Our Story
Freddo Children’s Theatre (FCT) was formed in 2022 to bring joy and inspiration to children through the magic of theatre, while providing opportunities for young Singaporean theatre professionals. FCT was incorporated as a Singaporean not-for-profit company in November 2023.
Artistic Director and Founder Elisha Xin-Yii Beston developed her passion for children’s theatre while working for a number of years with California’s Bay Area Children’s Theatre (BACT) in San Francisco. At the time, BACT was the foremost theatre company for young audiences in California. Returning to Singapore, Elisha founded Freddo Children’s Theatre, with the aim of bringing these original and award winning children’s theatre shows to young audiences in Singapore, with a local cast, design, production and crew, thus also creating quality theatre opportunities for young Singaporeans.
Originally partnering with BACT to license these acclaimed works, FCT faced a setback when BACT closed due to pandemic pressures in 2023. However, FCT successfully acquired BACT’s entire library of award-winning children’s shows, many based on best selling children’s books such as “Beautiful Oops!”, “Llama Llama Red Pajama” and “Press Here”, with plans to bring these cherished works to Singapore’s stage.
At the heart of everything we do at FCT is a commitment to nurturing and developing young Singaporean talent, both on and behind the stage. We firmly believe that the future of Singapore’s creative and performing arts industry lies in providing emerging artists, designers, and practitioners with meaningful opportunities to hone their craft in authentic, professional environments.
And of course our mission at FCT is to get every child into the theatre, whether that’s at one of our shows or elsewhere, so that they have the opportunity to experience the magic of theatre. That’s why FCT, working with our community outreach partners, gives 1O% of seats out for free to families who otherwise wouldn’t be able to, within their budget, attend live theatre.
FCT’s vision remains unchanged: to bring joy and inspiration to children through the magic of theatre!!
Our Logo
With the view to bring joy and inspire children through the magic of theatre, Freddo Children’s Theatre aims to create a safe and diverse work environment for our cast and crew, and believe people of all genders, races, and body types should be represented on stage with a focus on supporting young and upcoming artists in the local industry.
As such the FCT logo, constituting a frog (Freddo) and a rainbow, encompass our values.
The colors of the FCT rainbow reflect the diversity, equity and inclusion of the community in which we operate, in that the color:-
Pink represents Fun and Joy
Orange – Inclusivity
Yellow – Creativity and Imagination
Green – Accessibility
Blue – Empowerment
In traditional cultures around the world, frogs represent health, potential, transformation, purity, prosperity, and good luck.
Frogs are charming little creatures which are universally loved for their cuteness, for their “chirps, ribbits, and croaks”! From characters like Kermit the Frog to classic fairytales like The Frog Prince and stories such as ‘The Wind in the Willows”, frogs clearly occupy a special place in the hearts and storytelling traditions of human cultures around the world. Of course our most loved frog of all is Freddo – and who doesn’t like chocolate!