ABOUT TACOMA MUSICAL PLAYHOUSE
Tacoma Musical Playhouse (TMP) was founded by Jon Douglas Rake in January, 1994 to fulfill a need in Tacoma for a theater company that specializes in the uniquely American art form of musical theater. Mr. Rake’s artistic leadership of the company, supported by a need in the community and an availability of excellent local talent, are the driving forces of its success. The primary artistic team of Jon Douglas Rake, Artistic Director and Jeffrey Stvrtecky, Music Director, provides stability to the productions at TMP. This stability has assured a level of quality which can be maintained from production to production and anticipated by an ever-growing, musical-theater-loving audience.
TMP’s mission is “Inspiring and enriching lives of our diverse community through musical theater.” We believe that people’s lives are enriched by high-quality entertainment. Sometimes that entertainment challenges people to think about life issues; other times it offers opportunities for hilarity; and still other times it offers moments for tears. In all cases, however, the experiences move people’s emotions and take them to a new place in their thinking. TMP has enriched people with productions like Singing in the Rain, Man of La Mancha, La Cage Aux Folles, West Side Story, My Fair Lady, Elf, The Drowsy Chaperone and Cinderella. We are committed to providing our patrons with a wide variety of musical theater selections that will move their emotions one way or another.
TMP is a National Award-Winning theater (The Addams Family), International Award-Winning theater and the largest community theater in the Northwest. From its modest beginning at Annie Wright Kemper Center, to a church basement, then to the Narrows Theatre which seats 387, TMP has rapidly grown into Tacoma’s premier musical theater company.
In 2013, Tacoma Musical Playhouse went through a $1.2 million renovation project. The highlights of those improvements included moving the orchestra, once seated with its patrons, to a new loft (house left, stage right.) The stage has been lowered 15 inches is larger and wider and a new sound system has been installed.
TMP Mainstage offers season subscriptions and season flex passes to its mainstage productions. Each new season includes six Broadway-style musicals per year with orchestral backing. Single tickets, including adult, student, senior, military, child and group discounts, are available for all productions as well. Group sales have become a significant portion of the company’s annual ticket revenue. Annually, TMP offers free tickets for each production’s preview performance to numerous Pierce County social service organizations to distribute to under-served individuals.
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TMP Family Theater is a regional theater favorite specializing in musicals for families, young audiences and the very young. These fully-produced musical productions are adaptations from children’s literature and feature many favorite adult TMP Mainstage performers!
TMP Education department provides acting and dance for youth ages 5 – 18 with classes, camps, workshops and productions through its CampTMP, which grows in popularity every year. Education is a priority for TMP. CampTMP, a well-established educational outreach program, trains a group of talented and eager young and older performers (TMP’s Young at Heart Players) each summer. The programs culminate in fully-staged public productions each year. A professional staff of instructors offers a well-rounded program in all aspects of musical theater.
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TMP hosts several Special Events every year, including Behind the Curtain at TMP, Broadway in Seattle Trips, Costume Shop Sale, Sing-Along with Santa, A Big Band Christmas, Young at Hearts 50+, among others. Musical Theater Tours with TMP is another successful educational outreach program focuses on professional theater. TMP directors, Jon Douglas Rake and Jeffrey Stvrtecky, offer intensive theater tours to New York City, London, Los Angeles and other cities where patrons enjoy the experience of attending several Broadway shows. Hundreds of TMP patrons have enjoyed the touring opportunity thus far. These tours serve several purposes. They build patron loyalty for TMP, they help educate our patrons about the entire professional theater experience, and they offer an insight into theater production.