Get to Know Us

Our Mission: Dad’s Garage transforms people, communities, and perspectives through laughter.

Founded in 1995, Dad's Garage is an award-winning non-profit theatre company that brings in over 30,000 people a year at our new Ezzard Street home in Atlanta's historic Old Fourth Ward, public events across the continent, and festivals around the globe. Each season features original plays and world premieres created by our performers; this creates the backbone of our programming. Dad's Garage serves a younger demographic not typically served by traditional arts organizations. We introduce them to other arts organizations—such as The Alliance Theatre, Atlanta Opera, and Atlanta Ballet—through strategic programming collaborations. We have established ourselves as a “Gateway Drug to the Arts” and are dedicated to building a new generation of arts consumers.

Until 2013, we were long-term residents in a rented building in Inman Park, helping to contribute to the energy of the community, but we lost our theatre to a mixed-use development. The following two years became the finest in our history; we overcame the challenges of rebuilding by leveraging relationships across the community and developing an achievable plan of action. We partnered with another local theatre, 7 Stages, for temporary space. We ended up raising over a million dollars from a mix of private foundations, corporations, over 1,200+ donors in 28 states and 6 countries and procured a preferential bank loan (check out the list of Capital Campaign individual donors here). Then we secured our new “forever home,” a former church, in the Old Fourth Ward. We worked with experts who donated their time and services to develop a renovation design. We completed the project on time and on budget, opening our doors in December 2015. Our new “Forever Home” will allow us stay in our neighborhood as we help bring new energy to the area.

Most of the shows we produce are created entirely in-house by our resident artistic ensemble, and the work incubated here goes on to other theatres. While just about everyone in the artistic group at Dad’s is an improviser, the artists also write, direct, design, and perform in our scripted shows and write, perform, direct, and edit pieces for DGTV, our very own YouTube channel. We support the creation of new and experimental works that travel around the country and transform the careers of their creators. The individuals who make up our artistic rosters consistently work in film, television and theatre on the national level. You may have seen them in such critically acclaimed works as Archer, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Too Many Cooks, and the film Selma. Our team even travels the film festival circuit, and have been won awards at some very fancy film festivals

Through our High School Outreach Program, we are able to kick-start a love for theatre and improv at an early age. The program is provided free of charge to high schools in Metro Atlanta each year and culminates in a performance on our Main Stage. We build the skills of confidence, failure resiliency, and teamwork in a positive and uplifting environment. We are proud of the program, and happy to give class clowns throughout the metro area a renewed sense of purpose, but also thrilled to bring shy students out of their shell.

We put on performances 52 weeks a year and host special event performances throughout our calendar. When you add it all up, we produce over 400 shows a year. Our facility has a large mainstage with flexibility for an intimate 90 seat show or larger 210 seat performance. And we have our own bar and lobby for pre and post-parties as well as an intimate cabaret stage.

Through our dedication to nurturing artists in the beginnings of their careers, Dad's Garage has become a launch pad for creative success. Our performers, designers, and other creative professionals go on to become leaders in their fields, and work with other theaters across the world. By saying "Yes, and..." to emerging creative voices, we give them the support necessary to succeed in the arts.

Dad’s Garage has a business side? Yeah, we have staff meetings and budgets, just like everyone else. We keep everything off stage on the up and up so we can do whatever we want on stage. Our annual operating budget is around $1.3 million, we have 9 full-time staff, and over the year we work with over seventy artists. Our new home was a $2.9 million project--we raised $1.25 million, which now means we’ve got a mortgage to pay off. Being a nonprofit doesn’t mean you can’t have money, it just means it all goes back to the mission. We got bills to pay, just like everyone else!

Improv

OK, so here’s how the whole improv thing works: you give us a little inspiration, and we make up some stuff! Ok, it’s a little more complicated than that. We perform our signature brand of off-the-cuff improvised fun on Wednesday through Saturday nights pretty much every week of the year. We’re always working on new show formats and no two are ever the same, so you’ll get a totally unique and hilarious experience every time you visit. Plus, you can check out our Student Mixer on Tuesday nights for FREE and see the next generation of ATL improv before they hit the big time.

Our improv Ensemble and General Company have represented Dad’s Garage in performances and festivals all over the world, and for the most part they enjoyed it. Wouldn’t you love to see something some people in Berlin really liked? If so, Dad’s Garage is your kinda place.

Scripted

Betcha didn’t know us improv goons could hack it in “real” theatre, huh? Well, you’re probably right, but we try. Dad’s Garage is the home of such awesome shows as One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Reefer Madness, Rocky Horror Picture Show, Bat Boy and Cannibal! The Musical, just to name a few.
But we don’t just sling other folks’ scripts... Dad’s is also the world-premiere venue for a ton of hilarious original shows created by our own company members, including Song of the Living Dead, Woman of the Year, The Change: Another Teenage Werewolf Musical, INVASION: A Christmas Carol, and the smash hit nerd-fest Wrath of Con! Come and see the newest cutting-edge comedy plays in town before they sail off to Broadway… or are never heard from again.

The Dad's Garage family is more than a bunch of beer-fueled jokesters... we're a launchpad for creative professionals from around our region. The actors you see on our stage, the designers who make it look magical, and the administrative staff keeping the bills paid all do amazing projects in and out of The House of Dad's. Here are some of the awesome accolades our family has received recently:Read More