Kitchen Theatre Company

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The Kitchen Theatre Company (KTC) is a non-profit professional theater company in Ithaca, New York that focuses on making “bold, intimate, and engaging"[1] theater. The Kitchen was founded in 1991[2] and is now in its 23rd season. KTC is a member of the Theatre Communications Group and operates under a Small Professional Theater contract with the Actors’ Equity Association.

History

The Kitchen Theatre Company was founded in 1991 by Matt Tauber and Tim O’Brien, both Ithaca College students at the time. Their first production was Sam Shepard’s Buried Child. For the company’s first three seasons, it produced in several different venues in Ithaca and then moved to the historic Clinton House in downtown Ithaca.[2] Norm Johnson came on as artistic director for the fourth through seventh seasons. In the theater’s eighth season, the company’s current artistic director, Rachel Lampert, stepped in.

In 2008, the company purchased a building at 417 West State Street in downtown Ithaca’s West End.[3] In 2010, the renovated building opened for the start of the company’s 20th season with an increased seating capacity of 99 seats, a high-efficiency heating and cooling system, increased stage space, multiple entrances, full accessibility, larger restrooms, and a new lobby with an art gallery space and refreshment counter.[4] The company received LEED certification through the United States Green Building Council.[5] in 2013.

Mission

The Kitchen’s mission statement says that: “In its intimate performance space. the Kitchen Theatre Company (KTC) creates professional theater that challenges the intellect, excites the imagination, informs and entertains. KTC nurtures a community of diverse artists and brings excellent art to the community and beyond by:

  • Developing and producing new plays, exploring established repertory and contributing to the field of American theater;
  • Encouraging collaboration and offering a safe haven for experimentation;
  • Providing programming that inspires young people, opens the door to newcomers, and speaks to a broad cross-section of our community; and
  • Advancing a culture of theatergoing.[6]”

Productions

2013-2014 Season
Heroes by Gérald Sibleyras, translated and adapted by Tom Stoppard
From White Plains by Michael Perlman
Black Pearl Sings! by Frank Higgins
Venus in Fur by David Ives
Cock by Mike Bartlett
Lungs by Duncan Macmillan
Seminar by Theresa Rebeck
Slashes of Light by Judy Tate

Production highlights include:

  • Rob Ackerman’s play Call Me Waldo premiered at the KTC in January 2012 and was produced later the same year in NYC by the Working Theatre.[7]
  • Kitchen Theatre Artistic Director Rachel Lampert and composer Larry Pressgrove (music director, title of show) have written five musicals together, all of which premiered at the Kitchen Theatre.[8] Their musical The Angle of the Sun premiered at the Kitchen and was then presented at the New York Musical Theatre Festival.[9]
  • Rachel Lampert's play The Soup Comes Last premiered at the Kitchen and then moved to the 59e59th street theater.[10] Her play Precious Nonsense premiered at the Kitchen and had its second production at Circle Bar-B Dinner Theater in Santa Barbara, CA.[11]
  • Four new plays by Brian Dykstra have had their first full productions at the Kitchen Theatre Company: Brian Dykstra Selling Out (2012)The Two of You (2009), A Play on Words (2010, then played at 59E59 Street Theatres in the America’s Off Broadway Festival) and Strangerhorse (2007).[12]
  • The Drunken City by Adam Bock was commissioned by the KTC and had its world premiere in 2005.The New York City premiere was in 2008 at Playwrights Horizons.[13]
  • First productions of plays by Rachel Axler (Archaeology, 2009[14]) and Tanya Barfield (Pecan Tan, 2005[15]).

Achievements

  • 2011 Best Theatre Company (Best of Ithaca 2011).[16]
  • 2008 Syracuse Live Theater Award, Best Production of the Summer Season (Souvenir by Stephen Temperley, directed by Sara Lampert Hoover[17]).
  • Since 2007, the Kitchen Theatre Company has received operating support from the Shubert Organization,[18] a national foundation dedicated to sustaining and advancing the live performing arts in the United States.
  • 2006 Best Small Business of the Year Award, Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce.[19] The Kitchen was the first not-for-profit recipient of this award.
  • 2005 Syracuse Live Theatre Award, Best Actor in a Season (Karl Gregory in Fully Committed by Becky Mode[20]).
  • 2005 Syracuse Live Theater Award, Best Actress of the Summer Season (Rachel Lampert in The Soup Comes Last[21]).

References

  1. ↑ "Ithaca Events.com". Community Arts Partnership. Retrieved June 4, 2012. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "History of the KTC". Kitchen Theatre Company. Retrieved June 4, 2012. 
  3. ↑ Jones, Kenneth. "Ithaca's Kitchen Theatre Company Buys New Home; 99-Seat House Will Open". Playbill.com. Retrieved June 4, 2012. 
  4. ↑ Post Editors. "Walk-In Kitchen". Ithaca Post. Retrieved June 4, 2012. 
  5. ↑ Sharkey, John. "Firsthand View of Green Building Practices". Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise. Retrieved June 4, 2012. 
  6. ↑ "http://www.kitchentheatre.org/mission.htm". Kitchen Theatre Company. Retrieved June 4, 2012. 
  7. ↑ BWW News Desk. "Rob Ackerman's CALL ME WALDO Opens 2/22". Broadwayworld.com. 
  8. ↑ "Larry Pressgrove". Michael Cassara Casting. 
  9. ↑ Hetrick, Adam. "The Angle of the Sun, with Broadway's Watkins, to Play NYMF". Playbill.com. Retrieved June 14, 2012. 
  10. ↑ Jones, Kenneth. "West Side Story Staging in China Inspires Solo Show, The Soup Comes Last, Making NYC Premiere Sept. 29". Playbill.com. Retrieved June 14, 2012. 
  11. ↑ "Precious Nonsense". Circle Bar-B Dinner Theater. Retrieved June 14, 2012. 
  12. ↑ Dykstra, Brian. "Playwright". Retrieved June 4, 2012. 
  13. ↑ Jones, Kenneth. "Bock's Drunken City Makes NYC Premiere at Playwrights Horizons". Playbill.com. Retrieved June 4, 2012. 
  14. ↑ "SMUDGE Creative Team & Cast". Women's Project. Retrieved June 4, 2012. 
  15. ↑ "Kitchen Theatre Presents Staged Documentary". Lansing Star. Retrieved June 4, 2012. 
  16. ↑ Montana, Rob. "Best of Ithaca 2011". Ithaca.com. Retrieved June 4, 2012. 
  17. ↑ Staff. "Tales from the SALT City". Syracuse New Times. Retrieved June 4, 2012. 
  18. ↑ "Grant Programs". The Shubert Foundation. Retrieved June 4, 2012. 
  19. ↑ Wood, Wendy. "Kitchen Awarded Best Small Business Award". Lansing Star. Retrieved June 4, 2012. 
  20. ↑ Gregory, Karl. "Resume". Retrieved June 4, 2012. 
  21. ↑ Lampert, Rachel. "Rachel Lampert". Linkedin.com. Retrieved June 4, 2012. 

External links

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