EIN 13-6192346

Roundabout Theatre Company

IRS 501(c) type
501(c)(3)
Num. employees
748
Year formed
1965
Most recent tax filings
2022-08-01
NTEE code, primary
Description
Roundabout Theatre Company is committed to producing the highest-quality theatre with the finest artists, sharing stories that endure and providing accessibility to all audiences.
Total revenues
$51,738,346
2022
Total expenses
$52,691,565
2022
Total assets
$143,712,559
2022
Num. employees
748
2022

Program areas at Roundabout Theatre Company

4a - THEATRICAL PRODUCTIONS: During the 2021-22 season, Roundabout produced five full-scale productions on one of our Broadway stages (the American Airlines Theatre, Studio 54), Off-Broadway stage (the Laura Pels Theatre at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre), and Off-Off-Broadway stage (the Black Box Theatre at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre). Our productions reached 175,569 audience members including 8,186 subscribers and 4,056 students, teachers and community partners. The Fall of 2021 was the first time our theaters opened post Broadway shut down due to COVID-19 and our production calendar is still not up to the quantity of pre-shutdown times for Roundabout. Roundabout has been an industry leader in developing and expanding the traditional theatre audience, creating and implementing outreach and theatre appreciation programs targeted to diverse audiences. The following are Roundabout's programs and outreach initiatives, through which Roundabout remains committed to a full complement of programs that reduce the barriers-financial, physical and cultural-that can inhibit theatergoing: . Roundabout is committed to serving the broadest possible audience with innovative and large-scale programs that are in step with community needs. Roundabout serves the community by providing affordable tickets to quality theatre-subscribers pay less than half the single ticket price, with further discounts available to groups such as the deaf and hard of hearing, teachers, families, young adults, veterans, and audience represented in Affinity Programs. . Through Access Roundabout we make theatre even more accessible and made available 19,054 dramatically discounted tickets during the 2021-2022 season. This included 868 $10 tickets for the first four preview performances of every production; 4,952 $30 tickets to any performance of any production for Hiptix members aged 18-40; 2,375 $30 tickets to Roundabout Underground productions; 413 half-priced student rush tickets; 2,126 $30-$40 general rush tickets; and 8,320 $29-$39 TodayTix lottery and rush tickets. . With the reopening of theatres following the shutdown due to the global COVID pandemic, Roundabout renewed our commitment to access and meaningful inclusion for people with disabilities at our live events. Our wide range of offerings are designed to create equitable access for people with disabilities of all types and we strive to carry this philosophy through to all our touchpoints. Despite the complexities of operating live events under the shadow of an ongoing pandemic; in the 2021-2022 season Roundabout offered sign interpreted performances through our continued partnership with Hands On, on-demand closed captioning and audio description, and the return of our innovative relaxed performances -Relaxed at Roundabout. Additionally, we have in development a staff training aimed at anti-ableism and meaningful disability inclusion in our spaces. . As a not-for-profit theatre, Roundabout is also committed to going beyond just producing great plays to informing and educating audiences about a play's writer, its themes, and its historical context. Roundabout's Education Dramaturgs led 28 informative pre and post-show discussions throughout the limited 2021-2022 season. Additionally, this year we transitioned our UPSTAGE guide, published for every production featuring production information and interviews with cast and creative teams, to a digital format, increasing accessibility for more audiences. These guides had a total of over 18,000 views.
4c - EDUCATION: During the 2021-22 season, Education at Roundabout impacted over 41,600 people. Roundabout Partner Schools are NYC based and represent all five boroughs. Roundabout's education programs use the stimulating power of the arts to inspire and engage, using theatre to promote social equity through three core program areas, Teaching and Learning, Career Training, and Community Partnerships. Roundabout's season featured a diverse slate of programming, primarily focused on the return of in-person learning and programming. We facilitated in-school classroom residencies, school-wide partnerships, and professional development workshops for teachers. We continued to host our free after-school program, Roundabout Youth Ensemble, while expanding and extending our technical theatre skills training program, the Theatrical Workforce Development Program (TWDP). Additionally, we grew and further defined our Community Partnership programming with the New York Public Library. Below is an overview of the programs: TEACHING AND LEARNING . Professional Development at Roundabout offers a variety of workshops to enhance each educator's ability to use theatre as an effective teaching tool in the classroom. These workshops are offered throughout the year to teachers, schools, and at DOE city wide events. Workshops are often customized to meet different learning objectives. [FY22 Impact: 380 educators] . Roundabout Youth Ensemble is our student-run theatre company where public high school students take responsibility for their learning by making all the artistic, technical, and administrative decisions for each production. Throughout the school year the program met in-person at Roundabout's rehearsal studios in Midtown. In the summer of 2022, the ensemble transitioned to work at Roundabout's Steinberg Center for Theatre to rehearse its original play which was performed in the Roundabout Blackbox to live audiences in August. [FY22 Impact: 38 students; 14 schools] . School Partnerships are at the core of our work, serving middle and high schools with limited access to the arts. The vehicles for learning in School Partnerships are intensive residencies that are thoughtfully developed and tailored to meet the goals of individual schools. The residencies provide in-depth programs that connect the process of theatre production to the school curriculum. Residencies can range from 8-12 Teaching Artist visits in a single classroom to year-long partnerships that take place in several classrooms or grade levels within the school. Specialized Teaching Artists work with educators to determine residency goals and success measurement tools to ensure that residencies fulfill targeted education needs. Throughout the year, Roundabout worked with schools to center student voice and support the re-integration of 100% in-person programming. [FY22 Impact: 1,889 students in 107 residences in classrooms and afterschool] CAREER TRAINING . Career Development at Roundabout offers a wide range of hands-on learning opportunities for pre-professionals interested in theatre administration careers. In the 2021-2022 season, Roundabout administered a 9-month apprentice program, offering early career professionals an introduction and insight into the day-to-day operations of Roundabout's professional theatres. The 9 full-time staff members were integral parts of their respective departments. Apprentices attend regular seminars with members of Roundabout's senior staff, receive a living wage, and benefit from cross networking opportunities with interns/apprentices from other cultural institutions like the American Ballet Theatre and New York Theatre Workshop. Roundabout's career development program strives to support young professionals from historically underrepresented communities through the first steps of their theatre administration careers. This season, Roundabout continued to offer a Cost-of-Living Scholarship to help offset the cost of housing and transportation. All season-long apprenticeship applicants were eligible to apply. In FY22 it was awarded to two qualifying Apprentice. [FY22 Impact: 9 apprentices] . Hidden Career Path Days programming continued as remote events this year, due to varying needs of schools. Programming includes exposure and training opportunities in partnership with the stagehands unions IATSE (International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees). Our Teaching Artists and staff created multiple videos and slide shows, while also sitting on panels and hosting sessions for early career professionals. [FY22 Impact: 55 students/pre professionals] . Theatrical Workforce Development In the fall of 2016, alongside labor union partner the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Roundabout launched the Theatrical Workforce Development Program, which connects young adults from traditionally underrepresented communities to careers in technical theatre. This three-year program trains and places young New Yorkers aged 18-24 into paid professional positions. The program is intended to: break down the barriers that prevent young adults from gaining economic stability, bring equity and diversity to a field of high quality, skill-based jobs in a growing economic sector; and to educate and encourage a new generation of passionate theatre professionals. In 2021-22 the program shifted to support the Fellows who had previously completed the program but were now unable to work in the theatre because of industry closures. This programming included in-person training, mentoring, and a variety of work calls and work placements as theatres began to re-open. The highlight of this programing included a paid Advanced Cohort Training program for 14 alumni. These technicians worked to deepen their skills in order to obtain higher level jobs within the industry - a goal that was met as Fellows found various permanent jobs, union contract jobs, and higher wage jobs across the city. [FY22 Impact: 50 Fellows and Alumni served; 158 young adults engaged in recruitment/skill building workshops] COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS AND AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT . Theatre Plus programs enhance the theatre-going experience for thousands of subscribers and patrons by helping them learn more about the history of the production and its creators. During the 2021-22 season Roundabout's streaming Theatre Talks provided dramaturgical discussions and historical information to over 6,000 audience members views. While our in-person post-show engagement events gave time for audience reflection and opportunities to hear directly from the cast and creative teams. [FY22 Impact: 12,281 in person patrons] . UPSTAGE Guides provide audiences and students with digital access to artist interviews, thematic and dramaturgical essays, designer statements, and research materials related to Roundabout's productions. [FY22 Impact: 18,116 unique online views] . Community Conversations are post show events that aim to deepen audience members' experience with the play and to one another. The format is intended to create space for audience members to share their experience, building a sense of mutual understanding, and therefore, a stronger Roundabout community. In the 2021-22 season, Community Conversations were offered both in-person and via Zoom to allow patrons to connect with each other in ways most accessible to them. [FY22 Impact: 145 patrons] . The Refocus Project enabled community members and partner teachers to view staged readings produced by Roundabout's Artistic Department. Free access was provided. The Refocus Project featured twentieth century Latinx plays and playwrights and was suited to match with curriculum and themes explored in classrooms across the country. For this project, Roundabout teaching artists and education staff created an online resource for students, teachers, and audiences to learn more about the artists and historical contexts within the plays that would be featured as part of the September 2022 streaming of The Refocus Project readings [FY22 Impact: over 739 audience members received free tickets].
4b - ARTISTIC DEVELOPMENT: Despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021-22 season was a time of innovation and growth in our artistic programming. Though we were unable to produce in the 2020-21 season, when we were finally able to return to production in the fall of 2021, we kicked off with two triumphant revivals. The long-awaited revival of Tony Kushner and Jeanine Tesori's "Caroline, or Change" was beloved by audiences and critics alike, garnering a New York Times Critic's pick and three Tony nominations, including Best Revival of a Musical. "Caroline, or Change" also served as a star turn for Sharon D Clarke, the talented British actor who played the leading role of Caroline Thibodeaux. Sharon's interpretation of the beleaguered Caroline, a maid to a white, Southern, Jewish family during the civil rights movement, was heavily praised. It was invigorating to find that the show had new resonances in the period after the social and racial uprisings of summer 2020. As the theatre community responded to the uprising and considered how we could become a more equitable, diverse, inclusive, and anti racist industry, it was just the right time for Roundabout to produce Alice Childress's "Trouble in Mind." Directed by Roundabout Board of Directors member Charles Randolph-Wright, this production was Alice Childress's overdue Broadway premiere. Childress's brilliance was not recognized in her day, and Charles has worked tirelessly to advocate for this play and bring it back into the spotlight. Trouble in Mind received four Tony nominations, and Childress was recognized posthumously with the Harold Prince Lifetime Achievement Award from the Drama Desk Awards as well as the 2022 DLDF Defender Award, presented by the Dramatists Legal Defense Fund, for efforts in support of free expression in the performing arts. In the realm of new work, we were pleased to finally make good on our commitments to produce four new plays we had originally programmed for the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons. Broadway saw the premiere of Noah Haidle's poignant, lyrical play "Birthday Candles", directed by Vivienne Benesch. Building on the success of 2017's "Bernhardt/Hamlet", we were eager to bring another new work to the American Airlines Theatre, and that it was Noah's Broadway debut made it even more exciting. Off-Broadway, we produced three groundbreaking pieces by artists of color-"...what the end will be" by Mansa Ra at the Laura Pels Theatre, "Exception to the Rule" by Dave Harris in the Black Box, and, "English" by Sanaz Toossi in a co-production with Atlantic Theatre Company. "...what the end will be" was repeat Roundabout Underground director Margot Bordelon's Pels debut, and "Exception to the Rule", directed by Resident Director Miranda Haymon, was the first time a former Roundabout Directing Fellow had a show on one of our stages. We were thrilled to be able to partner with Atlantic Theatre on "English", as it meant that Sanaz's brilliant play could be seen by both Atlantic and Roundabout audiences, increasing the reach of her work in New York City. "English" won a 2022 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Play, an Outer Critics Circle John Gassner Award, and Sanaz received a special citation from the New York Drama Critics' Circle for her work on "Englishanother play that received a New York premiere in the 2020-2021 season, "Wish You Were Here." Mansa Ra, Sanaz Toosi, Dave Harris, and their directors epitomize the type of boundary-breaking contemporary artists that we seek for our stages. We are confident that we will be hearing more from each of these writers and directors in the years to come and that they will be important theatrical voices of their generations. Continuing our commitment to contribute to a more equitable, diverse, and inclusive theatrical landscape, we launched Year 2 of The Refocus Project in the spring of 2021. Refocus is a program that directly exemplifies the tenet of Roundabout's value statement to produce theatre and build programs that create a dialogue between past and present. The goal of The Refocus Project is to transform the American canon. The works deemed to be "classic" plays have long been defined too narrowly and by too few. If we're to have an equitable theatre, we must look to the past and shine a spotlight on the plays, playwrights, and theatres that were left behind by history, not because of their merits but because of their identities. As a theatre company with a legacy of producing revivals, Roundabout realizes that we need to tell a more complete story and ensure we are an active part of the solution, not an ongoing part of the problem. To that end, The Refocus Project works to research, identify, and share plays by historically underrepresented writers that are deserving of revival at Roundabout and elsewhere. The centerpiece of The Refocus Project is an annual reading series, of which we have produced two so far. The 2021-22 season (Year 2 of the project) highlighted the work of Latinx artists from the 20th and 21st centuries in partnership with Manhattan- and Bronx-based theatre company Pregones/Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre. Our two companies produced four in-person readings of plays by Latinx writers, and we were able to welcome audiences from both institutions to Pregones/PRTT's Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre and our Laura Pels Theatre at the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Center for Theatre, for a total of over 700 attendees. Another aim of The Refocus Project is to share the featured plays widely and encourage productions across the country. Thus, the live readings were filmed and three were made available for public streaming in the fall of 2022. Our Artists-in-Residence program has continued to grow as we welcome new artists and new cohorts into our ranks. The Roundabout Directing Fellowship and Leon Levy Roundabout Directors Group (RDG) have thrived and have given us the opportunity to meet many talented emerging directors from historically underrepresented backgrounds. Since the previous season's RDG cohort had a truncated experience due to the pandemic, we ran two cohorts at once during the 2021-22 season. We were able to add a myriad of opportunities to their year. This included offering professional headshots, and a group retreat that included tickets to Broadway shows as well as an opportunity for each member to utilize studio space to invite collaborating artists to develop a piece of the member's choice. As we look towards the future, we look forward to the work this group of artists will contribute to the theatrical field and canon. Space Jam, the program created to provide playwrights with the space, time, and resources they need to create great work, was able to return to in-person programming. We completed 4 in-person Apollos - the main tenet of the program. Each Apollo provided 10-12 writers with a desk in a rehearsal studio, as well as a stage manager, schedule, snacks and coffee; the idea is to build community within the pool of Roundabout writers. We invited artists we'd like to support to sign a desk out for the week. Through this program we were able to provide support to 42 writers throughout the year. In pursuit of furthering our commitment to our EDI work, we also held our first ever Affinity Apollo. This Apollo was for the BIPOC writers in the program and proved quite successful. Additionally, the portion of Space Jam which matches writers with retreats and residencies outside of NYC - an opportunity to connect with nature and help the flow of creativity - was able to flourish as travel restrictions began to open up once again. Only one of our planned residencies, to the Hermitage Artist retreat, had to be postponed due to a Covid case. Otherwise, we were able to send 8 artists to the Bucks County Playhouse in New Hope, PA, 4 artists to SPACE on Ryder Farm in Brewster, NY, and an additional 4 artists to the Berkshire Theatre Group in Pittsfield, MA. This last residency includes an invitation to return to the Berkshires in a future season to present a reading of the play the writer worked on while there. Finally, in terms of our own readings and workshops, we charged ahead with creative development during the 2021-22 season. In the fall and spring, we were able to complete a number of in-person readings and workshops, including working on play commissions that we hope to produce on our stages in the future, as well as working on projects being developed with our artists-in-residence. We offered three new commissions this season, to playwrights Noah Diaz, Jonathan Spector and York Walker, and we continued work on our approximately 20 commissions at varying stages of development. Due to the Omicron variant, our yearly Underground Reading Series, where we feature works by emerging writers in a week-long series, had to be moved to a virtual format. This, however, allowed more audience members to experience the plays - and from further locales than just the NYC area.
Now in its twelfth year, Roundabout's
Archives continue the mission to capture
and preserve the artistic and
institutional output of the company
And provide access to the extensive
archival holdings - both physical
collection and an online database -
to staff and artistic collaborators
as well as the broader academic
And theatrical communities.
OTHER: THERE WERE ADDITIONAL EXPENSEs
related to maintaining the stephen
sondheim theatre in between scheduled
productions.

Who funds Roundabout Theatre Company

Grants from foundations and other nonprofits
GrantmakerDescriptionAmount
Bloomberg PhilanthropiesDigital Programs$700,000
Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift FundFor Grant Recipient's Exempt Purposes$470,825
The Kaplen Brothers FundFor General Operating Expenses$400,000
...and 127 more grants received totalling $7,464,457

Personnel at Roundabout Theatre Company

NameTitleCompensation
Todd HaimesArtistic Director and Chief Executive Officer$992,005
Christopher NaveChief Advancement Officer / Director of Development$259,104
Julia LevyExecutive Director$697,510
John A DimeglioDirector of Finance$192,295
Elizabeth R KandelAssociate Director of Marketing$140,177
...and 18 more key personnel

Financials for Roundabout Theatre Company

RevenuesFYE 08/2022
Total grants, contributions, etc.$30,003,480
Program services$16,110,203
Investment income and dividends$3,265,217
Tax-exempt bond proceeds$0
Royalty revenue$84,014
Net rental income$0
Net gain from sale of non-inventory assets$2,275,432
Net income from fundraising events$0
Net income from gaming activities$0
Net income from sales of inventory$0
Miscellaneous revenues$0
Total revenues$51,738,346

Form 990s for Roundabout Theatre Company

Fiscal year endingDate received by IRSFormPDF link
2022-082023-05-11990View PDF
2021-082022-05-24990View PDF
2020-082021-05-18990View PDF
2019-082020-10-14990View PDF
2018-082019-06-19990View PDF
...and 8 more Form 990s

Organizations like Roundabout Theatre Company

OrganizationLocationRevenue
Manhattan Theatre Club (MTC)New York, NY$28,652,146
Playwrights HorizonsNew York, NY$13,749,281
Maltz Jupiter TheatreJupiter, FL$14,062,267
The Shakespeare Theatre (STC)Washington, DC$14,219,917
Seattle Repertory TheatreSeattle, WA$18,283,930
Paper Mill PlayhouseMillburn, NJ$43,681,310
Village TheatreIssaquah, WA$15,239,808
Children's Theatre Company (CTC)Minneapolis, MN$14,452,115
La Jolla PlayhouseLa Jolla, CA$15,790,250
Ford's TheatreWashington, DC$19,576,339
Data update history
July 1, 2023
Updated personnel
Identified 5 new personnel
May 7, 2023
Received grants
Identified 2 new grant, including a grant for $5,000 from Big Wood Foundation
May 6, 2023
Updated personnel
Identified 9 new personnel
August 3, 2022
Received grants
Identified 19 new grant, including a grant for $610,000 from Bok Family Foundation Trust
December 17, 2021
Updated personnel
Identified 7 new personnel
Nonprofit Types
Arts, culture, and humanities nonprofitsPerforming arts organizationsTheatersCharities
Issues
Arts, cultural, and humanities
Characteristics
LobbyingFundraising eventsNational levelReceives government fundingEndowed supportGala fundraisersTax deductible donations
General information
Address
231 W 39th St Suite 1200
New York, NY 10018
Metro area
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA
County
New York County, NY
Website URL
roundabouttheatre.org/ 
Phone
(212) 719-1300
Facebook page
RoundaboutTheatreCompany 
Twitter profile
@rtc_nyc 
IRS details
EIN
13-6192346
Fiscal year end
August
Taxreturn type
Form 990
Year formed
1965
Eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions (Pub 78)
Yes
Categorization
NTEE code, primary
A65: Theater
NAICS code, primary
711110: Theater Companies and Dinner Theaters
Parent/child status
Independent
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