In our intimate performance space, the Kitchen Theatre Company (KTC) produces the work of an extraordinary group of diverse artists who share the KTC’s commitment to a collaborative approach to the process of making theater and our pursuit of excellence.

Original first-run new plays and musicals are developed and produced alongside exciting recent plays and well-known classics. The KTC contributes to the field of American theater and advances a culture of theatergoing in our region.

Here are a few exciting facts about the Kitchen Theatre Company:

• KTC has grown from under 50 subscribers in 1998 to over 700 in 2008.
• We sell an average of 11,000 tickets a year, with 175 to 200 performances in a year-round season.
• We have produced over fifty new plays on the Main Stage, Kitchen Counter Culture and Family Fare series, and dozens of readings of new plays on the Kitchen Sink series.

Three plays from our 2008-09 season are going on to productions at other theaters: Brian Dykstra’s THE TWO OF YOU goes to the Know Theatre in Binghamton, Dykstra’s A PLAY ON WORDS goes to 59e59 Theaters in NYC, and Rachel Lampert’s TONY & THE SOPRANO goes to California.

Looking to the Future - A Summary

The Kitchen Theatre Company is launching a capital campaign to create and renovate a recently purchased bold new space at 417 Martin Luther King Street/W. State Street. With the enthusiastic support of our patrons, friends, the local business community and others, our new theater space will lead the Kitchen to a secure, strong and sustainable future. We will continue to offer the community the unique theater experience enjoyed by all that defines the Kitchen Theatre Company.

For those who have grown to treasure us for artistic excellence, for programming that starts conversations with audiences of all ages, for adding to the quality of life locally and regionally, for attracting visitors to our community, and for contributing to the vitality of a growing downtown, the move to a new space that we own will ensure the Kitchen’s long-term presence and position as a cultural cornerstone. The Kitchen will continue to be a great place for theater, a great place to work, a great place to gather and a great place to grow in a particularly Kitchen Theatre Company way – maintaining the intimacy while expanding the possibilities.

A Start-up Theater Becomes an
Award-Winning Artistic Success
and a Stable Not-for-Profit Company

Who could have predicted that a feisty upstart downtown theater would evolve into a treasured Ithaca cultural institution? From its founding in 1991 by Matt Tauber and Tim O’Brien and its early years under the leadership of Norm Johnson, the Kitchen distinguished itself as a place for exciting and challenging theater. When Rachel Lampert became the Kitchen’s first full-time Artistic Director in 1997, she broadened the programming to include Family Fare and Counter Culture guest artist series, increased the number of performance weeks to forty in a year-round season, and shifted the theater’s focus to include the development of new plays and musicals.

In 2003, the theatre began an internal transformation with the goal of becoming a fiscally sound, more stable business able to provide for artistic succession while maintaining its artistic mission and commitment to an intimate performance space. A Five-Year Strategic Plan encouraged actions that have resulted in dazzling artistic successes and significant increases in ticket sales, subscriptions, and contributed income, plus local, regional and national recognition. This internal transformation was acknowledged in the community by our receipt of the Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce Small Business of the Year Award in 2006 and the Ithaca Downtown Partnership’s “Champions of Downtown” Award 2006. Nationally the Kitchen Theatre Company joined others who receive support from the Shubert Foundation in recognition of contributions to the American theater by the production of new work. In implementing our Strategic Plan, we further solidified the Kitchen Theatre Company as a major contributor to the cultural and economic vitality of downtown, Ithaca, Tompkins County, Central New York and beyond.

A Strategy for Ensuring the Kitchen’s
Long Term Sustainable Future

How do we move from a stable organization to one that can exist for years and decades to come? The Kitchen sought the counsel of an outside consultant to analyze our current status and advise us on how to reach that goal. The advice was unequivocal: the KTC needs an increase in annual revenue of 30%. That increase will allow us to offer all our employees health benefits, compensation appropriate to their responsibilities and at a level to attract future employees, and plan for artistic succession. Our existing 73-seat theater, with its extraordinarily full schedule of 175-200 performances a year, cannot provide us with this additional revenue. A thorough, strategic analysis concluded that an expanded facility is the way to provide the revenue that will ensure the Kitchen’s permanence.

Kitchen Theatre Campaign: A Bold New Space

To create this exciting future, we are launching a capital campaign. This campaign will entail a major effort to engage the Kitchen’s patrons, friends, the greater Ithaca community and interested foundations in helping us secure the future of the Kitchen Theatre Company by creating and renovating our bold new space. Guiding us in this effort is the KTC Campaign Cabinet composed of community members, board members and staff, under the leadership of Campaign Co-Chairs Percy Browning, Director Emerita of the Kitchen Theatre Board and Greg Hartz, President and CEO of Tompkins Trust Company.

* The KTC's debt service on its mortgage has been reduced by a considerable downpayment. This has left KTC with a modest mortgage, the monthly payment of which is considerably less than our current space rental expenses.
** KTC is planning to move its current furnishings to the new building to minimize purchase of additional furnishings. We will be able to transfer our current newly updated lighting and sound system.

Campaign Timeline:
March 2009 – December 2009

The KTC is planning to move as soon as renovations are completed. The constuction is phased so we can shift aspects of our operations as areas are finished. By January 2010 at the earliest, or September 2010 at the latest, we will end our lease at the Clinton House and put our energy and resources into our new home.

Capital Campaign Cabinet

Gifts to Help Us Maintain an Intimate Space
and Dream Big Into the Future

Recently we, and our community, lost a generous benefactor, a wise friend and one of the Kitchen’s favorite actresses when Judith Holliday passed away in 2008. In addition to lighting up our stage with her many performances, Judith was always interested in the continuing financial success of the Kitchen Theatre Company and our reputation as an important part of the cultural experience in Ithaca and the region. Judith knew that we were dedicated to successfully completing all the pieces of our five-year strategic plan to secure our future in the community, and she wanted to be a part of our future. Judith’s generous way of showing her support was to make the Kitchen Theatre Company a beneficiary of her estate, and we will be forever grateful.

Part of Judith’s bequest to the theater, plus additional gifts from other close friends and members of the Kitchen’s Board of Directors, made it possible for us to make a large down payment toward the purchase of our bold new space on West State Street/Martin Luther King, Jr. Street, resulting in a modest mortgage and first-phase funding for renovation. Once we move in, our annual cost for space will be considerably less than our current rental costs, lowering the budget line for performance space, office space, backstage space, lobby and public spaces. This was our first important step toward a sustainable future.

Campaign Giving Opportunities

All gifts made to the Kitchen Theatre Capital Campaign
may be pledged over a two-year period

Conclusion

The Kitchen Theatre Company’s growth and stabilization over the last five years has been extraordinary. Our patrons recognize the commitment, passion and dedication of Rachel Lampert, Stephen Nunley, and the members of the staff and the Board of Directors who have worked diligently to bring the theater to this exciting juncture. Now, with the help of the community, it is time to ensure the long-term sustainability of the Kitchen. The $950,000 Campaign for A Bold New Space will accomplish just that: the Kitchen Theatre Company continues to bring Ithaca, Tompkins County and Central New York its unique brand of theater, and remains a permanent mainstay on the cultural landscape of our community.

For more information please contact:
Rachel Lampert - by email or (607) 275-6732
Stephen Nunley - by email or (607) 272-0403
Greg Hartz - by email or (607) 273-3210
Percy Browning - by email or (607) 257-1240