Flint City Theatre

Mission :

-To create productions of classical and modern theatre that are accessible to diverse Flint area audiences and to
-offer such productions at reasonable admission prices
-To provide opportunities for local area actors, directors, designers, and technicians to explore serious theatre and
-enhance their skills with the freedom to choose material based on artistic perspectives.
-To provide educational opportunities to area schools through run-out programs and workshops in various aspects of theatre.
-To provide educational opportunities to local theatre artists through workshops and practical training.

History :

This started out as the Masters Project for Dan Gerics' MA in theatre from EMU. He wanted to perform a Shakespeare play in a unique environment, familiar to the local people of Flint and gear the production to those same locals. His hope was to prove that the timeless stories of Shakespeare are still relevant and will still entertain even an audience of people who are not theatre savvy. Dan also hoped that if the show was a success, it would be the start of something new and exciting in Flint that would continue under its own inertia.

The first show for this group was Much Ado About Nothing . Dan felt this play was a good starting point being an easily accessible story for audience and actors alike. With the success of the film version, released a few years before, the story was already in the public mind.

Dan approached Ken Van Wagoner, owner of the Good Beans Café, about the project. The Good Beans has an adjacent storefront space, accessible from inside the café. Later dubbed the Anteroom, this space has been the performance arena for many local musicians and poets as well as a usable space for parties and meetings. It seemed the ideal choice for Dan's little Shakespeare project. Open to trying anything once, Ken fully supported Dan's project, providing the space for rehearsal, offering drink discounts to cast and crew and loaning them space in the basement of the café for a green room/dressing room/office.

Dan's production of Much Ado was a much bigger success than anticipated, playing to sold out houses, in fact, necessitating the addition of a performance night to the original schedule. After a collective celebratory sigh of relief the question popped into everyone's head, "What's next?" This collection of artistic colleagues almost exclusively from Flint was now an entity, expected to put out another quality production.

The ball was picked up by Greg Nicolai, who directed his sister Kathryn and friend Matt David in Danny And The Deep Blue Sea , coining the name Flint City Theatre. Another success, this show put FCT on the map as a new thing to do in the Flint artistic scene. The ball's been rolling ever since.

FCT became a 501(c)( 3) non profit in 2004. They look forward to engaging in educational programs through school run out programs and various workshops.