Oddfellows is an independent, not-for-profit youth theater. Its mission is to build skills and confidence in children through training in the performing arts. The core program consists of three eight-week sessions during the school year for children ages 6 to 20. Sessions are tuition-based, but financial aid is available. Students learn acting, mime, clowning and movement as well as respect, cooperation and teamwork.
Another program offers free after-school performing arts classes for at-risk youth from Middletown and Portland's lowest income areas. There's also a summer program that teaches circus skills and culminates in a popular outdoor public performance. About 60 percent of students are Caucasian, the rest are African American, Latino or Asian. Most are from Middletown, but about a third come from 24 school districts in central Connecticut.