Fulfilling a Vital Mission

As the nation’s only surviving nationally-touring classical repertory troupe, The Acting Company plays a unique, vital and challenging role in the American theater.

For more than a quarter of a century, The Acting Company has travelled thousands of miles each year to bring quality theater to cities, towns and rural communities across the country that do not have professional theaters of their own.

In the process, we have reached more than two million people who might otherwise never have experienced the transcendent and transforming power of the theater, including tens of thousands of young people. The Acting Company’s celebrated educational programs, offered at no cost or very low cost, enrich the lives of students from junior high school through college age.

Today, as at our beginning, our goal is to blow the dust off the classics to keep them vigorously alive for contemporary audiences and to incubate important new plays from America’s foremost authors.

And as the first professional home for America’s most gifted young actors, we give them opportunities to tackle a wide variety of challenging roles and perform in repertory for diverse audiences in every corner of the country.

These experiences are unrivaled in nurturing the growth and development of consummate theater artists, and The Company’s 250 acting alumni have gone on to distinguished careers as some of the most sought-after performers and directors on and off Broadway, in regional theaters, film and television -- incomparably enriching the theater and the entertainment industry throughout the country.

Facing the Difficult Challenges

Because The Acting Company is first and foremost a touring company, we face a number of unique and difficult challenges in raising the funds we need to do our work.

We labor to keep our performance fees as low as possible so that we can bring affordable theater to the smaller cities and towns of America. Most non-profit theaters in the country earn 60 to 65 percent of their annual budgets through fees or ticket sales and have to fundraise for the remaining 35 to 40 percent. For The Acting Company, these percentages are almost exactly reversed.

Secondly, because we have no audience/subscriber roll of our own to develop into a broad base of individual support, we have historically depended heavily on government, foundation and corporate grants for that part of our budget that we have to raise. But it has become more difficult than ever to find these grants in an era of faltering institutional support and glib political disparagement of the arts.

Setting the Stage for the Future

We rely on generous support from people like you who understand the purpose and value of our work to help keep The Acting Company on the road.

Your gift sets the stage!

A tax-deductible contribution to The Acting Company helps us transform the visions of critically-acclaimed directors and designers into theatrical splendor. Your support enables us to keep the classics fresh and to give first voice to important new works. Your generosity inspires our artists to do their best work night after night in town after town, giving our audiences experiences they will remember and treasure for years.

By joining our growing family of friends and patrons throughout the country, you are helping to ensure that The Acting Company remains a benchmark of excellence in the American theater for another quarter century and beyond.

Please consider supporting The Company at one of the following gift levels:

Your contribution can be made by check payable to The Acting Company and mailed to Times Square Station, Post Office Box 898, New York, New York 10108; or by major credit card by calling 800-250-4908 toll free. Every contribution is greatly appreciated, officially acknowledged for your records and appropriately recognized in Acting Company publications and programs.

For further information, please contact The Development Office at The Acting Company.