5TH AVENUE THEATRE ASSOCIATION

The 5th Avenue Theatre's goals are to produce the highest quality musical theater for the cultural enrichment of our community, provide valuable arts education to youth throughout Washington State, and advance the art form through the creation of new works.

We aim to entertain and enrich audiences with a diverse mix of programming that reflects the broad scope and cultural significance of the American musical – its past, present and future. Each season we serve over 300,000 patrons with seven Main Series Productions, including Golden Age classics, current and popular Broadway hits, and brand new musicals. Our critically-acclaimed, world-class productions receive national attention and provide viable employment to nearly 800 local theater artists who work on stage, in the pit, and behind the scenes.

The 5th is committed to adding to the canon of musical theater by developing and producing new musicals. Since 2001, we have produced 17 new musicals, nine of which have gone on to Broadway, garnering 14 Tony Awards, including Best Musical for "Hairspray" and "Memphis." Our New Works Program further strengthens our commitment, providing critical early stage support for playwrights, composers and lyricists to work on creating the next generation of great musicals.

Our education and outreach programs make musical theater available for all to enjoy, deepen connections with The 5th and the shows on our stage, and enhance the overall theater experiences of our audiences. We offer deeply discounted tickets to students, teachers, groups of 10 or more, and patrons 30 years of age and younger; and distribute over 20,000 complimentary tickets annually to local non-profits and organizations that serve disadvantaged populations. Each year we provide accessible services to over 4,500 disabled patrons, with Open Captioned, Audio Described, and American Sign Language interpreted performances of all shows; and complimentary assistive listening devices, Braille playbills, wheelchair seating, and elevator assistance. We serve over 74,000 youth with a variety of engaging and educational programs to experience the magic of musical theater, interact and train with professional theater artists, and encourage their continued interest and participation in the arts. Full and partial scholarship support is available to any school or student needing financial assistance to participate in our programs. We do not turn anyone away. We partner with the Seattle Public School District to increase access to arts learning and support underserved schools, with free arts experiences for students in the classroom and at our Theatre. Adults and general audiences learn more about musical theater and our productions through free Spotlight Night previews events and free Show Talks for each of our productions.

The 5th Avenue Theatre is committed to achieving the highest standards of artistic excellence with all of our productions that bring to our stage world-class performers and creative artists, full live orchestras and cast ensembles, and imaginative physical productions with sets built primarily from scratch. We place special emphasis on utilizing the talent of our amazing community of local artists and technicians.

We make musical theater accessible to all audiences through deeply discounted tickets to teachers, students, young adults, and groups of 10 or more; complimentary tickets to local non-profit organizations, including almost 4,000 free tickets to local family and youth service organizations (such as YWCA, Make a Wish, Big Brothers/Big Sisters) to attend each of our own productions in the 2014/15 Season; and ccessibility services to allow people with mobility issues and hearing and vision impairment to enjoy our shows in comfort and ease.

Our celebrated education programs are designed to inspire, educate and enrich audiences of all ages. In our 2014/15 Season, we reached younger audiences through such programs as Adventure Musical Theatre that toured an original musical production to over 140 elementary schools in Washington State, teaching over 56,000 students about our region's unique history and culture through storytelling, music and dance; The 5th Avenue Awards ceremony that honors outstanding work by high school musical theater programs throughout the state; and the unique tuition-free Rising Star Project that provides high school students professional mentoring and authentic workplace experience in creating and producing a full-scale musical on our stage, exposes them to career options in all areas of theater, and teaches them important 21st century skills. All audiences can get an inside look at our shows and learn more about musical theater through free Spotlight Night events, hosted by our Executive Producer and Artistic Director, with special guests from a show's cast and creative team; and free Show Talk discussions on key aspects of each of our productions.

We continue to expand the musical theater canon with the development and production of new works. Since 2001, we have produced 17 new works and sent nine of those on to Broadway to critical acclaim. Our New Works Program provides support to writers, lyricists and composers to work on new musicals in the early stages of development through retreats, residencies, and readings to help hone the work; and workshops to see and hear it performed by professional actors in front of a small audience for the first time. We established a Creativity Fund to provide a dedicated source of revenue to ensure that new musical development and production remain an important part of our mission.

The 5th Avenue Theatre is one of the country's leading musical theater companies. We are the only professional theater in the Pacific Northwest producing top-notch national tours as well as our own Broadway-caliber shows that showcase local artists. As the largest arts employer in Washington State, we provide jobs to nearly 800 actors, musicians, stagehands, wardrobe technicians and theater staff each year.

We are nationally renowned for our production and development of new musical, which since 2001 has premiered 17 new works, and sent nine on to Broadway, garnering 14 Tony Awards, including Best Musical for "Hairspray" and "Memphis." Our New Works Program, now in its third season, provides an artistic home for writing teams to develop new works and for The 5th to help bring about the next great new musical. The Creativity Fund provides a dedicated source of revenue to ensure that new musical development and production remain an important part of our mission.

We are equally acclaimed for our quality work remounting classical works from the Golden Age, bringing fresh insight to these great musicals of the past and challenging their standard conventions while still honoring the content and intent of the original creators. We use full-size orchestras and cast ensembles to best serve the era's big song and dance numbers.

We collaborate with local, regional and national arts organizations to enhance our artistic product, strengthen Seattle's arts scene, and promote musical theater, including: A Contemporary Theatre (ACT) to co-produce smaller scale musicals (such as the new musical “First Date", which opened on Broadway Fall 2013), Seattle Opera for set construction, Spectrum Dance Theatre, and Seattle Men's Chorus; as well as Pasadena Playhouse in California, Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey and The Ordway Performing Arts Center in Minnesota.

The 5th enjoys broad community support from individuals, corporations, foundations, and government agencies. Each year, over 300,000 people attend our main series productions, and over 90,000 youth and adults participate in our education and outreach programs. We have over 20,000 season subscribers– one of the largest theater subscription bases in the country.

The 5th is managed by Executive Producer and Artistic Director David Armstrong, Managing Director Bernadine C. Griffin, and Producing Artistic Director Bill Berry who oversee a staff of 60 F/T and 10 P/T employees and an annual operating budget of over $24 million. Our Board is comprised of 34 leading members of the community who share a love of musical theater and commitment to the organization's success.

The 5th Avenue Theatre has become one of the leading musical theater companies in the country, recognized for our Broadway-quality productions and new works.

Since 2001, we have premiered 17 new musicals. Nine have gone to Broadway and five of those have earned a combined 14 Tony Awards. Our two most recent new musicals: “First Date", our new musical co-production with ACT, opened Fall 2013; and Disney's “Aladdin" will open Spring 2014. This is an impressive track record -- second to none in the country – and has made us the go-to shop for developing new works with such leading Broadway producers as Disney Theatrical and Dreamworks. Our 2014-15 season features two new works -- the world premiere of “Waterfall" (by the renowned writing team of Richard Maltby, Jr. and David Shire and co-produced with Pasadena Playhouse), the Northwest Premiere of new musical “Sleeping Beauty Wakes" -- and the reinvention of Lerner and Loewe's "Paint Your Wagon" with a new book by celebrated writer Jon Marans.

Our New Works Program is currently working with six writing teams, providing critical early development support through writers retreats and residencies, readings and developmental labs so writers can see and hear their work performed by professional actors for the first time. Our new Seattle Writers Groups continues and expands our commitment to nurture and support our rich community of Northwest artists. In Summer 2015, we launched NextFest, our first Annual Festival of New Musicals. Creating new works is a risky endeavor and one that requires significant financial resources. We manage these challenges through collaborations with producing companies and our partnership with ACT; and The 5th's donor supported Creativity Fund, which provides the artistic venture capital necessary to ensure new musicals continue to be a part of every season at our Theatre.

For 20 years, The 5th has served our community with high-quality education programs, including Adventure Musical Theater that travels to over 140 elementary and middle schools throughout the state, engaging over 56,000 students with original musicals that teach about our region's culture and history though storytelling, song, and dance; and our unique, tuition-free Rising Star Project (RSP) that provides teens the unprecedented opportunity to work side-by-side with professionals in all areas of musical theater to produce, administer and perform their own show on stage at The 5th; and in the process, gain valuable skills in creative and critical thinking, collaboration, and effective communication. Each year we expand and improve the program, sharing the students' hard work and inspiring their peers with significantly discounted student tickets to performances; and a special dress rehearsal to which we will provide free tickets to 1,500 students from high-need public middle and high schools to see the show for free.