Complete History of CATCO

History of CATCO, Abridged

CATCO is the only resident, professional theatre in Columbus operating under the jurisdiction of  Actors Equity Association. CATCO creates work from a core of artists from central Ohio and surrounding states and looks for plays that speak to a Midwestern audience. We continually strive for the best possible performances through the acting, directing, and design of our productions. Since our first production in January 1985, we have produced more than 200 plays including world premieres, contemporary American and international productions and classics.

Geoffrey Nelson, founding Artistic Director, has provided continuity and vision for CATCO since the beginning. Our pilot production, Mass Appeal, was produced at the YWCA in January 1985. The production garnered critical acclaim and audience support that enabled Nelson to pay the actors and the credit card bill he accrued to fund the production.

CATCO formed a board of trustees and incorporated as a non-profit organization in 1986. That fall the Company leased warehouse space on Park Street in the Short North District and converted it into a theatre—in 3½ weeks! Bowing to feedback from audiences attending the first three productions in the space, we sought and received funds to add a furnace and replace Port-A-Potties with restrooms. In 1988, we added air conditioning and retired the fans we’d been distributing to our audiences.

CATCO joined Actors Equity Association in 1995. After producing four shows in Vern Riffe Center’s Studio One theatre in the 1996 – 97 Season, CATCO moved to the Center, becoming its resident company in June 1997. We continued to grow artistically but encountered fiscal difficulties. For the first time in our history, we did not finish the year with a balanced budget in 1999. CATCO continued to accrue liabilities each season until, in November, 2003, the board found volunteers immediately started laying the groundwork for a strategic plan to help the theatre through its financial crisis.

In 2003, we began our unique shared services model with the Columbus Association for the Performing Arts (CAPA). With the assistance of Vorys Sater Seymour and Pease LLP, CATCO and CAPA developed the structure for CATCO, which included management, production and rental agreements between the two organizations. CATCO staff carry artistic responsibilities and CAPA staff provide administrative services including finance, marketing, ticketing and development. CATCO retains its separate 501(c)(3) status. In May 2006, CATCO announced that after three years we completed our plan to eliminate nearly $600,000 in liabilities from our balance sheet. In 2008, we completed our sixth year in a row with a balanced budget.

Community Impact
CATCO’s educational programs focus on expanding opportunities for students to attend live theatre productions, providing professional educational opportunities in theatre for young people, and increasing the depth of patrons’ theatre experiences.

CATCO assists future theatre professionals through high school and college internships, job shadowing, mentoring, and post-graduate fellows programs. Managing Director T.J. Gerckens says participants "leave with a very real sense of what it means to work in a professional theatre company, the upsides as well as the challenges."

Each season CATCO hires at least one Fellow, most often in costume design or stage management. They gain valuable post-graduate experience working in a professional Equity theatre company and credit toward their own Actors’ Equity Association membership. Many Fellows return to central Ohio to live, including current CATCO Company Stage Manager Cheryl Ruschau.

CATCO fills a unique niche in central Ohio’s arts opportunities as the only professional theatre company operating under the jurisdiction of the Actors’ Equity Association. As a professional Equity theatre company, CATCO impacts central Ohio’s cultural and economic vitality, particularly that of downtown Columbus.

CATCO employs Equity and non-Equity actors, and directors, designers and technical professionals, enabling them to practice their craft in Columbus. Our theatre’s downtown Columbus location draws patrons to additional downtown amenities like restaurants, coffee shops and parking facilities.

Artistic Excellence
CATCO is known for our expertise in staging New Works, especially by local and regional playwrights. We have produced more than 10 world premieres, the first just a year after our founding. Our signature Shorts Festivals—anthologies of short plays by Ohio writers—have been produced seven times, most recently in 2006. The 2006 Festival was set on the stage of Columbus’ former Hartmann Theatre (torn down in 1971). CATCO worked with eight Ohio playwrights, selected from more than 100 scripts submitted. The Festival won audience and critical acclaim, including Best New Work for the 2006-07 Season from the Theatre Critic’s Circle for Peter Pauze’s Perpetual Present Tense.

In October 2005, CATCO premiered You’re My Boy by Herb Brown. A novelist and former Ohio Supreme Court justice, Brown conducted extensive research to ensure that the play was as historically accurate as possible. The work dramatizes the relationship between President Eisenhower and his Vice President, Richard Nixon, and explores how that relationship shaped the Nixon responsible for the infamous Watergate scandal. While each season comprises diverse works, including well-known scripts, the company maintains a deep commitment to developing and presenting new work.

Each year CATCO receives awards from the local press and other organizations. In 2007 – 2008, the Central Ohio Theatre Critics Circle honored CATCO productions for best play, best actor and best director (THE PILLOWMAN by Martin McDonagh), best actress (DOUBT by John Patrick Shanley), and best design (THE DRAWER BOY by Michael Healy). During 2006-07, its production of THE PIANO LESSON by August Wilson swept many of the awards from the Circle, including best play production, best actor, best actress, best director, and best design. The Ohio Arts Council awarded CATCO the Governor’s Award for the Arts in 1997.

CATCO’s nine-member staff is led by founding Artistic Director Geoffrey Nelson and Managing Director T.J. Gerckens, who was appointed in 2008 after serving as production manager for 10 years. Gerckens is transitioning to the role, mentored by William B. Conner, Jr., CAPA president and CEO, who was CATCO’s volunteer managing director since 2003. CATCO continues its shared services agreement with CAPA, which provides administrative support in finance, marketing, ticketing, graphic design and development.