Member since: 2003 Location: Ithaca
Bold, intimate, engaging… Kitchen Theatre Company (KTC), now in its 24th season, is Central New York’s off-Broadway theater. Critically acclaimed and nationally recognized, Kitchen Theatre Company is a professional company and operates year-round, specializing
in regional and world premiere plays and musicals. KTC’s intimate 99-seat theater is in a beautifully renovated, LEED-certified building in the West End neighborhood of downtown Ithaca, New York. KTC was the first not-for-profit organization to win the David R. Strong Memorial “Small Business of the Year” Award from the Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce.
Kitchen Theatre Company’s 2014-2015 season features two world premieres, four regional premieres, a festival of solo artists, and an encore of a much-loved production. Our intimate performance space continues to provide the perfect setting for a diverse group of collaborating artists to create the kind of work we are interested in – exciting, innovative, and meaningful.
The Kitchen Theatre space includes an elegant lobby that is also an art gallery, and a 99-seat auditorium. Both of these spaces are regularly used by community groups and other organizations for productions, meetings, parties, and receptions. Kitchen Theatre Company is pleased to be a vital member of the community–presenting excellent art and serving as a resource for others.
What value do you see in having your business in Tompkins County?
Tompkins County is culturally rich, and the people who live and work here attend events and appreciate the arts. We offer a kind of theater that’s usually only available in larger metropolises: high quality, professional productions of new work–sometimes edgy and always thought-provoking. Kitchen Theatre Company patrons are smart and discerning, and they are eager to see this kind of work. It’s wonderful to have an audience like that!
How has the Chamber supported your success as a business?
We have participated in several very successful Business After Hours events, including one that took place at the Kitchen Theatre not long after we renovated and moved to the new space. Those were a great way to introduce the theater to the business community. We are very proud of our 2006 David R. Strong Memorial “Small Business of the Year” Award and tout it regularly, to this day. It’s a perfect symbol of the way we operate: with a strong artistic vision backed by good business sense. We also enjoy attending Business After Hours events at other locations and look forward to meeting new people each time. We typically provide a door prize of Kitchen Theatre tickets, another way to introduce people to the Kitchen. Once they’re in the door, they’re hooked!
What’s your favorite moment from a Chamber Event?
At a recent Chamber After Hours, we talked with a real estate agent about the upcoming production, The House, a play about a home sale gone terribly wrong. That conversation led to an extra performance of the play for the real estate agency she worked for, and they were one of the liveliest and most appreciative audiences we had!
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