Like the rest of us, theater companies have to file taxes. This tax day, we look at some information from the most recent publicly available tax returns (generally 2011 or 2012) for some major and independent Philadelphia companies.
Company income varies widely, with Walnut Street bringing in over $15 million, and some small companies a fraction of that. Management compensation generally follows company revenue:
| Company | Revenue* | Highest paid employee | Compensation** |
| Walnut Street Theatre | $15,799,616 | Bernard Havard | $316,414 |
| Arden Theatre Company | $5,455,528 | Terrence J Nolen | $100,966 |
| Philadelphia Theatre Company | $3,487,623 | Sarah Garonzik | $114,779 |
| FringeArts | $3,404,158 | Nick Stuccio | $105,000 |
| Wilma Theater | $3,234,414 | Blanka Zizka | $88,683 |
| Pig Iron Theatre Company | $813,983 | John Frisbee | $42,975 |
| Lantern Theater Company | $785,272 | Anne Shuff | $52,000 |
| InterAct Theatre Company | $702,447 | Seth Rozin | $46,500 |
| Theatre Exile | $619,763 | Deborah Block | $18,000 |
| Plays and Players | $362,015 | [not listed] | >$10,000*** |
| Quintessence Theatre Group | $233,759 | Alexander Burns | $12,400 |
| Inis Nua Theatre Company | $189,605 | Tom Reing | $23,250 |
| New City Stage Company | $135,705 | Ginger Dayle | $27,609 |
| Curio Theatre Company | $103,533 | Paul Kuhn | $1,656**** |
*Revenue should not be confused with operating budget; **W2/1099 Compensation, or salary. Total compensation with incentives, health benefits, and others can add to this. Bernard Havard’s total compensation comes to $669,133, Nick Stuccio’s $117,135, for example; ***Estimate; ****Highest listed on form 990EZ, non-officers may receive more.
So where do theaters get their money?
Local theaters get their money from a variety of sources: ticket sales, donations, grants, theater schools, concessions. The general split seems to be about 50% grants and contributions and about 40% ticket sales, with various miscellany. Alone among the larger companies, the Walnut gets almost 80% of its revenue from ticket sales and subscriptions. At the other end of the spectrum, Theatre Exile and InterAct Theatre received less than 20% of their revenue from ticket sales. Government grants (which only seem to go to the big hitters) make up very little of any theater’s revenue and never more than 5%. Smaller theaters also seem to rely more heavily on ticket sales as a proportion of their income, receiving a smaller share of donations and grants.
A few companies see substantial revenue from rental income or theater schools (although these are often operated at a loss). And fans of Quig’s will not be surprised that “theater social club” (of which Quig’s is a major component) contributes fully 40% of Plays and Players’ revenue.
Here’s a revenue breakdown for a handful of companies (see comments for People’s Light & Theatre Company):
Walnut Street Theatre
Ticket sales: $12,291,390 (77.8%)
Contributions and grants: $1,663,420 (10.5%)
>>Government grants: $117,842 (0.7%)
Concessions: $486,650 (3.1%)
Rental income (gross): $443,569 (2.8%^)
Theater school: $297,529 (1.9%)
Investment income: $200,826 (1.3%)
Total revenue: $15,799,616
Arden Theatre Company
Contributions and grants: $2,865,220 (52.5%)
>> Government grants: $98,792 (1.8%)
Ticket sales: $2,249,176 (41.2%)
Theater school: $211,877 (3.8%)
Concessions: $85,425 (1.6%)
Investment income: $12,203 (0.2%)
Rental income: $11,694 (0.2%)
Total revenue: $5,455,528
Philadelphia Theatre Company
Contributions and grants: $2,122,343 (60.8%)
>> Government grants: $46,210 (1.3%)
Ticket sales/subscriptions: $1,254,533 (36.0%)
Total revenue: $3,489,623
Fringe Arts (dba Philadelphia Fringe Festival)
Contributions and grants: $2,387,461 (70.1%)
>>Government grants: $74,233 (2.2%)
Ticket sales/gross receipts: $1,013,938 (29.8%)
Investment income: $2,759 (0.1%)
Total revenue: $3,404,158
Wilma Theater
Contributions and grants: $1,794,774 (55.5%)
>>Government grants: $52,133 (1.6%)
Ticket sales: $1,133,562 (35.0%)
Rental income: $76,234 (2.4%)
Concessions: $33,041 (1.0%)
Investment income: $30,206 (0.9%)
Theater school: $19,425 (0.6%)
Total revenue: $3,234,414
Pig Iron Theatre Company
Contributions and grants: $548,683 (67.4%)
>> Government grants: $38,928 (4.7%)
Educational workshops: $185,844 (22.8%)
Philadelphia productions: $51,785 (6.4%)
Toured productions: $25,500 (3.1%)
Rental income: $3,208 (0.4%)
T-shirt sales: $944 (0.1%)
Investment income: $922 (0.1%)
Total revenue: $813,983
Lantern Theater Company
Contributions and grants: $397,126 (50.6%)
>> Government grants: $20,141 (2.6%)
Ticket sales/subscriptions: $376,405 (47.9%)
Concessions: $5,913 (0.8%)
Rental income: $2,936 (0.4%)
Total revenue: $785,272
InterAct Theatre Company
Contributions and grants: $462,199 (65.8%)
>> Government grants: $19,674 (2.8%)
Ticket sales/ subscriptions: $116,948 (16.6%)
Rental income: $106,473 (15.2%)
Educational workshops: $8,160 (1.2%)
Total revenue: $702,447
Theatre Exile
Contributions and grants: $484,414 (78.2%)
>> Government grants: $14,000 (2.3%)
Ticket sales: $84,914 (13.7%)
Tour income: $19,915 (3.2%)
Rental income: $3,335 (0.5%)
Total revenue: $619,763
Plays and Players
Theater social club: $147,015 (40.6%)
Rental income: $105,046 (29.0%)
Contributions and grants: $61,101 (16.9%)
Ticket sales: $47,019 (13.0%)
Total revenue: $362,015
Quintessence Theatre Group
Contributions and grants: $145,640 (65.1%)
Performance revenue: $78,119 (34.9%)
Total revenue: $223,759
Inis Nua Theatre Company
Contributions and grants: $143,918 (75.9%)
Program revenue: $40,466 (21.3%)
Rental income: $1,570 (0.8%)
Total revenue: $189,605
New City Stage Company
Admissions: $69,764 (51.4%)
Contributions and grants: $65,941 (48.6%)
Total revenue: $135,705
Curio Theatre Company
Admissions: $68,015 (65.7%)
Contributions and grants: $35,518 (34.3%)
Total revenue: $103,533
^Percentage based on gross rental receipts.
All the financial data in this article was collected from publicly available tax returns, forms 990 and 990EZ, available for public viewing (with an account) at Guidestar.org.
By popular demand, info for the People’s Light:
Revenue: $9.938,520 (This is for 2011, and may be skewed by a capital campaign, as it is more than double the total for 2010, with about $8million in contributions compared to $2-4million each year for the previous five years.)
Highest paid employee: Abigail Adams
Compensation: $112,000 ($126,257 with benefits, etc)
Revenue breakdown:
Contributions and grants: $7,873,822 (79.2%)
>> Government grants: $103,381 (1.0%)
Box office/subscriptions: $1,506,393 (15.2%)
Tuition income: $135,904 (1.4%)
Investment income: $77,998 (0.8%)
Residency/workshop fees: $46,583 (0.5%)
Concessions: $34,841 (0.4%)
Rental income: $17,533 (0.2%)
Very interesting information. I’m curious about how this breakdown compares to the spectrum of companies in other major regional theatre cities, like DC, Boston, and Chicago. Material for a future post, maybe?
Hi Christopher,
Have you done any updates on this article since 2014? It would be interesting to take a look at this every few years
I’ve looked at GuideStar myself and may put together findings one of these years.