PEARL THEATRE COMPANY INC
555 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036 www.pearltheatre.org

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Organizations Filed Purposes: The Pearl Theatre Company explores, expands, and enriches the theatrical canon with a company of resident actors by presenting mainstage productions, providing educational programs and performance training, as well as developing commissions and translations for the stage.

2015-2016 Mainstage: Our Mainstage programming in the 2015-2016 Season exposed challenges in communicating The Pearls true artistic vision versus its perceived mission. This season continued our tradition of close-knit ensembles and historically significant texts, yet a contingent of our audience could not see beyond unfamiliar titles, innovative staging, or a perceived sophomoric style. We believe this seasons programming offered some of the most intellectually complex, emotionally nuanced, and artistically rewarding work that The Pearl has ever staged. The critics validated our efforts. For the first time in The Pearls history, our theatrical productions were significant enough for both lead critics of The New York Times to reviewboth wrote Critics Pick reviews (for A Midsummer Nights Dream and Stupid Fu**ing Bird.) Glowing reactions in The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, and throughout the theatrical community showed that, for those without preconceived notions of The Pearl, our work was an exciting alchemy of past and present. The three mainstage productions, A Midsummer Nights Dream, Stupid Fu**ing Bird and The Dingdong served a total of 14,699 audience members over 115 performances, averaging nearly 5,000 per production, with the average ticket price at an accessible $26.Education Initiatives: With the reinvigoration of the mission, and the strategic goal of greater cohesion among our programming, The Pearls education initiatives have also embarked on a period of investigation, innovation, and revitalization. During this exploratory phase, the seasons Classics in the Classroom (Arts-in-Education) emphasis was placed on upholding existing relationships with our long-time core schools as we expand our reputation among the educational landscape of New York and crystalize our goals for participants. Participants this year included 387 students at High School for Environmental Studies, Notre Dame High School, Queens High School for the Sciences, and Young Womens Leadership Academy.All core schools were provided with free tickets to attend performances at The Pearl; each performance was followed by a talkback with both the teaching artist and the cast of the production, at which time students had a give-and-take with the artists who made the work. Our education outreach went far beyond our core schools, with student groups from Barnard, Baruch, Marymount of Manhattan College, BMCC, Cardinal Spellman High School, Fordham, Hofstra, Tisch School for the Arts, Regis High School, Sarah Lawrence College, St. Johns, Stony Brook, The New School, and the Lycee Francais; all were offered study guides and talkbacks gratis, if inclined.The Pearls continuing education programs provided opportunities for audiences to engage with both the artists and the history of productions they attended. A total of 753 audience members had the opportunity to attend a Tuesday Talks performance where Kate Farrington led talkbacks with the creative team; the corollary salon program Curtain Up Classics brought literature to life for approximately 40 participants in this free, 90-minute series lead by Ms. Farrington and members of the Resident Acting Company. Ms. Farrington also penned a total of four dramaturgical articles for this seasons Insiderincluding a special year-end edition on What is classical?for a total of nearly 16,000 distributed copies.Actor Development and Training: Our theatre company continued to welcome the participation of our Resident Actors within each of our productions, as well as within administrative, educational, and executive roles at The Pearl. On stage, eight members of our core company performed on Equity contracts within the casts of our three mainstage productions, as well as in our developmental reading series Modern/Classics. Continuing to be compensated with a stipend for their off-stage participation, resident actors served on the Board of Trustees (Dan Daily), and in youth education programs (Rachel Botchan, Dominic Cuskern, Bradford Cover, Carol Shultz, Brad Heberlee, and Jolly Abraham). The Pearl worked hard to support its Resident Actors whenever possible. For example, Dominic Cuskern was cast as an Equity replacement when one Company Member had to leave the performance engagement for The Dingdong. The Pearl continued to develop its reputation for offering actor training through its conservatory program, led by Dan Daily and Dominic Cuskern. Classes including Advanced Scene Study in Shakespeare, Chekhov, and Realism along with monologue and private coaching, served a total of 234 participantsgenerally young actors, but also mid- and late-career learners. In addition to servicing the public with this nuanced training, The Pearl was able to supplement the income of its resident artists by nearly $18,000 in teaching fees associated with courses in the FY16 season.Developing New Work: The Pearl continued its efforts to explore, enrich, and expand the theatrical canon through the creation of new work springing from existing text. Our spring productions of Stupid Fu**ing Bird and The Dingdong both charted new territory in the canon for Chekhov and Feydeau respectively, and created a new audience base for those who can now point to The Pearl as a place for new work as well as a home for the great stories.In its second iteration, our flagship literary program, Modern/Classics, was modified to experiment with its viability as a continuing program, rather than a once-yearly event. This years series presented three worksNo Sisters by Aaron Posner (Stupid Fu**ing Bird), Ubu Roi by Rob Melrose (The Chairs), and Vanity Fair by Kate Hamill (Sense and Sensibility.) Each of the pieces was presented in a cost-effective benefit reading structure in which artists donated their services, and thereby The Pearl could also dramatically lower ticket prices. The goal of the series shifted from revenue-generator to conversation-generator; we aimed to improve The Pearls reputation as a home for debate and discussion beyond simply presentation.Presenting three performances for a total of 295 audience members, The Pearls series brought together 38 artistsincluding 7 Resident Actorsfor a staged-reading followed by a discussion with the playwrights and adaptors. The series showed us the necessity of actively engaging our audience in conversation, as well as the necessity to think creatively for artistic programming within our mission scope. Community Resource: In one of our newer projects, The Pearl sought to use its performance venue at 555 West 42nd Street to maximum effect for the community as a vital performance platform in the rapidly-rising Far West 42nd Corridor. This mutually beneficial arrangement provides The Pearl with much-needed Earned Revenue, while allowing community organizations to perform for the New York Community at an affordable price-point.The Pearl provided reasonable rental rates to local acting studios (Open Jar, Tom Toderoff) as well as local non-profits (New York Musical Festival, LeAP). Our venue also continued its long-standing partnership with The Shakespeare Society, providing a significantly subsidized day-rate rental for three engagements in the 2015-2016 Season. In sum, revenue generated from presenting these programs offset occupancy costs for The Pearls entire year.

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