April 17, 2017

Meet Christian and Shannon Mayer of Off Broadway Children’s Theatre in Alpharetta

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Christian and Shannon Mayer.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
It all started as a blind date back in 1995, when a fellow actor introduced us to one another. We both had been performing locally and regionally for quite some time and we both had studied Theatre at College. I, myself, hold a BFA in Theatre from Brenau Women’s College in Gainesville, Ga and Christian a Minor in Theatre from Georgia State University in Atlanta. Even though we both were making a name for ourselves as actors, we believed God had something more important in store. We believed we needed to help kids connect to their passion. So, after marrying in November 1999, we opened up what was known as Off Broadway Dance Center in June of 2000. We began as a small mom and pop dance studio teaching mainly dance and a few theatre classes to ages 3 to 17 with Christian and I as the only faculty members. We were a 1 room 1000 square foot studio. Me, teaching 22 classes a week by myself and Chris coming in on the weekends to teach acting classes while he held a full-time day job in the legal industry.

Over the years, our enrollment grew as did our desire to specialize in what we loved and had a passion for, theatre. We began developing an acting troupe of kids between the ages of 8 to 17, the Off Broadway Kids, who competed in National Theatre competitions, such as the Junior Theatre Festival in Atlanta and the National Performing Arts Festival in NYC and Orlando and began receiving national acclaim and recognition for our work with young people. Our mission statement of connecting kids to their passion and to each other began to take shape as we continued to compete and also started offering Children’s Theatre productions open to the public in 2004.

As the emphasis of our business began drifting away from the dance side of the arts and became more and more focused on theatre, cards were beginning to fall in place that would change the trajectory of our business model. Christian’s firm downsized and he found himself at a turning point. He could turn this business around to a profiting theatre company and work there full time with me or continue working in corporate America. He felt led to take a leap of faith and that lands us where we are today. We are a full-service Children’s Theatre, no longer a dance studio. We produce over 12 shows a year in our 4000-square foot space featuring a 100-seat black box theatre, private music studio, rehearsal hall and an extensive costume department. We cast over 600 children annually and we see about 6000 people come through our doors to see shows each year. We offer classes, are involved in 2 local schools teaching outreach programs and are active in the surrounding communities. Our students come to us from Fulton, Forsyth, Cherokee and Cobb counties and we love each one of them as if they were our own. At the same time, we have accomplished our work goals, we have managed to maintain a good work life balance as we are able to spend time with our own children, Christian age 11 and Hannah Rose age 9.

Our program has produced the top performing students in Georgia that have been multiple Shuler Hensley/Thescon award winners. Alumni of our programs, can be found appearing as the top performers at Milton High School, West Forsyth High School, Pebblebrook Performing Arts High School, North Springs Performing Arts High School as well as many prestigious Theatre programs in Universities such as Emerson, Oklahoma University, Elon, Auburn, Cincinnati Conservatory, Michigan State, and Pace as well as many others throughout the United States. Alumni have appeared in the national tours of Mary Poppins, Pippin and the Broadway Premiere of Tuck Everlasting. The neat thing is that every one of these students have maintained our core values we teach of grace, gratitude, serving and humility. They still stay connected to us and to each other and are truly a family. We believe we are training the next generation of leaders who will pass the arts down to youth and help them discover their own gifts.

None of this could not have happened without the grace of God and the countless hours put in my dedicated volunteers and parents. We are proud of what we have accomplished.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It is a business that has taught us patience. It has been challenging from day 1 on so many different levels. As our business changed, our lifestyle changed and the economy changed. But, because of the journey we are stronger and have been able to find our product, our niche in the community and our business model. We couldn’t appreciate what we have until we appreciated what we came from.

Please tell us about Off Broadway Children’s Theatre.
We vest ourselves in each of the young people personally and share our passion with them. We are the face of our business and everyone interacts on a daily basis with us only.

Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
I remember going to see the national tour of Annie when I was 12 years old and seeing the kids in that cast knowing I wanted to be a part of their world.

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