With support from the California Arts Council, in 2020-21 the Ensemble Theatre Company will offer the 10th season of its free Student Matinee Program. Supported by in-classroom workshops and extensive, play-specific Study Guides, Student Matinees provide junior-high and high-school students from low-income schools the opportunity to experience the power of professional live theater—often for the first time in their lives—at fully-staged performances of age-appropriate productions.
At the core of ETC’s programming is a season of five productions that span a wide array of theatrical genres, from classic drama to musicals, to Shakespeare, to contemporary new works. With each production, ETC seeks to bring innovative interpretations in casting, design, and music, encouraging audiences to engage in a play’s themes with a fresh perspective, supported by top actors, directors, and designers both local and national. ETC’s producing home, The New Vic, is a newly renovated state-of-the-art theater that seats 294 audience members. ETC’s season offerings draw nearly 20,000 patrons annually in Santa Barbara and the south/central California coast region.
In addition to presenting professional theatrical productions, ETC also utilizes its artistic resources and matchless venue to engage our youth and community through its newly expanded Theater Education Outreach initiative. This initiative includes Student and Teacher Theater Workshops, a Student Matinee Program, master classes, the Young Playwrights Festival and summer youth performance camps and intensives.

