The Company Theatre Launches $100,000 Capital Campaign To Revitalize Historic Rochester Performance Space

The Company Theatre has announced a two-year, $100,000 capital campaign to support accessibility, infrastructure, and technological improvements at its home theatre space at 28 Lawn Street, part of the Christ Church campus in downtown Rochester.

The announcement was made during a holiday open house event, marking the organization’s most ambitious fundraising effort to date.

The second-floor theatre space, unused for nearly 20 years and formerly home to Blackfriars Theatre, will undergo a series of upgrades aimed at restoring it as a fully functioning and accessible performance venue. Central to the campaign—titled Elevating The Experience—is the installation of an accessible lift to address the building’s stair-only access.

“While others may have seen limitations, we saw potential,” said Carl Del Buono, founding artistic director of The Company Theatre. “This theater holds a special place in my heart, as it was where I had my first professional acting experience. I know it holds similar sentiments for so many who have been on this stage and in the audience years ago. It’s an honor to make the effort to bring it back to life.”

Del Buono noted that accessibility has been a guiding principle for the company since its founding. “Since The Company’s beginnings, we have focused on providing an accessible theater experience for our patrons,” he said. “We partner with RIT’s National Technical Institute for the Deaf to provide ASL-interpreted performances and have been mobility-accessible in locations where we previously performed. Now that 28 Lawn Street is our home, we want to make sure that same level of access is available.”

In addition to the lift installation, the campaign will fund upgrades to sound, lighting, rigging, and other technical systems, along with renovations to the lobby and auditorium spaces.

The initiative will also establish The Company Fellowship Fund, an endowed program designed to compensate actors and creative collaborators working with the theatre. Del Buono said the fellowship fulfills a long-standing goal for the organization. “When we started four years ago, we had set a goal that by our fifth season, we would be able to pay the amazingly talented people who have helped make The Company Theatre what it is, and the Fellowship Fund is how we plan to do that,” he said.

To learn more about The Company Theatre and the Elevating The Experience campaign, visit thecompanytheatreroc.org/donate.