Our 2025/26 season is off to a strong artistic start with a beautiful and moving production of Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing. And this fall we have opened our first ever production of William Shakespeare's Macbeth, directed by Charles McMahon in a never-before-seen stage configuration in our intimate performance space at St. Stephen's Theater.

You value our work on stage. This season, our subscriptions have increased 12% and single ticket sales are growing at an even stronger rate. But attendance remains below the pre-Covid peak of the 2018/19 season, and structural costs in the performing arts rise every year. Even with our impressive gains in ticket sales, we risk incurring a budget gap that can only be closed with your help.

The Lantern's Board of Directors has just announced a $75,000 Challenge Match to inspire increased giving from our Lantern patrons this year. We rely on contributions for 70% of the Lantern's annual operating income, and with foundation and government support for the arts declining – nationally and locally – we must ask our individual patrons to raise your engagement and generosity.

Our strategy to serve our community is clear: produce plays in Center City and in Northwest Philadelphia, welcoming new audiences as we expand our artistic and educational programming. This year, we will provide classroom residencies on curricular works of literature to at least 600 local middle school and high school students and host more than 2,500 students at Lantern performances. Half of those student tickets will be free to school groups.

We also continue to raise funds for our Mt. Airy Theater, and we plan to start renovations in early 2026 so that we can launch artistic and educational programming there in early 2027. If you would like to learn more about this exciting project, please reach out to Stacy anytime at sdutton@lanterntheater.org or 215.829.9002 x101.

YOU are the key to the Lantern's success – when you are in the audience and when you support the work on stage. We ask you now to take advantage of this exciting Board Challenge Match and give generously to support your theater company.

With deepest appreciation,

Questions? Please contact our Development Team at development@lanterntheater.org. Thank you for supporting the Lantern!