Porchlight Music Theatre Chicago (PMT)

Porchlight Music Theatre is the award-winning center for music theatre in Chicago, bringing the magic of musicals to our theatre home at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts in the citys Gold Coast and to neighborhoods across the city. Porchlight has built a national reputation for boldly reimagining classic musicals, supporting new works and young performers, and showcasing Chicagos most notable music theatre artists, all through the intimate and powerful theatrical lens of the Chicago Style. Porchlight produced five fully staged musical productions in the 2022-23 season, including Rent, Porchlight Revisits: The Apple Tree, Cabaret, Porchlight Revisits: I am a Camera and the Chicago premiere of the off-Broadway hit Ernest Shackleton Loves Me. In addition, the company presented two editions of the New Faces Sing Broadway cabaret series (1951 and 1984) and the free summer concert series, Broadway in your Backyard, scheduled at 12 parks across the city. The mainstage productions garnered 8 Joseph Jefferson Award nominations and three awards. The companys many accolades include a total of 190 Joseph Jefferson Award nominations resulting in 53 Jeff Awards (including five consecutive Best Production awards for the years 2013-2017), 43 Black Theatre Alliance nominations and 15 awards, and 28 After Dark Awards. Porchlights 29-year production history includes more than 76 mainstage works with 16 Chicago premieres and five world premieres.

Education & Outreach: Porchlights education and outreach program provides focused training and experiences for Chicago youth to create, practice, perform and appreciate the unique American art form of music theatre. Through its fee-based classes and summer camps, Porchlight welcomes children from 7-17 years of age, up to 50% of whom received full or partial scholarships. Porchlight also provides customized in-school, after-school and community organization programs that include focused skills training, supporting the production of full-length musicals, as well as our signature SingOut residencies and Make Your Own Musical workshops. In addition, Porchlight offered student matinees with subsidized $5 tickets. In the 2022-2023 season, Porchlight partnered with 18 schools and community organizations, reaching hundreds of local kids. Porchlight is actively involved in youth programming with the citys Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events and is a certified Chicago Public Schools vendor.