The Our Lady of Peace Children’s Drama Program began in 1992 through the support of the CYO. This program was initially an activity offered to all the children in the parish. The group mounted a very ambitious lineup of Broadway shows including Oliver, Guys & Dolls, Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, Cinderella, Sound of Music, Grease and many more. The program was successful in many ways and eventually became an entity functioning independently both financially and self-sufficiently. It continued from 1992 until OLP School closed in 2009. At the height of the program, there were as many as 120 children participating, with performances spanning for six performances over two weekends. After the school closed, the program continued for two more years and was opened to all the Notre Dame School children. The program was suspended for seven years until 2018 when it was resurrected under the direction of Linda Galati Hunt, Jackie Lynch Basquill and Pat Ireland.

All productions are mounted in a fully professional manner, from the point of securing the rights/royalties for these ‘Broadway’ plays from a NY Theater Company, with full performance contracts to holding actual auditions, securing a lighting/sound production company. Every element is managed in the style of a major production. In addition, for each show, sets are designed and built, props are created and gathered, costumes are made or borrowed, a program playbill developed, box offices set up and the curtain goes up for four performances in the Spring. Since 2018 the children have performed, Disney’s Lion King Jr, DreamWorks Shrek the Musical, Disney’s Beauty & the Beast Jr, Disney’s Frozen Jr and most recently Disney’s Aladdin Jr. The 2025 Production will be L Frank Baum’s Wizard of Oz.

This program has been a huge success due to the dedication, diligence, and overall commitment of the cast, crew and all of its supporters who both participate and attend performances. The children are blessed with amazing talent and their enthusiasm is always contagious.