Stonehill Theatre Company Innovation Fund

Summary and Overview

The Stonehill Theatre Company (STC) is a professionally run company that gives students direct hands-on mentorship from professional theater artists. Students have the unique opportunity to work and learn alongside professional directors, designers, music directors and musicians. 

Through studies in the humanities, education, and collaborative arts, theater students at Stonehill enhance their personal development through:

• A deeper understanding of the workings of the human imagination and emotions 
• The use of the body and voice as a means of expression  
• The complexities of interpersonal relationships as seen in art and life  
• Experiential learning opportunities  

Theater students also study beyond the classroom by attending professional performances in the Boston/New England area. The work of the Stonehill Theatre Company provides numerous hands-on learning experiences, both onstage and behind the scenes.  

With your support, students, including Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) majors and minors as well as students from non-VPA disciplines who participate in the program as an extracurricular, have more opportunities to learn from professionals in the field and improved infrastructure that will set them up for success when they graduate. 

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, Performing Arts is listed as the eighth most popular college major. With our flexibility for double-majoring, Stonehill allows students to reap the intrinsic value they get from a Theatre degree while they study to achieve a second major. Our expectations are for an even stronger freshmen class in 2025-2026, and a continued pattern of year upon year growth. We are growing; from zero Performing Arts - Theatre majors and minors seven years ago to 25 in 2024-2025. We invite you to join us as we journey into the thrilling future of performing arts here at Stonehill.  

Performances and Special Events 

We work primarily in the Hemingway Theatre, a 250-seat facility that stages theater productions and dance company performances. 

In 2024-2025, for the first time ever, we produced three STC shows:  

• Bethlehem: A Nativity Rock Opera – an original musical written and composed by Stonehill Professor Derek Martin 
• The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane – our first ever Studio Series production
• Neil Simon's Rumors – our most attended production to date

We also extended our performance schedule to include two weekends of performances which allowed students to reflect and adjust their execution as artists, leading to greater growth and a stronger work ethic. With this increased output we welcomed and entertained over 2,000 patrons!  

In addition to our support of theatre students, Visual and Performing Arts faculty also supported the Music & Dance departments, as well as student clubs including:

• Vocal Recitals (Lights, Sound, Instruments)
• Dance Company’s Performances (Lights, Sound, Backstage Accommodations)
• Dance Club (Lights, Sound, Backstage Accommodations) 

Ways to Support

Donations to the Stonehill Theatre Company Innovation Fund support student’s direct access to professional talent in addition to technical upgrades to the Hemingway Theatre for improved production and learning experiences that go beyond our traditional annual operating capacity.  

Some examples of the impact of your support could include:  

$5,000:

• Bring a guest director to Stonehill
  • Tony Nominated actor and playwright of Almost, Maine, John Cariani came to Stonehill to direct his play Love/Sick.  
• Bring a theatre arts professional to adjunct for a semester at Stonehill
  • Tony Nominated actor and star of stage and screen, Jere Shea taught masterclasses in auditioning and taught a semester in Acting.  
• Updated lighting for Hemingway Theatre  

$3,500:

• Bring a guest technical designer or music director to Stonehill  
  • Professional Music Director Sarah Troxler was the music director for Amelie. 
  • Costumer for film/TV and Blue Man Group Meagan Bellao designed and constructed costumes for Into the Woods.  
• Updated sound equipment for Hemingway Theatre  

$2,500:

• Bring a guest actor (national) to Stonehill  

  

  • Professional actor at Americana Theatre Company and the national tours of Miss Saigon and Scarlett Pimpernel Jesse Sullivan played Billy Flynn in Chicago.  
• Updated costume stock for Hemingway Theatre  

$1,000:

• Bring a guest actor (local/early career) to Stonehill  
  • Local actors André Meservey and Finbar Clougherty played Lenn and Glenn in Rumors. 
• Updated set building equipment for Hemingway Theatre  

Gift of all sizes make a huge impact toward reaching these annual goals! Thank you for your support through direct giving and through your patronage of our productions. We love to welcome our alumni and donors back to campus through pre-performance receptions and look forward to offering even more “behind-the-scenes” access in the future.  

Don’t forget to join our mailing list to be the first to know about our upcoming season. We can’t wait to see you next year!