Jake Spitzack
Staff Writer
Thanks to a recent $650,000 fundraising campaign, Park Square Theatre will resume performances in 2024 and its board of directors have some breathing room to create a new strategic plan to guide future operations. Last spring, the theater was forced to drop its red curtain midway through its season due to a major budget shortfall resulting from increased operating costs and decreased ticket sales following the COVID-19 pandemic. Its board of directors promptly worked with consultants to assess the theater’s budget and create a plan that would make it possible to return to the stage. That plan called for the fundraising campaign and creation of a new strategic plan.
“Our full season of plays and a musical will begin September 2024 through June 2025,” said Stephen DiMenna, Park Square’s newly hired executive artistic director. “Those plays are still under consideration. We hope to announce them in early Spring. We will do a Summer 2024 production of Jeff Hatcher and Steve Hendrickson’s world premiere mystery play Holmes/Perot.” DiMenna added that the season is contingent on future fundraising efforts.
The new season will likely feature a few productions by Park Square Theatre as well as some produced by other organizations. Park Square will continue to offer classes and camps to bring in extra revenue and recently hired a consultant to analyze and manage the theater’s finances moving forward. Park Square is also introducing a new series called Live at the Square, featuring performances and social events such as concerts by some of the Twin Cities’ most acclaimed singers and musicians, literary events, children and family events, comedy and more. The inaugural performance, Holiday Hot Chocolate, will be December 15 and 16 featuring acclaimed jazz singers T. Mychael Rambo and Thomasina Petrus.
“We want people to come to Park Square for more than just seeing a play,” said DiMenna. “We want them to see Park Square as a place to hang with friends after work during the week to have a drink in our bar, have dinner at the Loon or Meritage and walk across the hall to see a jazz concert or comedy show then come back on the weekend to see high-quality productions of contemporary plays and musicals.”
Although the theater didn’t put on its final three shows this year, it did welcome more than 500 students to its SteppingStone summer camps and even offered a pay-as-you’re-able option for those camps. Park Square’s educational program merged with SteppingStone in 2020 to form SteppingStone Creative Learning, which offers educational programming and youth outreach opportunities. Aside from summer camps and classes for youth, it organizes adult workshops and events.
Park Square Theatre was founded by Paul Mathey and opened in 1975 as an 80-seat theater in the Park Square Court building. It moved to the Historic Hamm Building in 1994 and now features two stages, two rehearsal halls, costume and scene shops, and offices. The most recent addition came in 2014 with the opening of the 200-seat Andy Boss Thrust Stage, bringing the total to 550 seats.
“As challenging as this has been for us, the entire process has been a ‘stress test’ no organization wants to go through, but the results showed that the theater has amazing support,” said board chair Mark Howlett. “Park Square Theatre will continue to be an important part of St. Paul to help us make our downtown and the broader community remain a special place to live, work and gather. We are working hard to make sure our theater and our stage continues to be a special place to showcase creativity, diversity and artistic performance.”
For more information, visit parksquaretheatre.org.