Archive: Business & Technology

In November 2008, the Kitchen Theatre Company (KTC) purchased a building at 417 Martin Luther King/West State Street that will be the future home of the Kitchen Theatre Company. This exciting project will bring together under one roof all of the Kitchen Theatre Company’s operations: performance, rehearsal and administration. The seating capacity will increase from 73 to 99 seats, and the performance space will be enhanced by high efficiency heating and cooling system, increased upstage and backstage space, a 16-foot ceiling height, multiple entrances, and full accessibility. The new lobby will house a gallery and conversation areas and will be an inviting setting for receptions and events.

The impetus for this important undertaking was KTC’s desire to ensure its long-term operation and fiscal stability. When completed, the new building will lower the Kitchen Theatre Company’s general operating expenses by reducing costs for space and utilities, and most importantly, provide a permanent, independently-owned home for one of Tompkins County’s most vibrant cultural institutions.

The Kitchen Theatre Company’s Capital Campaign Cabinet is Co-Chaired by Greg Hartz, President & CEO of Tompkins Trust Company, and Percy Browning, philanthropist and past President of KTC’s Board of Directors. They are joined by Cabinet Members Fran Benedict, Michelle Benedict-Jones, Jim Bouderau, Mary Pat Dolan, Kathy Garner, Carl Gortzig, Howard Hartnett, Jan Hertel, Rachel Lampert, Jim Mazza, Sylvia Miller, Risa Mish, Stephen Nunley, Carol Travis, Carol True-Palmer, and Tanya Vanasse.

“This is an exciting renovation project for the Kitchen, Ithaca and Tompkins County. The campaign goal of $950,000 is a modest, fully achievable one, and the early fundraising efforts have taken us past the halfway mark to $508,000. We are pleased now to broaden the campaign to the community at large and look forward to the future opening - sometime in 2010 - of the new home of the Kitchen Theatre Company in Ithaca’s blossoming West End,” said Co-Chair Greg Hartz.

“We are grateful to those who made early leadership gifts to the project, including a bequest from the Estate of Judith Holliday,” adds Co-Chair Percy Browning. “We now look to close friends of the KTC, subscribers, and supporters of the arts in the community plus foundation gifts to help us finish the campaign to ensure the Kitchen Theatre Company is a permanent contributor to the vital and growing cultural scene in Ithaca.”

The Kitchen Theatre Company is completing its 18th year entertaining audiences on four performance series: Main Stage, Family Fare, Counter Culture and Kitchen Sink. New works, re-imaginings of classic repertory, and original musicals are produced year-round alongside new plays for family audiences, an outside-the-box performance series of solo performers, and productions of work by emerging young theater artists and community members. Over 700 subscribers, representing more than 400 households in Tompkins and surrounding counties, come to the KTC for performances year-round-175-200 performances a season.

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