Studio believes that theatre is a public good that should be widely available and endeavors to embed in our community rather than sit apart from it. We strive to be a good neighbor, to intentionally create opportunities for connection, and to build relationships that are transformative instead of transactional.
Through a wide variety of community engagement endeavors; Studio aims to:
Welcome new audiences of all class and race backgrounds as well as all ages to Studio's work.
Make Studio's programming affordable and accessible for all.
Kindle and sustain reciprocal relationships with the people and institutions in our community.
Engage the people at the core of the stories we're producing on stage.
Cultivate new generations of theatre audiences and professionals.
Deepen engagement for all audience members with the subject matter on our stages.
Cultivate a sense of belonging at Studio for members of the DC theatre community.
Our community engagement activities include ongoing partnerships with organizations whose missions align with ours, shorter-term partnerships aligned with specific productions, and other ongoing programs.
Studio has developed long-term partnerships with fellow organizations in Washington, DC whose missions and interests align with Studio’s own efforts to foster a more connected community. We build these relationships over time, co-developing projects and programming that engage each partner and the people they serve.
Partnership activities differ from organization to organization and season to season, but can include space use for events and trainings, ticket donation, artist encounters, and cross-promotion of each other’s work.
In order to engage the people at the core of the stories we’re producing on stage, Studio partners with organizations and groups who have connections with the topics and communities at the heart of these plays on a show-by-show basis.
These partnerships include free tickets to an organizations’ staff and constituents, a spotlight on each organization’s work for Studio’s audiences, and can also encompass training for our actors, post-show conversations for a wider audience, or other activities.
Past partnerships include:
Alongside Studio’s production of Jonah (2026), a play about a survivor of childhood physical and sexual trauma, Studio partnered with DC-based My Sister’s Place, which aims to end violence and empower lives through resources for survivors of domestic violence and their children. My Sister’s Place provided trauma-informed resources for audience members, and brought a group of their staff and clients to see the show and speak with audience members afterwards.
In conjunction with its production of The Mother Play (2025), Studio partnered with three organizations whose missions—which address housing insecurity and combat homophobia and discrimination—reflect the plot of The Mother Play. Legal Aid DC helps domestic violence survivors get protection, immigrants secure their status, and tenants fight eviction. Empower DC works to improve and preserve public and affordable housing. Metro DC PFLAG works to create a caring, just, and affirming world for LGBTQ+ people and those who love them.
After a performance of Exception to the Rule (2024), staff from the Black Swan Academy led a conversation about their work with youth living in Wards 7 and 8 to address underlying causes of an education system that consistently fails its students, especially its Black students.
In the interest of welcoming new audiences of all ages, as well as class and race backgrounds to Studio’s work, we offer a number of discount codes, including student, senior, first-responder, educator, and theater industry discounts, as well as rush tickets available 30 minutes before the start of the show.
Studio is currently piloting a project in which we partner with institutions who serve under-resourced communities to welcome their constituents to our spaces through a deeply discounted ticketing program.
If you and your institution are interested in learning more about this program, please contact [email protected]
To cultivate a sense of joy and pride of shared identities between plays and the communities they represent, Studio hosts Community Nights for some shows in our season—these have included Black Out Nights for Purlie Victorious and Exception to the Rule, an Asian and Pacific Islander Night for The Heart Sellers, and Pride Nights for The Mother Play and Fat Ham. We host these nights on a show-by-show basis.
Register to Receive Invites for this season's Community Nights:
For some shows, Studio hosts performances exclusively for the Theatre Industry. The tickets are heavily discounted and include a free drink at our onsite bar for the post-show cocktail party, so folks can mingle, network, meet new people, and catch up with old friends.
Register to Receive Invites for Industry Nights
Studio’s Student Matinee Program connects young people with contemporary theatre by offering free tickets for DC public and charter schools and discounted tickets for area private schools. We also offer students a post-show conversation with actors from the show and a student resource guide for the play.
More Information about Student Matinees and how to participate
In addition to more formal community partnerships, Studio Theatre fulfills ticket donation requests made by non-profits. Through ticket donation, we’ve opened our doors to hundreds of schools, community organizations and their constituents, and theatres, sharing Studio’s work with students and audiences across the region.
In line with being a good neighbor, Studio Theatre opens our doors to non-profit community groups and arts organizations, providing deeply discounted space for these organizations to use.
Studio Theatre is a core teaching partner with the Arts Institute for Creative Advancement. The AICA provides its apprentices with intensive education, hands-on training, and direct work experience to prepare them for lasting careers in technical theatre. Apprentices receive 700 hours of paid training developing skills in lighting, carpentry, audio engineering, scenic painting, props, costuming, stage management, and more.
Studio Theatre’s Fellows-in-Residence Program prepares early-career artists and administrators for a successful career in the arts. Offering a rigorous, hands-on training experience over the course of a full theatrical season, this program is designed to help early-career professionals transition into the workforce of the professional theatre. It is the largest training program of its kind in the DC area to provide full employment and housing
See something in our season that speaks to your organization? Want to connect more robustly with a DC Theatre? Contact [email protected].