Created by Sondra Pearlman as the "Theatre for Young People" in 1988, Oregon Children's Theatre is a theater organization that exposes young people to theater by offering professional live theater to schools, family and community events. Also referred to as OCT, the company became became a resident of the Portland Center for the Performing Arts in 1991 and has since been hosting over 75 thousand students a year from schools around the Oregon and Washington areas.