Guthrie Theater Announces Financial Surplus

MINNEAPOLIS, MN — At its annual meeting, the Guthrie Theater announced Wednesday the theater achieved an operating surplus of $47,408 on a budget of $28 million for fiscal year 2015-2016. Theater officials say the numebrs demonstrate strong financial health as the theater looks to the future under new leadership.

“I am incredibly proud of the season we put forth in 2015-2016 and so moved by this community's overwhelming response to the art onstage," Artistic Director Joseph Haj said in a statement.

The 2015-2016 season saw a growth in attendance despite a decrease in the overall number of performances from the previous year, theater officials said. In 2015-2016 the theater played to 84 percent of capacity and had a slight growth in attendance of 1,570 – bringing total attendance to 380,108, according to a news release.

After being in its three-theater facility on the Mississippi River for 10 years, the theater also paid nearly one million dollars toward necessary maintenance and equipment expenditures, covering the replacement of some equipment that transitioned from its original building on Vineland Place to the new theater.

The 2015-2016 season topped off with 29 productions and 578 performances across three stages. Highlights of Haj’s inaugural year included To Kill a Mockingbird; his celebrated production of Shakespeare’s Pericles; Trouble in Mind, which received a 2016 IVEY Award for Outstanding Ensemble; and South Pacific opposite the Pulitzer Prize winning play Disgraced.

The Guthrie was founded by Sir Tyrone Guthrie in 1963 and is an American center for theater performance, production, education and professional training, dedicated to producing the great works of dramatic literature and to cultivating the next generation of theater artists. Under the leadership of Haj, the Guthrie produces a mix of classic and contemporary plays on three stages, and continues to set a national standard for excellence in theatrical production and performance. In 2006, the Guthrie opened its new home on the banks of the Mississippi River in Minneapolis.

Designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Jean Nouvel, the Guthrie Theater houses three stages, production facilities, classrooms, full-service restaurants and dramatic public lobbies.

Image via Chris Yunker, Flickr, used under Creative Commons