Why We Exist

Since 1996 Impact Theatre has spoken to a new generation of theatregoers and enthusiasts alike who want to see something fresh and bold on stage. Impact’s audience ranges from students to professionals to seniors, all of whom share a taste for exciting, unpretentious theatre that doesn’t conform to stale assumptions of what constitutes high culture.

Impact’s primary mission is to directly contribute to the future of American theatre through focusing on new plays by emerging playwrights. Impact has produced 17 full-length world premieres, including 12 by local playwrights, as well as dozens of world-premiere ten-minute plays by burgeoning writers nationwide in the Impact Briefs series. Impact also prides itself on its fast-paced, vital, contemporary spins on classic drama.

Impact shows compel, provoke, and inspire, at prices everyone can afford. And nowhere else in the Bay Area can you eat pizza and drink beer while you’re watching a play. The Daily Californian included three Impact shows in its list “Top Ten Plays of 2006.”

How we do that voodoo we do so well

Impact Theatre's members are a talented and resourceful company of actors, playwrights, directors, and designers who have been involved in Bay Area theatre for many years. Impact is where we get to use the full range of our creativity. None of us receives a salary, though we do offer a tiny stipend to our hardworking actors and crew on each show.

Impact is deeply grateful to our fabulous donors. Our donors help us keep ticket prices low so that we can continue to offer great theatre at far less than it costs to pay your PG&E bill, fly to Cancun for Spring Break, bail yourself out of a Cancun prison in time for finals, or see a movie at Opera Plaza. All support (money, time, or materials) is welcome, and some are tax deductible.

If you only have your name and address to give, we'd be happy to add you to our mailing list, which will increase the fun part of your mail by a pretty good percentage. You'll get our postcards for each show as well as other mailings, and if you give us your email address, you will also occasionally receive fabulous offers for free or seriously discounted tickets.

Impact is a proud member of Theatre Bay Area

The local theatre community is fortunate to have a great organization at its center: Theatre Bay Area (where the TBA acronym is a badge of honor, not a substitute for "we have no idea when we're going to know this information"). TBA features a lot of indispensable resources for theatre artists and audience members alike: comprehensive listings, audition notices, and half-price tickets, to name just a few things. If you're involved in theatre here, you should be a member. If you're looking for great theatre to see, TBA's site should be your first stop. Well, after you've checked the Impact site.