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Newspaper Articles 
Children's Theatre notes profitable year 
Star Tribune
Published: September 29, 2001
By Rohan Preston; Staff Writer
RSEC: Playing to kids is not only fun, but profitable.
The Children's Theatre Company, which has been broadening its programs to appeal to teens as well as a broader demographic, reported increases in earned income, subscriptions and ticket revenues, finishing the 2000-2001 fiscal year with a $214,000 surplus on a $7.9 million budget.
The previous fiscal year, CTC finished with an operating surplus of $175,000 on a $7.1 million budget.
"We're thrilled to continue CTC's great momentum," board chairwoman ReBecca Roloff said in a statement.
This is the second straight year that the nation's biggest theater for youth has finished in the black. CTC is now engaged in planning for a $30 million renovation and expansion on the south Minneapolis campus it shares with the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and the Minneapolis College of Art and Design.
From its tours, educational programs and productions, the theater earned $4.9 million, a 16-percent increase over the previous year, and finished the fiscal year with 23,500 subscribers. CTC also increased the total number of patrons served by 12,000, to 342,000. That figure includes public mainstage offerings that drew 270,000 and the multistate tour of "Lyle the Crocodile" that drew 58,500 patrons.
The theater, which held its annual meeting Tuesday, is reporting its good news for a season that featured its blockbuster production of Adrian Mitchell's adaptation of C.S. Lewis' "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe." Produced during the holidays last year, the play became the first show to gross more than a $1 million for CTC.
Other successes included "Stamping, Shouting & Singing Home" and "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day."
"The entire season was extremely successful and we're heartened that audiences responded incredibly well to all of the work," said CTC managing director Teresa Eyring. "We're really happy not just about our growth, but about our ability to serve more students and families."
Copyright 2001 Star Tribune. Republished here with the permission of the Star Tribune. No further republication or redistribution is permitted without the express approval of the Star Tribune.
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