The Office of Alumni Relations
and Alumni Association
The Office of Alumni Relations
and Alumni Association
The car carrying the 2010 Homecoming Parade marshal will have a dramatic flair as Missoula Children’s Theatre co-found Jim Caron leads the way, joined by President George and Jane Dennison.
Jim is the co-founder and CEO of Missoula Children’s Theatre. Jim co-founded the company in 1970 and has overseen its development over the past four decades into a multi-million dollar, worldwide arts/education service organization. The Missoula Children’s Theatre Tour is the largest cultural outreach of its kind in the world.
Jim announced last April that he will retire after the upcoming MCT season.
In addition to running MCT, Jim annually directs a number of MCT Community Theatre semi-professional productions, writes new children’s shows, recruits and trains touring personnel, conducts site visits, and provides consulting services in the areas of play production, theatre administration and facility design. Jim has also been involved in distribution of a major film documentary treatment of the MCT Tour (“The Little Red Truck”) and planning MCT’s performing arts high school, Next Step Prep – The Academy of Musical Theatre.
He is an adjunct faculty member of the University of Montana School of Fine Arts, where he received the Outstanding Alumnus Award in 1993 and again in 2004. He has been honored by the national headquarters of Very Special Arts, the Missoula Cultural Council, and the Montana Arts Council. He was named Western Montana Fundraising Executive of the Year in 2008, and is very proud to have received the prestigious Peacemaker of the Year Award in 2009. On behalf of MCT, Jim received the state of Montana Governor’s Arts Award in 1987.
Jim has served on many boards, including the UM School of Fine Arts, the Missoula County Public Schools, and the Missoula Chamber of Commerce.
Jim was the artistic director of the Flathead Valley Community College Drama Department in Montana during the 1980s and spent several summers as a director/actor at the Bigfork Summer Playhouse and the UM Musical Theatre Summer Camp, which he co-founded. Prior to his association with MCT, Jim taught Drama History and Dramatic Literature at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Jim received a Master of Fine Arts in play direction from the UM, a Master of Arts degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara, in theater history and literature and a Bachelor of Arts degree in communication arts from St. Mary’s University in Winona, Minnesota.
2003: Nancy and Harry Fritz
2004: Nancy Cooper
2005: Fred Nelson
2006: Bill and Jo Reynolds
2007: Monte Dolack and Mary Beth Percival
2008: John and Tracy Engen
2009: Mick Hanson, Ron Burnell and Charlie Thorne
