The Rogue Theatre

The Rogue Theatre's mission is to create the highest quality theatre possible, challenging, stretching, and invigorating our community. We emphasize LANGUAGE by placing primary value on quality language and literature, ENSEMBLE by developing performers who seek continuous improvement CHALLENGING IDEAS by presenting plays which offer complex and provocative points of view related to important social, political, and personal issues.

The Rogue Theatre is a small professional theatre in the heart of Tucson. We produce six classical plays each year in an intimate, 170-seat theatre in The Historic Y. For the last several years, we have been running at 90% capacity with over 1,100 season ticket holders, many sold-out plays with waiting lists, and a generous group of donors. Prior to the pandemic, we had been very fortunate to have grown every year since our founding in 2005.
Over 12,000 people attend The Rogue's plays, play-readings, and lectures each year. The largest percentage of The Rogue audience is older women and men. We have a large retirement population in Tucson, and many of these seniors have found a home with us.
An important engagement strategy we have developed is The Rogue Director's Circle-a group of 100 supporters who sponsor aspects of our program and who act as advisors, helping us achieve our mission and goals.
Each year, we have increased the number of students who attend The Rogue through offering free and reduced tickets. We have developed on-going relationships with teachers at Tucson High, Flowing Wells High, Catalina Foothills High, Cholla High, City High, Rincon High, Desert Christian High, Salpointe High, Pima Community College, and The University of Arizona, which all bring students to our productions each year. We have a fixed rate of $15 tickets for all students (a 64% reduction of our regular ticket price). We have 15 individual sponsors who pay for tickets for over 700 students. This has been a boon not only for our overall attendance, but it has created much enthusiasm for older audience members who are interested in developing the next generation of theater-goers.
We hold post-show discussions with the entire cast after every single performance, giving audience members a chance to discuss with the artists themselves what the play meant to them. Our post-show discussions have become a significant way we receive and incorporate feedback from our audience. One newcomer recently wrote: "The best part is that after each performance, the cast and director come onto the stage to discuss the play with the audience-do not miss these discussions; you will be fascinated by the audience and cast comments and your enjoyment and appreciation for the performance will be greatly enhanced."

Testimonials

For the past several years, we have invited between 30 and 50 students from Flowing Wells High School to attend each production at The Rogue. Flowing Wells is a Title 1 school, which means that it serves a high percentage of students from low-income families. Several times a year, these students attend with their teacher, Chris Pankratz. They come to evening performances with transportation provided by the school. The next day, Chris discusses the play with his students, providing a context for their theatre experience. Following a recent production, Chris sent us this note:
"Yet again, my students at Flowing Wells High School have been rapt with awe at a Rogue production. The opportunities that have been offered to the students of my drama and stagecraft classes to see live professional theatre at The Rogue these last several seasons truly enhance the experiences of the students in my program.
LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT was an especially unique and significant show for my students as it exposed them to a raw and intense drama unlike what they are used to seeing or performing. Because of its timeliness and relevancy to current events, my students were awestruck by the human condition presented by the characters of the play. After the show we had an incredible conversation about addiction, denial, family trauma, and the current opioid crisis that my teenage students hear about in the news but are most likely without a point of reference to empathize with those affected. Seeing drug-addicted characters who didn't fit stereotypes that the students were used to was clearly very enlightening for them.
Thank you for continuing to support and welcome our students to The Rogue. They always enjoy and value the performance, storytelling, and magic that the artists at The Rogue create."