Mission & History

MISSION

Everyman Theatre provides transformative experiences through professional theatre that are welcoming, relevant, and affordable to everyone, featuring a Resident Company of Artists.

CORE VALUES

• People:  We create an environment where individuals are valued and important.

• Community: We cultivate an inclusive community that reflects the diversity of the greater Baltimore region and values compelling stories, engagement with others, and lifelong learning.
• Excellence: We work to ensure that excellence drives every aspect of the organization.

Everyman Theatre is an anchor Baltimore arts organization, producing top-notch theatre in its Downtown home. A Resident Company of Artists is central to the organization, featured in both its productions and robust roster of Education programs.  With the values of people, community, and excellence at the core of its programming and operations, Everyman Theatre is dedicated to meaningful connections between artists and audiences both onstage and off and encourages lifelong learning through the artist within all of us. Everyman Theatre contributes to a positive cultural landscape in our city, provides deep engagement with local students, strengthens the community through partnerships, and works to remove barriers to access in all its programming to embody its name, Everyman Theatre.

Everyman Theatre is committed to producing locally with high artistic standards by engaging a majority of locally based artists and building the physical productions in its Downtown home with a staff of skilled artisans. Each season of plays is carefully chosen to foster a diverse range of human experiences found in a mix of dramas, comedies, classics, and new work – all great stories, well told.

Everyman Theatre’s education programs serve both the schools and the community at large through six programs for students from PreK through adults. Community classes engage students in a variety of subjects for youth to professional level training. Everyman Theatre’s signature education program is its High School Matinee Program, providing students a repeat exposure experience through regular field trips throughout the year plus pre-and-post-show in-class visits. Everyman offers over 3500 Pay-What-You-Choose tickets each season with tickets available for every show, a Childcare Matinee Program, and tuition support for every onsite Education program. Additionally, Everyman has open caption and assisted listening services available for every production.

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Everyman Theatre History

Chart the long journey from Saint John’s Church to the Fayette Street Theatre.

Saint John’s Church

Everyman Theatre was founded by Vincent Lancisi in 1990. From the beginning, Everyman Theatre has striven to provide top-notch theatre that is affordable and accessible to everyone. With a Resident Company of local, professional artists, Everyman Theatre has staged critically-acclaimed productions ranging from classics to contemporary works to world premieres over the past 25 years.

Everyman Theatre’s first production—The Runner Stumbles—was produced in the winter of 1990 at Saint John’s Church. For the next four years, Everyman Theatre could only afford to produce one production per year at various locations in Baltimore, including Vagabond’s Theatre, the Theatre Project and even a classroom at MICA.

North Charles Street

The 1994/95 Season marked a series of firsts for Everyman Theatre. It was the first year at 1727 North Charles Street, which would be Everyman Theatre’s home for 18 years. It also marked the first multi-production line-up—starting with Sam Shepard’s Buried Child—and also offered subscriptions to patrons for the first time.

Throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s, subscriptions numbers grew and a string of popular and acclaimed productions, including Amadeus, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Lion in Winter, The Glass Menagerie, The Crucible, and the wildly successful Proof, proved that Everyman Theatre was a mainstay in the Baltimore theatre scene.

Fayette Street

Through a generous donation from Bank of America and the Harold A. Dawson Trust, Everyman Theatre was given its new home on Fayette Street. Over the span of six years, Everyman completed a successful $18 million capital campaign co-chaired by Gina and Dan Hirschhorn.

In January 2013, Everyman Theatre celebrated the Grand Opening of its new permanent home on Fayette Street with the record-breaking production of the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama, August: Osage County.

Everyman Theatre celebrated its 25th anniversary during the 2015/16 Season by producing The Great American Rep. A feat featuring American classics Death of a Salesman and A Streetcar Named Desire in repertory.

Everyman Theatre invites you to be part of the journey for the next 35 years.

Founding Board Members

These extraordinary board members have provided leadership for the organization for ten or more years.