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Seattle Repertory Theatre 

Description

Nationally recognized as one of the top regional theatres in the country, the 1990 Tony Award winning Seattle Rep reaches approximately 100,000 audience members annually through its mainstage season, new play workshops, and other public programming. An additional 6,000 Washington state students are reached each year through the theatre's comprehensive series of matinees and interactive, long-term residencies.

Mission Statement
Seattle Repertory Theatre creates productions and programs that surprise, entertain, challenge and uplift our community through a shared act of imagination.
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Seattle Repertory Theatre
PO Box 900923 
Seattle 
WA
98109-9723 
(206) 443-2210 

Mr. Benjamin Moore 
Managing Director 

Programs

Seattle Repertory Theatre Programs

Seattle Rep Artistic Director Jerry Manning and Managing Director Benjamin Moore oversee an eight play subscription season, new play workshops, and audience outreach programs that reach approximately 100,000 audience members each year.         

Seattle Rep identifies, commissions, develops and premieres new plays, while providing playwrights with strong support and encouragement.         

Seattle Rep reaches 6,000 Washington students annually through a comprehensive series of matinees and short- and long-term interactive residencies.

Recent Successes and Current Challenges

We were proud to report to our community in July 2012 that we ended our 49th Season using $216,000 of Board Designated Reserves to balance operating results and continued our 41 year history of operating with no accumulated deficit.

Last season we exceeded our ticket sales goals for five of our eight productions and the critical response to our season ranged from good to glowing. We extended the runs of Red and I Am My Own Wife. We exceeded all of our FY12 subscription goals, including dollars by $79K and number of subscriptions by 347, continuing to build our subscriber base after decades of decline.  Our FY13 subscription campaign has ended; our subscribers number 9,530 and subscription income exceeded $2 million, figures that we have not seen since FY09. We are heartened that both renewals and acquisitions exceeded our goals

Ticket revenue covers only 50% of the cost of our productions and education programs; we must raise the remaining funds in contributions and in-kind goods and services from individuals, corporations, foundations, and government agencies in order to balance our budget.

Evaluation


One of the largest regional theatres in the country, Seattle Repertory Theatre (Seattle Rep) produces a mix of classic comedies, recent Broadway hits and contemporary new dramas in two theatre spaces at Seattle Center—the 842-seat Bagley Wright Theatre and the 278-seat Leo K. stage.

Accessibility and Cultural Competence
In recent years, Seattle Rep has focused on building its audience through multiple discount-ticket programs, social networking initiatives for younger audiences, and educational programs that engage youth in acting and playwriting. The majority of their education programs are offered at no- or low-cost to the educational community.
Through funding from the Wallace Foundation for audience development, the theatre has been implementing new methods of engaging audiences, including connecting with individuals who can personally share the theatre with others and looking at loyalty programs for subscribers and ticket buyers. Seattle Rep has also launched the Yes Project, an initiative to connect the next generation of theatre-goers with plays that feature young people or that have a tie-in to school curriculum. With a particular focus on Northwest stories, these plays can appear more relevant to young audiences, as they see protagonists that resemble their own lives.

Sustainability
Seattle Rep will be celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2013. Responding quickly to the signs of the economic downturn, Rep leadership adopted significant cost-cutting measures in 2009, including moving to a four-day workweek, mounting fewer productions, presenting smaller-cast plays and more co-productions with other companies, and cutting a day from every performance-week. This allowed them to continue their 35 year history of operating with no accumulated deficit. These cuts remain in place for FY11, but the theatre is now working to begin to grow back, utilizing its learnings from revamping its structure, and with increased focus on individual and foundation gifts.

Collaboration
Seattle Rep’s education programs collaborate closely with schools in offering their programs. They work with three other theatre education departments (Seattle Children’s Theatre, Book-It Repertory Theatre and Seattle Shakespeare Company) on Bringing Theatre into the Classroom, a seminar with follow-up residencies that trains teachers to integrate drama techniques across the curriculum. They share facilities, expertise, costumes, information, technology and more with other local arts organizations.

Grant History with The Seattle Foundation:

Grants Awarded through The Seattle Foundation Grantmaking Program:

DateAmountPurpose
9/10/2012 $25,000.00support general operating expenses.
6/10/2009 $28,000.00support general operating expenses.
12/14/2006 $35,000.00support general operating expenses.
9/22/2005 $50,000.00to support the Tessitura Consortium. (not a grant to Seattle Rep)
9/16/2004 $35,000.00support general operating expenses.

Financials

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