Statements

Mission

The Theater Bug's mission is to inspire young people and audiences to create community and build confidence -- encouraging them through educational experiences in the performing arts.

Background

The Theater Bug's artistic director, Cori Anne Laemmel, grew up in a children's theater program that was one of the most influential parts of her young life. Being able to start a program of her own such as this one was a life-long dream fulfilled. Cori started by designing programming for other companies. While this was a wonderful and rewarding experience, she saw a need for a program that was dedicated entirely to the kids. Each show is written and created specifically for our young actors and speak to the issues facing them in their daily lives. We believe in hiring the best teaching artists, designers and staff to support their shows and create work that we do not treat as 'children's theater' but simply theater with actors and writers who happen to be children. We expect the actor, audience, and playwright experience to be top notch with every performance. Our biggest focus is on the cultivation of a community of young artists that will love and support each other in their personal and professional lives, hopefully facilitating relationships that last well into adulthood. This, alongside the importance of storytelling as a means to build empathy and love, as well as creating visibility for young people of all walks of life have become the pillars of The Theater Bug.

Impact

Accomplishments:

Program: In 2022 The Theater Bug launched a brand new program called "The Playground" dedicated to giving the top notch educational experience and community to young writers that we have been able to give to our young performers. This included the hiring of a full time staff member, Nate Eppler, to create and manage this program.

Financial: We also held our first in person Bug Ball since the pandemic, our annual fundraising gala. This fundraiser raised over $70,000 on the night of the event, as well as over $100,000 in ticket sales and annual sponsorships. In the past year we were also able to maintain a $100,000 increase in our budget which gave much needed raises to all employees, promoted our stage manager to an annual contract and supported our new program, the Playground.

Recognition: This year our organization came in second in the Nashville Scene's Best of Nashville poll for Best Theater Company, and our new writing program for middle and high school students, The Playground, won the Writers' Choice Best New Youth Writing Program. The Theater Bug currently has three videos with over one million views and twenty eight thousand followers on that platform. The kids covered the song "Ice Ice Baby" which was re-posted by the original artist and now has over eight million views. We also have been shared by the Instagram Broadway account "Let's hear it for the choice" twice.

Diversification: The Theater Bug's continued diversification efforts have shown an increase from 2011 where out student body was only 11% people of color, to our past spring production which had a cast and staff with 51% people of color.

Goals for the Current Year:
Finding a permanent Theater Home to develop into a rehearsal and performance space for The Theater Bug as well as other artists in Nashville.

Offer a full time position to our stage manager as well as the creation of a building management and booking position for our future home.

Expanded programming for our newest program: The Playground

Continued diversification efforts- Starting in 2018, the registration and casting process at The Theater Bug was changed in an effort to be able to diversify our student body. These diversification efforts include people of color, individuals with special needs, individuals with disabilities and members of the LGBTQIA+ community. The efforts have included strategic community partnerships, open call casting, intentional hiring of a diverse creative team for each

Needs

1. Our need for rehearsal, performance, storage, and workshop space is urgent. The Theater Bug estimates an annual lease at $200,000 plus $100,000 in initial build out, and the purchase/build of a space at anywhere between $3 million-$6 million dollars.

2. Full time position for Stage Manager. Currently she works on every show as a contractor on top of part time jobs. She is an invaluable part of The Theater Bug and losing her to financial need would be incredibly hurtful to the organization. $40k/year.

3. The hiring of a building manager to help manage and book our future home.
$25k/year plus a percentage of all rentals.

4. The hiring of a Development Director to help create and maintain fundraising efforts for our growing organization.
$35k/year

CEO Statement

I could talk forever about what I think children's theater can do for a kid, but I think my favorite parts are the cultivation of community, confidence and empathy. Community is vital for anyone, but particularly kids. When you are part of a cast, you are a necessary part needed to make the machine go. I love watching how the kids greet each other every day. It's like a ten year reunion five days a week. You are celebrated, simply for being yourself. We are visited by past students regularly, and the relationships made at The Theater Bug appear to be lifelong. Our group is comprised of all ages and backgrounds and they are pulling together to create something beautiful and worthwhile. Competitive athletics can also have a strong sense of camaraderie and I think there is so much beauty in being on a team, but with the arts there isn't a win or lose. You are teaming up to make something that didn't exist before and giving it as a gift back to the community. You win every time. One of my very favorite things to watch is the growth of confidence. I had a student several years ago who couldn't get through her first audition for me. She was a puddle of tears and it broke my heart. The next day I went to her house and she did her audition in her living room. She was incredible. Last year she performed on a stage at TPAC in front of 900+ people and didn't bat an eye. I believe that confidence will play out in her relationships, future jobs, school, and The Bug got to play a little part in that. There is nothing more rewarding than this feeling. The job of an actor is to take on someone else's story and tell it honestly and respectfully. I can't imagine a better lesson in empathy. At The Bug our children have played the roles of kids with special needs, kids who are part of an adoption story, who are living with terminal illness, who are fighting depression, who are part of the LGBTQ+ community, who have been bullied, or who are the bullies. Telling those stories builds strong, important bridges. I believe that our shows start conversations and whether they are between the actors and their families and friends, or between audience members after the show, I think we are in a constant state of learning about people who are different from us.

Board Chair Statement

The Board of Directors embraces the passion and mission that Cori instills in every show, every child and every parent that comes through this theater and the Theater Bug community. The success of this community has always been judged by lives impacted by this theater, its people and its programming. The Theater Bug has grown exponentially over the past couple years and that leads to new challenges to keep those fundamental attributes intact. From a position of leadership this has created opportunities as we move forward. The board of directors has doubled over the past two years in order to manage the different aspects of the theater's focus. Our recent board retreat afforded us a list of priorities for the next year, 3-5 years out and 10years. A solid road map with alternative routes to follow in case the road moves. We have been working to achieve most of our goals or create a plan to achieve them. Everything from additional paid staff, to finding more avenues to diversifying our population, to fundraising and planning for a permanent home. One of our fundamental missions is being able to provide free programming to all of the actors for certain shows during the year. Not having direct income from the participants means we have to utilize alternative forms of income like grantsand donations to sustain those runs but it also means that access to shows at the Theater Bug become more viable and welcoming to our Nashville and regional community. The biggest challenge for the board is keeping all of our initiatives moving forward and together as we continue to grow and continue to educate the Nashville Community on the Bug Community, the Mission of the Theater Bug and to educate people on how they can become involved to inspire the next generation of young actors. The greatest successes are being able toobserve the reactions of the actors, the parents and most importantly young eyes in the audience who just saw themselves on stage.

Service Categories
Primary Category:	Arts, Culture & Humanities  - Arts Education
Secondary Category:	Education  - Elementary & Secondary Schools
Tertiary Category:	Youth Development  - Youth Development Programs

Areas Served

Nashville, Davidson County, Middle Tennessee

TN - Davidson