Northern Stage Company

Theatrical productions - the organization offers 4-6 mainstage productions from june to may. Operating under a lort-d contract with actors' equity, the organization draws talent from the region and across the country, including many with broadway, regional theater, and national tour credits. Seasons include comedies, dramas, musicals from the classic cannon, new shows fresh from broadway and london's west end, and world premiere productions. The organization is also committed to the development of new works for the american theater with its new works now festival of staged readings and new play readings and workshops conducted throughout the season. The theater also hosts, under the leadership of the producing artistic director, the bold theater women's leadership circle which nurtures emerging women directors, playwrights and designers in a major national program. Bold artists work frequently on and offstage at Northern Stage. In fy23, Northern Stage programming returned to pre-covid levels. We programmed three musicals, and three plays. We began the season in the summer in our courtyard theater with side by side by sondheim. Our fall mainstage season began with a major production of spring awakening, followed by the world premiere of a new musical adaptation of the railway children. Winter programming included another world premiere, 'bov water, followed by a new production of sweat. Although our program offerings increased by 125% over the prior year, our attendance figures were still 30% or more below pre-covid levels. In addition to our mainstage programming, we continued our focus on new play development, facilitating workshops and readings of several new plays in various stages throughout the year, and fostered multiple ongoing and new commissions.

Education - at the heart of Northern Stage's mission to change lives one story at a time, is our work with students of all ages. We value education and offer programs that nurture, delight, and challenge the generations of theater lovers. The organization offers students of all ages a year-round schedule of education programs, including workshops, classes, and summer camps. The programs are taught by working theater professionals. Additionally, the organization produces a theater intensive each summer for students ages 12-18, which includes four weeks of rehearsal and culminates in a one-two week run of a fully-staged, fully-realized theater work. Integral to organization's education programs is the youth ensemble studio (yes), a group of young actors who develop, rehearse, and perform work at the organization. Two new programs were inaugurated in 2017 -- boot camp and bridgeup: theater in the schools. Boot camp is a mentorship program for high school seniors and juniors to help them progress into theater matriculation. Bridgeup: theater in the schools is a five-week in-school theater program with a mission to increase theater access and learning resources through shakespeare in the schools and musical theatre in the schools residencies. All of these programs are under the direction of the director of education and reporting directly the producing artistic director. In fy23, our education programs were extremely well-attended. Boot camp and yes programs were sold-out, and bridgeup programs were well-received in the schools, with a 20% increase in students reached. Our summer theater intensive returned to the mainstage with a wildly successful production of urinetown. Many of our education students participated in our holiday production of the railway children. In the spring, our yes students mounted a full production of the spongebob musical on the mainstage. Our bridgeup program was able to serve 11 public schools throughout Vermont and new hampshire and engaged over more than 250 students in the course in the spring of 2023, culminating in performances of abridged shakespeare plays on our mainstage.