Statements

Mission

Producing stimulating, affordable theater for Nashville. Providing opportunities for theater artistic to express themselves. Bringing small budget, topical, raw, representative, risky, Chicago style theater to Nashville.

Background

During the 2008 recession, we started the Five Dollar Recession (FDR) Theater Company. This consisted of local theatre professionals and Belmont University students working together to create new, engaging entertainment on a budget with affordable ticket prices for audience members during the recession. This experiment in programming lasted a few years and taught us that there was in fact a demand for an arts organization that served these communities. In 2015 we filed to become a non-profit, and changed the organization's name to Verge Theater company. We expanded the scope of the organization to include all theatre artists who wanted to stay active in the arts community working on quality scripts being produced on a budget. Founding member, and Artistic Director, Nettie Kraft, went to grad school in Chicago and was inspired by the way that every small neighborhood had a storefront theater and active theater community. We started Verge Theater Company with the hope of providing that kind of thriving theater experience in Nashville.

Impact

We have produced at least 2 plays and one co-production every year for the last 5 years. We employ about 10 theatre artists for every show and have approximately 267 customers per show. Over the last 5 years, we have employed around 100 artists and served around 2,500 audience members. Our ticket prices have remained affordable at a rate of $15 per customer. We have produced shows that have won critical acclaim from The Nashville Scene, The Tennessean, First Night Awards, and other publications. Moving forward Verge would like to continue adding to the artist's stipends, produce the World Premiere of local playwright/actor Becky Wahlstrom's play A Froggy Becomes, produce four full productions in a year, begin a 4th grade playwrighting class, have at least one show per run include an ASL interpreter, and offer a type of theatre not found elsewhere in Tennessee.

Needs

We'd like to pay more to artists, increase the number of shows we produce, reach more diverse audience members, support our website, and create artist development programs.

CEO Statement

As Artistic Director of Verge I'm so excited to see where our future lies.

Service Categories
Primary Category:	Arts, Culture & Humanities  - Theater
Secondary Category:	Civil Rights, Social Action, Advocacy  -
Tertiary Category:	-

Areas Served

TN - Davidson