Mission Statement

Identity  Statement 
Rubber City Theatre’s mission is to bring affordable and professional theatre to the Akron area. 
Together, our family of wildly talented artists and storytellers create innovated, intimate productions that open the eyes and hearts of our audiences in an intentionally accessible, inclusive and safe space. 

Land Acknowledgement 

As a step toward honoring the truth and achieving healing and reconciliation with those Indigenous peoples who were affected most by the Doctrine of Discovery* and broken treaties, we acknowledge the traditional Ottawa and Wyandot lands on which we now stand, and on which the city of Akron was built. 
*The Doctrine of Discovery is a principle of international law dating back to the late 15th century that specifically sanctioned and promoted the conquest, colonization and exploitation of non-Christian territories and peoples. Hundreds of years of decisions and laws continuing right up to our own time can ultimately be traced back to the Doctrine of Discovery — laws that invalidate or ignore the rights, sovereignty or humanity of Indigenous peoples in the United States and around the world.

Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion 

Rubber City Theatre acknowledges that our society has been built on systems that marginalize many groups. We pledge to address the ways in which Rubber City has been a part of this marginalization and how those inequities can be corrected. We pledge to be accountable for identifying the inequities in our organization and in our industry and are working to break down barriers to ensure that all individuals—with all of our differences—have an opportunity to be included and to feel welcome in our spaces and artistic practices. We pledge that the stories we tell on our stages will reflect a wide variety of backgrounds. It is our sincere belief that these ongoing commitments are imperative to increase not only the quality of work on our stages but also the strength of our institution.
Rubber City has started the process to address white supremacy in our organization and in the American Theatre. We will continue to work towards addressing the demands as laid out by www.weseeyouwat.com. 

We have created an artistic committee to read, select, and recommend shows for our season. This allows the committee to decide and not solely the Artistic Director. 

History of our Logo and Brand

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In 2013, "Skully" was introduced. As a Shakespeare Company, Skully represented the three types of Shakespeare plays, Swords = History, Skull = Tragedy, Crown slightly tilted = Comedy. Under the Skully was a ribbon with our name, that was indicative of the original intent to create a festival theatre environment.  
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In 2018 for our 5th Anniversary season, we rebranded as Rubber City Theatre, a name more encompassing our programming which was expanding beyond Shakespeare and his Contemporaries works. The font was representative of our intimate venues and nature of the work we were approaching. 
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In 2023, we introduced our next logo. Rubber City Theatre is always evolving and reflecting on our practices and programming. Our new logo is representative of who we are now; a theatre doing more than intimate works or Shakespeare, but is still working on ourselves. We will continue to evolve and look forward for our continued development. 

Rubber City Theatre operates under a contract with Actors' Equity Association, the union of actors and stage managers in the United States. 

Scenic and Costume Shop employees and Backstage Employees are members of IATSE Local 48.