ABOUT GAMUT THEATRE GROUP
Mission & Inclusivity
All individuals regardless of race, gender, gender identity, religion, culture, sexual orientation, and/or disability are welcome to participate in Gamut Theatre programs. Gamut Theatre is an ADA-accessible facility, and we endeavor to make reasonable accommodations to facilitate access. If you need accommodations or require assistance, please contact us. Gamut Theatre Group’s mission is to tell classic stories in new and exciting ways. Our vision is a world where all people cherish classic stories and share them with future generations. If you are someone who believes in our mission and shares our vision, we encourage you to become involved with Gamut Theatre.
Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility
Gamut Theatre Group’s continued commitment to inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility has proven, time and again, to be our greatest opportunity. Our creativity comes from individual action, personal convictions, and our need to collaborate. The manner in which we connect our perspectives while encouraging others to share their own perceptions is where we have succeeded in the past and where we hope to head in the future.
Gamut recognizes that demonstrating cultural competency is a process rather than a destination. We embrace an ongoing demonstration of cultural humility as a key facet of our organization, and we are dedicated to the conviction that we as individuals all contribute to our inclusive whole. As our central playwright has stated: Each of us has our role to play.
Gamut® Theatre is the combined company of Popcorn Hat Players Children’s Theatre and Harrisburg Shakespeare Company. Our mission is to tell classic stories in new and exciting ways.
Our vision is a world where all people cherish classic stories and share them with future generations.
Each year Gamut presents approximately 250 performances to 30,000 people. Moreover, 20,000 students per year enjoy our theatre school classes, workshops, residencies, and shows. Since our inception in 1993, Gamut has cumulatively reached over 640,000 children and adults through our touring and educational programs and is consistently voted “Best Drama/Theatre Classes” as awarded by Central Penn Parent magazine.
We have been recognized by the press and the public for the quality of our productions, the breadth of our programs, our reach into all segments of the community, and our ability to keep classic stories relevant and alive. Gamut Theatre is an Educational Improvement Organization as approved by the PA DCED and is an approved Arts in Education Roster Artist through the PA Council on the Arts.
Gamut is a member organization of the Shakespeare Theatre Association, Theatre Communications Group, and a founding company of the Harrisburg Area Theatre Alliance.
Our History:
Melissa and Clark Nicholson founded Popcorn Hat Players Children’s Theatre (PHP) and Harrisburg Shakespeare Company (HSC) in 1991 and 1994, respectively. The companies merged to become Gamut Theatre Group (GTG), “Home of the Classic Story,” in 2001, combining their missions to focus on presenting and preserving classic plays and classic stories in new and exciting ways. A mission based around the classics necessitates an unwavering focus on educational engagement, and GTG is proud of the fact that its educational initiatives rival the size and scope of theatre companies nearly ten times our budgetary size. All members of GTG’s full-time staff form our Core Company of actors and have professional theatre credits. Additionally, all staff members are involved in teaching in the Gamut Theatre Academy, which annually offers 15-20 classes and camps, for nearly 500 students in the greater Harrisburg area.
In 1994, we launched Harrisburg’s first annual Free Shakespeare in the Park with A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Bandshell in beautiful Reservoir Park. Each June since that inaugural production, we have presented a professional Shakespearean play completely free of charge to the community, missing only one year of production in 2020 due to Covid-19.
In 2005, GTG was approved as an artist-in-residence company with the Pennsylvania Council of the Arts and as an Educational Improvement Organization with the PA Department of Community and Economic Development. Since roster approval, GTG has put together many different residency experiences, taking them to schools in urban and rural districts, ranging from large public high schools to small private elementary schools and cyber charter schools.
Gamut’s improvisation troupe, which would eventually be called TMI Improv, was formed in 2007. They have since become a fixture in the Harrisburg improv scene, performing most regularly at Gamut Theatre. TMI Improv has branched out into community engagement, leading workshops for corporations, organizations, and school groups that stress teamwork and the value of listening to your colleagues and reacting in the moment.
In 2009, a group of long-time Gamut artists and former Core Company members formed the Stage Door Series (SDS) ensemble. The mission of SDS is to offer diverse, exciting, classically-themed programming with simpler technical elements. All SDS artists donate their time and talent allowing 100% of its ticket sales to supplement the Gamut coffers.
Building on the strength of its numerous education programs, Gamut formed its first Young Acting Company in 2010, when it performed its inaugural production of Snow White at the Whitaker Center. Each spring, this group of 40-50 students ages 6-18 performs a full-length play, giving the students a professional theatre experience to supplement the acting classes they may take at Gamut or elsewhere.
To answer the call for students who wanted to learn more and be completely immersed in theatre education, we formed the Gamut Theatre Summer Academy (GTSA) in 2011. GTSA’s philosophy mirrors that of Gamut Theatre: a commitment to keeping classic stories alive and relevant through stage presentation, treating the artists who create this work with respect, and holding staff and artists to a high standard of professionalism. The courses offered at GTSA reflect the values of Gamut: Acting, Voice, Movement, Improvisation, Creative Writing, and Rehearsal/Performance.
After 21 years of renting space in Strawberry Square, Gamut bought the former First Church of God, an historic building no longer in use; and began a $3 million capital campaign to renovate the space into a permanent home that would meet the demand for Gamut’s growing programs. On November 6, 2015, we unveiled the beautiful Select Medical Mainstage and Capital BlueCross Lobby at the New Gamut Theatre, 15 N. 4th Street in downtown Harrisburg. 170 volunteers donated 7,800 hours to make Phase I of the project possible. In August 2018, we completed Phase II of the project: a renovation of the back half of the building into the Gamut Theatre Education Center, including the Alexander Grass Second Stage, which hosts Popcorn Hat Players Children’s Theatre, Gamut’s Stage Door Ensemble, and numerous student and community performances.
Gamut Theatre Group uses what has come to be known as the actor/manager model. A structure borrowed from Shakespeare's company over 400 years ago, our actors also fulfill various administrative and technical occupations during the day that make our organization run. They build sets, write grants, stitch costumes, run the box office, advertise, teach classes, and even clean the bathrooms. Without them, Gamut would not be here today.
Our small full-time company juggles professional acting engagements year-round with comprehensive teaching duties and an additional administrative or technical responsibility within the company. Our main stage shows also feature the talents of additional professional artists, local and otherwise. We do it all on a minimal budget and with smiles on our faces. Gamut has consistently operated in the black since its inception as Popcorn Hat Players in the early nineties. We consider ourselves deeply fortunate to have the opportunity do what we love full- time, professionally, in a city and region in which many of us grew up, and that all of us call home.
