Arizona Theatre Company

The Arizona Theatre Company is a professional regional theatre company operating in both Tucson and Phoenix, Arizona. The company has been known as the official "State Theatre of Arizona" since 1978. It performs a season of six productions at two theatres--the only League of Resident Theatres member to do so--at the Temple of Music and Art in Tucson and the Herberger Theater Center in Phoenix.

ATC was founded in 1966 as the Arizona Civic Theatre and performed in the basement -of the old Santa Rita Hotel in Tucson. Our ambitious first season, under the leadership of founding Artistic Director Sandy Rosenthal, included the then-new musical The Fantasticks, Sartre’s No Exit and Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge and set the standard for excellence and variety in programming which ATC has upheld for the last 39 years under artistic directors Rosenthal (1966-77), Mark Lamos (1978-79), Gary Gisselman (1980 – 91) and David Ira Goldstein (1992-present). In 1972, the company achieved full professional status and became a member of the League of Resident Theatres (LORT). In 1978, we began producing a portion of the season in Phoenix. One year later, our name was changed to Arizona Theatre Company and we began producing all of our programming in both Phoenix and Tucson. In 1983, ATC received a Presidential Citation for our unique two city operation and in 1990 was designated the State Theatre of Arizona by Governor Rose Mofford.

External links

* [http://www.aztheatreco.org/index.html?topbar.html&0 Arizona Theatre Company]

ATC has developed an impressive national reputation and attracts some of the Nation's most respected and talented theatre professionals. Most visible are the actors who can be seen not only in ATC performances but also on television, in films, and on the stages of Broadway and other regional theaters. ATC is also renowned for the quality of its productions' technical elements. The costume, scene and property shops, located in downtown Tucson, build virtually all the costumes, sets and props used in ATC productions. Each shop is also responsible for transferring its items from Tucson, and maintaining those items during the show's run in Phoenix. Behind the scenes, ATC is kept moving by a staff of box office, accounting, development, marketing, and management specialists located in both Tucson and Phoenix. In the past 41 seasons, ATC has produced more than 280 plays, from the classics of Shakespeare, Shaw and Moliere to the works of contemporary writers such as Shepard, Stoppard and Fugard. ATC has also committed itself to the development and presentation of new works both on the mainstage and through special programs. This wide-ranging repertoire presents an exciting challenge to all departments at ATC - a challenge that is consistently met through the high standards that have come to be expected of the company. ATC is actively involved in numerous educational and community engagement programs in its various communities in an effort to increase public awareness of ATC and cultivate current and future audience interest and support.