Salem Theatre Company

The Salem Theatre Company is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to enriching the artistic, cultural, and economic life of the Salem community through the performing arts and arts education outreach.

2008-2009 marks the company's Sixth Season of award-winning, professional theater in historic downtown Salem and its first season under the leadership of Artistic Director Wanda Strukus and Managing Director Gary LaParl.  The Sixth Season features plays from a diverse array of playwrights that will both challenge and delight audiences.  The Sixth Season includes productions Robert Reich’s Public Exposure, Jean-Paul Sartre’s No Exit, Steve Martin’s The Underpants, and a fourth play to be announced shortly.  Also on stage are STC’s regular annual events Chilling Tales, A Child’s Christmas in Wales, the Shakespeare Open Mic Night, Moments of Play, and Improv on the Bricks.

In the STC's first five seasons, the company staged mainstage productions of A. R. Gurney's Sylvia, Arthur Miller's The Crucible (twice!), David Sedaris's The Santaland Diaries, William Shakespeare's The Tempest and Macbeth, Anne Nelson's The Guys, Barbara Robinson's The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, the American premiere of Seamus Heaney's The Burial at Thebes, Gore Vidal's The Best Man, the Reduced Shakespeare Company's Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), David Ives' All in the Timing, David Auburn's Proof, A.P. Herbert's Two Gentlemen of Soho, Lanford Wilson’s Book of Days, Brian Friel's Molly Sweeney, Selagh Stephenson’s The Memory of Water, and Ted Hughes’ Seneca’s Oedipus.

In addition, the STC hosted other activities such as open mike nights, six installments in the on-going Staged Reading Series, improv comedy nights, storytelling onboard Friendship during Haunted Happenings, theater workshops at local schools, our annual holiday reading of Dylan Thomas' A Child's Christmas in Wales, and Moments of Play - our annual theater slam of local playwrights work.
Nearly 25,000 people have attended an STC event in its first six years of operations, and the STC has generated nearly one million dollars for the local Salem economy through its productions, events, and other activities.

In 2003 the STC received Community Newspaper Company's Readers' Choice Gold Medal Award for Best Place to See Theatre north of Boston and the Bronze Medal Award for Best Place for Family Entertainment.  In 2004 the STC was awarded the City of Salem's Salute to Salem Award for its commitment to the community and its spirit of service and volunteerism.  In 2005, the STC was nominated for the Salem Chamber of Commerce's Good Neighbor Award in recognition of its exemplary role as a community-building nonprofit organization.  In 2005, 2006 and 2007, the organization received the Readers' Choice Silver Medal for Best Place to See Theatre north of Boston.  STC productions and events have been named a “Best Bet” by the Boston Globe six times since 2003.