
shows that are rehearsed at individual
schools with kids from that school and
then brought here to perform,” marketing
director Oscar Sales Jr. said.
Professional dance instructors at
Riverside Children’s Theatre provide a
structured and rigorous environment
that reflects the physical, intellectual and
100
youngsters opportunities to learn and
Community dignitaries took part in the 1965 groundbreaking for what would later become Riverside Theatre.
emotional skills the study of dance develops.
Students develop the confidence to
interact with the professionals who star
in main season shows on the Stark and
Waxlax stages, and are sometimes given
the opportunity to perform with them.
The theater’s Festival of Trees is an
annual family event that raises funds for
its programs. Individuals, businesses and
organizations design trees, wreaths and
gingerbread houses to display and sell,
while local music groups move through
City of Vero Beach 1919-2019 VeroBeach100.org
RIVERSIDE THEATRE
the auditorium entertaining the strollers.
Riverside has developed programs to
appeal to a wide range of audiences. In the
early 1980s, a Celebrity Series began its
run with Ray Charles. As Vero Beach enters
its next 100 years, the Distinguished Lecturer
Series will reach its 21st anniversary.
Movers and shakers in politics, show
business, the media and the humanities
have shared their experience and
knowledge with audiences. From George
Plimpton to George W. Bush, each season
RIVERSIDE THEATRE
The theater can be seen from a great distance over
the trees of Riverside Park.
RIVERSIDE THEATRE
Contractors and city officials review a construction site in 1972. As the theater’s programs continued to
grow, so did the campus on Riverside Park Drive.
RIVERSIDE THEATRE
Riverside Theatre building was funded by private
contributions on 54 acres of city land.
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