We at the Ensemble Theatre of Chattanooga have some explaining to do.

For the last several months prior to opening VIOLET, ETC was in a state of disarray. Mainly we were overwhelmed with life and the pursuit of our dream of a professional theatre in Chattanooga was not only becoming challenging but was being faced with certain complications that we weren't prepared to deal with.

ETC, at its heart, is a community of like-minded individuals who foresee an untapped opportunity for our city. A city ripe with cultural institutions, lovers and patrons of all forms of art, a dedication to quality of life and innovation, should have a theatre whose main goal and purpose is providing justly compensated opportunities for locals, visitors, and residents. So we embarked on this journey and took it as our responsibility.

Since the first show in 2007, a co-produced ANGELS IN AMERICA: MILLENIUM APPROACHES at the Barking Legs Theatre, we have operated with dual purposes: high quality experiences and some form of compensation for the artists involved. in 2010, with a loosely formed foundation, a general excitement and drive, we hit the ground running. From January 2010's ETC original The Deadlies through to 2014's season closing Youth and Family offering of The Velveteen Rabbit, ETC mounted more than 56 productions. Most of them in one of the two theatre spaces we occupied during that time, but we also toured shows locally to the Creative Discovery Museum, Hunter Museum of American Art, regionally to Seven Stages in Atlanta, GA and nationally to Alma College in Alma, MI.

We kicked into 2015 suffering from many infrastructural problems, concerns with our current home space and as well as a general exhaustion and disenchanted demeanor. 5 months later, we simply ran out of gas. As the self-appointed driver of this car, it was a truly enlightening experience watching your dream putter to a stop. We didn't crash, beyond some egos and hurt feelings, we survived. But the healing process took us off the radar. We left our patrons hanging with no explanation for what happened. We left our artists confused by our performances, behavior, and absence. We needed to find ourselves again.

As we close VIOLET and I look around at what we have been able to achieve, what we are still trying to achieve, the friends who are returning to help us, the new fans who are just discovering us...it's cliche to say it, but I am truly humbled. We made a commitment a long time ago to provide quality experiences and compensate artists, and though we've struggled and though sometimes the compensation has been nothing more than a pittance (and in a few sad occasions non-existant), we have a goal. And its a good goal.

So welcome back! We are excited to begin this journey again and promise to continue doing our best to bring to Chattanooga what we think it deserves: a professional, regionally recognized theatre that compensates the artists involved.

GLP

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