About Short North Stage
Short North Stage is a professional regional theater company creating exceptional live theater for Columbus, Central Ohio, and audiences beyond. From our home at the historic Garden Theater in the Short North District, we bring artists and audiences together through bold, joyful, and imaginative productions that spark conversation and celebrate the power of shared experience.
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From beloved Broadway classics to contemporary musicals and works that deserve to be rediscovered, we honor what audiences love about these stories while bringing fresh perspectives, exceptional artistry, and our own distinctive point of view to the stage.
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We believe great theater can entertain, surprise, challenge, and connect us. Whether someone has been coming to the Garden Theater for years or is walking through our doors for the first time, we want you to feel that this is a place that belongs to everyone.
Theater That Belongs To Everyone
Local arts organizations have the power to transform neighborhoods, strengthen economies, and create places where people feel connected to something larger than themselves. From Washington, D.C. and Cleveland’s Playhouse Square to New York City’s Theater Row, thriving regional theaters have long served as anchors for vibrant communities. Short North Stage believes Columbus deserves that same kind of cultural destination—one that is distinctly our own.
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At the historic Garden Theater, we are creating more than a place to see a show. We are building a gathering place where neighbors come together, artists make bold work, young people discover what is possible, and audiences from across the nation can see themselves and their stories reflected onstage. Every performance brings people to High Street, supports the businesses around us, and adds to the energy that makes the Short North one of Columbus’ most dynamic neighborhoods.
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As Columbus continues to grow, Short North Stage is growing with it. Our ambition is national, but our heart is here. We want the Garden Theater to be a cultural home for Columbus—a place that welcomes everyone, strengthens our community, and helps define what this city can become for all future generations.
Our Mission
Short North Stage creates live theater that brings joy, welcomes new perspectives and builds a vibrant community for all.
OUR VISION
Short North Stage will become an enduring hub of
professional theater with national impact.
Our VALUES
WE CARE
We invest in our artists, our team, and our community—ensuring everyone feels seen, valued, and supported.
WE ARE BOLD
We take artistic risks and make provocative, innovative choices that inspire, challenge, and spark conversation.
WE ARE FUN
We create experiences that are personal, intimate, welcoming—and always a joy to be part of, onstage or off.
WE COLLABORATE
We plan, build, and perform through shared vision—empowering creativity through open communication and teamwork.
The Garden Theater
In 1920, the Garden Theater opened as the premier entertainment showcase north of downtown Columbus on High Street. Originally a vaudeville and movie emporium, the Garden anchored the neighborhood just south of Fifth Avenue.
In the 1960s, following the death of its longtime owner, Ethel Miles, the Garden declined into a striptease house featuring the last of the burlesque-style strippers. By the late 80s, the Garden had become a notorious home for pornographic movies, pole dancers and prostitutes. A local church took up residence in 1996, but moved to a new location in 2007 when real estate investors purchased the building. The Garden sat dormant until 2011.
Enter Short North Stage.
Restorations began, bringing back one of central Ohio’s premier entertainment venues and the grand dame of the Short North Arts District. Short North Stage produced its first show in October 2011 and has been thriving ever since.
The Garden lives on.
Short North Stage Believes...
The beauty of live theater is in bringing people together. Our goal at Short North Stage is to do that in a meaningful way. Whether you are in the audience, a cast member, on the creative team, in the band, working backstage, or on our staff; it is extremely important to us that we are creating a space for all people to feel included, safe, heard, engaged, supported, valued, and affirmed. We are committed to putting diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility at the center of everything we do from casting to programming to the expansion of physical accessibility for our audience. Listening, learning, and taking action are important to us as we work together with our community to grow into a stronger theater company that reflects the rich fabric of Columbus. At Short North Stage we are committed to this intentional work and have begun initiatives to enhance our knowledge, address and unlearn personal biases, practice inclusive behaviors, and create positive experiences for everyone who enters our space. Thank you for your support and patience as we continue this perpetual work.
INITIATIVES
The work will be continuous. Here is what we are doing now:
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Staff trainings throughout the season.
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Cast, crew, creative team workshops for each show focused on Adaptive Strategies, Implicit Bias, and more.
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Resident Culture and Diversity Management Consultant on staff from The Ohio REST Collective.
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Engaging in continuous conversations with the community.