Seattle Public Theater Programs
Annually, SPT creates a season of plays that challenge, entertain and inspire our audiences, providing opportunities for private epiphanies and community conversation. We offer four thought-provoking professional productions as part of one of the most affordable subscription packages in town, plus two holiday shows. We spotlight Seattle's most esteemed talent, including some of the most exciting directors and designers of the Pacific Northwest. We collaborate with other mid-sized theaters and organizations including the local Green Lake businesses to cultivate theater in our local community and surrounding areas. SPT is proud to steward the historic Bathhouse Theater. The intimacy of this space combined with our presence in a public park is our mandate to involve audiences and provide community ownership while maintaining a high quality of professional work.
SPT provides an ambitious Youth Theater Education Program, including training and mentoring in performance, technical skills and design. This includes a summer drama program, after-school classes and drama classes during school breaks. We provide internships in technical and design fields and the opportunity to work on elements of Mainstage productions. Unique among Seattle's other youth programs, all of SPT's productions are non audition-based and open to everyone, regardless of experience or income. We offer scholarships so any student can participate regardless of ability to pay. SPT brings professional arts training into the public schools with a six week residency program, offering access to the arts for children in less affluent communities. SPT partners with schools in North End neighborhoods, offering after-school arts enrichment programming tailored to each community's needs.
Recent Successes and Current Challenges
Our season-opening production, Tracy Letts'
Superior Donuts, surpassed our audience attendance projections by more than 60%, with over 2000 attendees during the show's run. The show was a great example of Seattle Public Theater's strongest work: a true, honest production with "smart dialogue and snappy humor" (Misha Berson,
Seattle Times), "that manages to transcend the ordinary and create something special" (Jay Irwin,
Broadway World), with "a wonderfully talented cast" who "should be very proud of their work" (Alan,
drama in the hood).
Seattle Public Theater produces shows and delivers youth education programs at a quality level that is competitive with any venue in the city. What we need most is financial support for the organizational capacity to develop and promote our work. Our board growth and development continues, and our recent marketing and development staff hires are growing into their roles. As a team, we will work to identify the individual and corporate sponsors that will be our strongest partners in continuing to deliver on our mission. Audience growth is a challenge for all nonprofit arts organizations, and we need to grow beyond the strong audience base already attending to develop future generations of arts attendees.