Kitchen Theatre Company (KTC) is an American non-profit professional theater company in Ithaca, New York that focuses on making “bold, intimate, and engaging" theater. The Kitchen was founded in 1991 and is now in its 27th season. KTC is a member of the Theatre Communications Group and operates under a Small Professional Theater contract with the Actors’ Equity Association.
History Kitchen Theatre Company was created in 1991.
KTC resided at the Clinton House from 1995 to 2009. In 2010, Kitchen Theatre Company (KTC) moved to 417 W. Martin Luther King, Jr. Street, making history by becoming the first theater company in Ithaca to own its own location. They raised $1.2M to construct a LEED-certified green building that includes a 99-seat thrust stage space, dressing rooms, green room, scene shop, inner lobby, outer lobby/art gallery, hospitality bar, box office, and a glass entranceway called "the beacon".
Artistic Director Emerita Rachel Lampert led the company from 1997 to 2017.
Lampert retired at the end of the 2016-2017 season, and M. Bevin O’Gara took the helm as the company’s new Producing Artistic Director. O’Gara came to the Kitchen from Boston, where she was Associate Producer at the Huntington Theatre and directed productions throughout the Boston area.
Productions 2017-2018 SeasonTitlePlaywrightSmart PeopleLydia R. DiamondBrahman/iAditi Brennan KapilEvery Brilliant ThingDuncan Macmillan with Jonny DonahoeIronboundMartyna MajokBright Half LifeTanya BarfieldBrawlerWalt McGoughMatt & BenMindy Kaling and Brenda Withers 2016-2017 SeasonTitlePlaywrightHand to GodRobert AskinsPrecious NonsenseRachel LampertDeath BoogieDarian DauchanBirds of East AfricaWendy DannSex With StrangersLaura EasonThrow PitchforkAlexander ThomasClean Alternatives Brian Dykstra 2015-2016 SeasonTitlePlaywrightBuyer & CellarJonathan TolinsThe MountaintopKatori HallI and YouLauren GundersonThe Soup Comes LastRachel LampertPeter and the StarcatcherRick EliceDancing LessonsMark St. GermainGrand ConcourseHeidi Schreck 2014-2015 SeasonTitlePlaywright The HouseBrian Parks Lonely PlanetSteven Dietz Sunset BabyDominique Morisseau Count Me InRachel Lampert A Body of WaterLee Blessing Solo Play FestivalLorraine Rodriguez-Reyes, Darian Dauchan, Michelle Courtney Berry & Ryan Hope Travis Swimming in the ShallowsAdam Bock Thin WallsAlice Eve Cohen
2013-2014 SeasonTitlePlaywrightHeroesGérald Sibleyras, translated by Tom StoppardFrom White PlainsMichael Pearlman in collaboration with Craig Wesley Divino, Karl Gregory, Jimmy King and Aaron RossiniBlack Pearl SingsFrank HigginsVenus in FurDavid IvesCockMike BartlettLungsDuncan MacmillanSeminarTheresa RebeckSlashes of LightJudy Tate 2012-2013 SeasonPlaysPlaywrightsFrankie and Johnny in the Clair de LuneTerrence McNallyOpusMichael HollingerBrian Dykstra Selling OutBrian DykstraThe Whipping ManMatthew LopezCrookedCatherine TrieschmannThe Motherf**ker with the HatStephen Adly GuirgisWhat I Thought I KnewAlice Eve Cohen
Production highlights include: Rob Ackerman’s play Call Me Waldo premiered at the KTC in January 2012 and was produced later the same year in NYC by the Working Theatre. Kitchen Theatre Artistic Director Rachel Lampert and composer Larry Pressgrove (music director, title of show) have written five musicals together, all of which premiered at the Kitchen Theatre. Their musical The Angle of the Sun premiered at the Kitchen and was then presented at the New York Musical Theatre Festival. Rachel Lampert's play The Soup Comes Last premiered at the Kitchen and then moved to the 59e59th street theater. Her play Precious Nonsense premiered at the Kitchen and had its second production at Circle Bar-B Dinner Theater in Santa Barbara, California. Four new plays by Brian Dykstra have had their first full productions at the Kitchen Theatre Company: Brian Dykstra Selling Out (2012)The Two of You (2009), A Play on Words (2010, then played at 59E59 Street Theatres in the America’s Off Broadway Festival) and Strangerhorse (2007). The Drunken City by Adam Bock was commissioned by the KTC and had its world premiere in 2005.The New York City premiere was in 2008 at Playwrights Horizons. First productions of plays by Rachel Axler (Archaeology, 2009) and Tanya Barfield (Pecan Tan, 2005).
Achievements 2014 Best Theatre Company (Best of Ithaca 2014). 2011 Best Theatre Company (Best of Ithaca 2011). 2008 Syracuse Live Theater Award, Best Production of the Summer Season (Souvenir by Stephen Temperley, directed by Sara Lampert Hoover). Since 2007, the Kitchen Theatre Company has received operating support from the Shubert Organization, a national foundation dedicated to sustaining and advancing the live performing arts in the United States. 2006 Best Small Business of the Year Award, Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce. The Kitchen was the first not-for-profit recipient of this award. 2005 Syracuse Live Theatre Award, Best Actor in a Season (Karl Gregory in Fully Committed by Becky Mode). 2005 Syracuse Live Theater Award, Best Actress of the Summer Season (Rachel Lampert in The Soup Comes Last).
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