"Two shows a day, six days a week, a different town each day, and we live and work out of circus tents," is the way Tent Troupe director Roney T. Shawe describes her summer on tour with Silver Spring, Maryland teenagers.

Tent Troupe, a ministry by and for high school students, began in 1970 with a small tent, a bare plywood stage, and the audience sitting on the ground. Though the number of tents has grown, the stage has been replaced, the technical system has been updated and our audience sits on chairs, the enthusiasm of the audiences and participants remains the same.

Tent Troupe is unique. It is the only traveling summer tent theater of its kind in North America. Over the more than three decades, Tent Troupe has visited 29 states and Canada, approximately 375 different towns and touched the lives of more than 230,000 people.

Each day, troupers and staff experience life as a family, loving, caring, sharing and giving as an expression of their faith in Jesus Christ. They share their "ministry by example" with all they meet along the road.

Each day they not only perform for hundreds of people, they erect and strike nearly two tons of tent, pack and unpack four truck loads of equipment, prepare their meals and participate in family meetings and daily devotions.

Each day there are two shows: A matinee for children and a full length evening presentation. The shows are carefully selected with the intention of making audiences think about some of the basic questions encountered in life. The plays focus on people who, by their lifestyles, make you consider challenging questions as you leave our tent.