2025 Annual Meeting — Executive Summary

Thank you to everyone who joined us on May 14, 2025 for our annual meeting! Each year, it is our pleasure to share good news from CSTC’s most recent season and exciting updates on what is to come with our supporters. We had our largest turn out ever this year, which is a reflection of the extraordinary community support that continues to enable CSTC to be the most prolific producer of professional theater in the state of Delaware – and one of the state’s fastest growing non-profit arts organizations. Here are a few highlights we shared!

Financial Growth

• In total, revenue grew by 26.1% between 2023 and 2024, reaching $1.67 million

• Ticket sales, donations, and other earned income all saw double-digit growth

• With the year-end surplus that resulted from our success in 2024, we are investing meaningfully in 2025 in ensuring that we are providing increasingly fair and equitable wages to all artists who help bring our theatrical productions and Arts Institute to life each year. Between 2025 and 2026, the CSTC board has made a commitment to ensure that artist compensation in Rehoboth Beach can and will match rates available at comparable theaters of our size in all the major metropolitan centers surrounding our region (including DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and even off-Broadway in New York). This will enable us to continue to attract the highest caliber of national artists to Rehoboth Beach, and ensure our local professional artists receive the level of compensation that is commensurate with their remarkable talents.

Audience & Donor Engagement

• 24,063 audience members in 2024

• 1,293 generous donors

• 44.3% growth in subscribers in 2024

• In 2025 (to date, through April 30):

  • 37.1% additional growth in subscribership – resulting in 2025 subscriptions selling out. 
    (CSTC is already making plans to adjust the structure of our 2026 season to avoid this situation in the year ahead and better make room for ALL the patrons who want to experience our season in its entirety.)
    

  • 17.5% increase in total attendance

  • 96.6% increase in summer rep presale

  • 5 performances added due to high demand

  • 173 first-time donors

Production & Front of House Improvements in 2024

• New sound system and assisted listening devices made possible by major support from the state of Delaware, Ida & Jeff Rowe, and Vance Hudgins & Denny Marcotte, as well as many other individual donors.

• Stage automation and projection design incorporated into the production experience

• New box office, concessions display, interior curtains, a new wine program thanks to a partnership with Bin 66, and digital programs incorporated into the front of house experience

Improving Staff Benefits Structure

• SIMPLE IRA retirement fund added

• Qualified Small Employer Health Savings Arrangement created to provide health insurance for staff

• Outsourced HR consultant introduced to help ensure CSTC is operating under national best practices

2024 Arts Institute Highlights

• 358 students participated

• $12,863 in youth scholarships awarded – the largest volume of scholarships ever awarded

• 2024 Tony Party raised the most for the Arts Institute in CSTC history – a record we hope to break again in 2025 with your support on June 8!

Board Transitions

We welcomed three new board members who joined the team in January: Chris Beagle, Mat Hastings, and Brent Shoemaker.
We also thank outgoing members Jay Allen and James Berry for their invaluable service and leadership.

Market Study & New Building

We were pleased to share an update on the market study that was completed earlier this year in partnership with Theatre Projects, an internationally-respected theatre planning firm, whose credits include the National Opera in Oslo, the National Theatre in London, the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, and performing arts center closer to home at University of Delaware and University of Maryland.

Theatre Project’s process included assessing community & market needs, identifying optimal site options, right-sizing the venue, enhancing economic and cultural impact, and developing strategic recommendations. To accomplish these goals, the study incorporated a variety of qualitative and quantitative methods: interviews and focus groups, site analysis, assessment of regional context, organizational data review, and an analysis of community surveys.

In the course of this work, through focus groups and interviews, 48 members of the community were consulted in an in-depth manner, including those closely associated with CSTC (including staff, artists, board, and members of the Producer’s Circle), civic leaders in both Rehoboth and Lewes (including elected officials, chamber of commerce leaders, HOA leaders, and others), and other regional arts leaders (representing Coastal Concerts, the Rehoboth Art League, the Southern Delaware Orchestra, Rehoboth Beach Film Society, Lazy Mary Productions, ArtSync, and more).

To assess sites, four key criteria were established as a framework: accessibility, community alignment, infrastructure readiness, and financial considerations. This work narrowed down the candidates for a viable site for the new facility to be two sites. One is on the public record currently, the current site of the Cape Henlopen Senior Center in Rehoboth Beach, on a parcel owned by the city of Rehoboth Beach, and a private site within the municipal limits of Lewes.

Both sites were assessed through a massing study to confirm they would be able to hold a facility of the appropriate size to be sustainable for decades to come. The approximate scale of the envisioned new facility is 40,000 square feet, enabling CSTC’s new performing arts center to hold two performance spaces – a 250-300 seat proscenium theater and a 75+ seat flexible seating black box – as well as a rehearsal hall, scene and costume shops, expanded front of house amenities (including a donor lounge, expanded indoor/outdoor lobby space, enhanced concessions, and an appropriate volume of restrooms), and the necessary technical infrastructure for a state-of-the-art facility. The new facility will enable CSTC to expand its programming, while also welcoming in programming from partner organizations when CSTC is dark. Adequate parking would be provided on site to support the needs of theater patrons/