Theatre IV is a nonprofit, professional theatre for young audiences. Since 1975 we have toured from Wisconsin to Florida and Texas to Maine while also presenting lavish productions in our home city of Richmond, Va. During 2008 - 2009 we will perform live before over 1/2 million children, teens, parents and teachers across the America.
Theatre IV in Richmond, VA is located at 114 West Broad Street in the Empire Theatre. The historic Empire has a noble and noteworthy past. It opened on Christmas Night 1911 and is Virginia's oldest extant theatre. Designed at the turn of the century, the Empire was hailed as one of the most beautiful theatres in America and proudly played host to theatrical luminaries including Otis Skinner, Sydney Greenstreet and Mary Pickford.
The Little Theatre opened next door in 1912 as Richmond's first movie theatre. In the middle of the century, both theatres were converted to film houses (the Booker T. and the Maggie Walker) and played an honored role in the cultural fabric of our community.
Theatre IV purchased these historic theatres in 1986; and with the help of community individuals, corporations and foundations, restored them in 1989-1991for a magnificent inaugural season. Theatre IV continues the proud tradition of these landmark facilities, serving an annual Empire Theatre audience of more than 80,000 Virginians attending our Broadway for Families, TheatreGym, and Summer Playhouse productions.
Today Theatre IV is proud to call the Commonwealth's oldest and most charming Empire Theatre home. So, we encourage everyone -- whether you are a child, teen, adult, parent or grandparent-- to visit us in the Empire and have a magical time of theatre and fantastic family fun.
Staff
Anne Murphy Douglas
President
Dominic P. Madigan
Vice President
Matthew T. Butler
Secretary
George W. Riegel, Jr.
Brenda M. Asch
Treasurer
Jody Dennis Branch
Richard A. Brindle
Herbert A. Claiborne III
Mary Ann Curtin
Phyllis E. Galanti
Donald B. Garber
William E. Garrison III
Caroline Rice Harding, M.Ed., CCC-SLP
Dr. Monroe E. Harris, Jr.
Elizabeth Mason HorsleyBenjamin Lambert, IV
William A. Manson, Jr.
Suzanne Wishnack Morris
Rodney A. Satterwhite
Andrew Schaffernoth
William H. Schwarzschild III
Robert W. Shinn
Thomas H. Tullidge, Jr.
Caroline Wallace
Charlie Whitaker
David Wright
Empire exterior. Photo by Sara Marsden
