For 17 years, Melissa Riley has been putting on plays in a basement beneath the Beaverton City Library. Tickets cost $5. The cast might include a preschooler working the sound and light board.
Riley, the producing artistic director and founder of Beaverton Civic Theatre, built the nonprofit from scratch in 2009 after leaving a seven-year career in Hollywood, where she served as first assistant director on the Academy Award-nominated animated film "Coraline."
She moved to Beaverton looking for a creative outlet after years in the industry, and found it in live theater staged just below the stacks.
In April, the Oregon Theatre Educators Association recognized that work, awarding Beaverton Civic Theatre the Michael Hibbard Community Through Theatre Award at the Oregon State Thespian Festival.
The honor goes to an individual or organization that builds and sustains community through educational theater, according to OTEA's website.
The theater's current young-audience series ties performances directly to early literacy. Shows are adapted from books children encounter in the classroom and can check out upstairs in the library. Riley pairs each production with library parties, character museums and scavenger hunts to keep kids reading after the curtain falls.
"We really have a goal of helping kids reach that third-grade reading benchmark in school," Riley told the Beaverton Valley Times. "Our shows are based on popular books that kids may be encountering in the classroom and that we know they'll be able to find here in the library."
The $5 flat ticket price is deliberate. Riley said it makes families more willing to take a chance on a show and bring everyone along, removing the financial barrier that keeps some households away from live performance.
Community interest keeps growing. More people audition than Riley can cast, and participants range from first-time adult performers to entire families sharing the stage.
Former cast members have gone on to start their own theaters elsewhere in Washington County.
Riley told the Beaverton Valley Times she works to build trust with newcomers who may feel nervous about performing. "A small human, as long as they're willing to put in the work, I will patiently make sure that they have a place to be here," she said.
The theater's 2026 young-audience season included "Curious George: The Golden Meatball" running Feb. 21 through March 1, with a second show April 25 through May 3. Residents can check beavertoncivictheatre.org for fall show announcements and audition opportunities.
