Theatre Cedar Rapids (TCR)
TCR’s history is remarkable, growing from humble beginnings in Grant Wood’s Studio in 1925 to Iowa’s largest non-profit producing theater today. Making our home in the Iowa Theatre Building in downtown Cedar Rapids, we take immense pride in energizing downtown by drawing tens of thousands of patrons, performers, and students every year. Within our walls, people find a place to dream, and to bring those dreams to life. TCR produces theatre in three locations: our Auditorium (550 seats), Grandon Studio (85 seats), and out-of-doors at Brucemore (seating for 250). TCR is a 501(c)3 organization.
The Iowa Theatre Building
Built in 1928, TCR’s home has long illuminated downtown Cedar Rapids with captivating entertainment. TCR was generously granted the facility by the Linge Family in the 1980s, launching its transformation from a movie house to a live theatre and arts education center. The organization has been the sole occupant of our five story, 50,000 square foot property since 2008, when disaster eventually led to opportunity. TCR assumed floors previously leased to offices and small businesses into the fabric of our organization, increasing our ability to serve the community through the performing arts.
THEATRE CEDAR RAPIDS MISSION AND VISION:
Our Mission: To captivate and inspire through the theatrical and performing arts.
Our Vision: To be a cultural point of pride, connection, inclusion, and learning, invigorating growth in our community.
What we believe (A public declaration of Values):
Theatre is life-changing.
Theatre creates joy, sparks relationships, cultivates empathy, and deepens our collective understanding of our shared humanity.
Extraordinary begets extraordinary.
We seek the extraordinary in ourselves and challenge others to do the same. We operate from the highest professional standards in order to inspire the best in everyone.
Equity, inclusion, safety, and access is our shared responsibility.
We actively welcome all to join in our mission. We prioritize creating a physically and emotionally safe space for everyone. We are committed to listening, learning, and evolving, working to address inequities by creating policies that are pro-equity, anti-racist, ever-improving, and wholly-inclusive.
Arts education makes better brains.
The expansion from STEM to STEAM infuses students with confidence, compassion, and imagination, and teaches essential, widely applicable life skills. The educational offerings we provide start in the arts, and expand into the whole learning universe.
We are caretakers of TCR’s legacy.
We are charged to secure the future of a 100-year-old theater company, in an historic building in downtown Cedar Rapids. We are responsive to the demands of the present and responsible for the physical and financial future of one of the largest professionally-run community theatres in the U.S.
Theatre Cedar Rapids is a proud member of Theatre Communications Group.
