By Brian Milton, Founding Creative Director of Kidstock!
I was never a sports kid. The concept of being part of a team was something I didn’t really experience in my early years. I was far more at home in the arts, and a bit of an entrepreneur at heart. I’d spend afternoons drawing pictures, hanging them on the fence in my backyard, and inviting my friends to “art sales.” It was creative, collaborative, and uniquely me, but still a solo pursuit.
That changed in fifth grade when my parents sent me to Magic Circle Theater, a summer program at Tufts University. That’s where I discovered what it meant to be included, valued, and needed on a team. That year, in their production of Alice in Wonderland, I played Two of Clubs… not exactly a starring role, but it didn’t matter to me. For the first time, I was part of something bigger than myself, part of a team, and I loved every moment of it.
Fast-forward to my senior year of college, back at Tufts, I became the Director at Magic Circle Theater. It was a full-circle moment, leading the very program that had given me my first sense of belonging and purpose. That experience cemented what would become my lifelong mission–to use theater as a tool for self-discovery, inclusion, and connection.
In the years that followed, I worked in education theater anywhere and everywhere in the Boston area. This is where I first noticed a troubling pattern: programs that relied on auditions and casting left some children out of the experience entirely. And these kids were usually the shy, quiet types who might need theater most. I realized how lucky I’d been to get my “in” through an audition, and how unfair it was that others might never have that opportunity.
That’s when I decided to create a nontraditional theater program and name it Kidstock!. I made sure Kidstock! didn’t start with auditions or prewritten scripts, but instead began with a group of kids and their ideas. Together, we would create something original, giving every student a role in the process. Theater has so many doors to open and different opportunities to explore, including playwriting, choreography, set design, costume design, and stage management, and I wanted kids to experience them all.
Theater teaches collaboration, empathy, and creativity; it celebrates differences and transforms them into strengths. For me, that’s what being on a “team” truly means. My passion has been helping students fall in love with theater, but most importantly, showing them that there’s a place for them, whether on stage, behind the curtain, in the script, or in the audience.
All these years later, I’m still thankful for that summer at Magic Circle Theater, that turned the Two of Clubs into a kid who found his place. And I’m thankful every day that Kidstock! continues to give that same feeling of belonging, discovery, and joy to every young artist who joins our circle. Happy Thanksgiving and I hope on your long list of things to be thankful for this year, theater or Kidstock! found a place. I know it made mine!
