Who We Are 2025-05-28T03:04:18+00:00
About Civic

Mission

To foster an enduring love for live theatre in every community member.

Values

To provide a safe, inclusive and collaborative venue, sustained by a broad foundation of volunteers, where theatrical art is created to entertain, to enlighten, and to stimulate reflection and critical thinking.

Vision

To enrich the lives of citizens through live theater by expanding their insight into the human condition.

History

Founded in 1947, Spokane Civic Theatre is an award-winning nonprofit community theatre. The organization is a cultural beacon in the Inland Northwest and a fixture in downtown Spokane’s North Bank area. With two performance spaces and an active education program, each season, Civic produces 15-20 plays, musicals and other live events—created by more than 400 volunteer creative contributors, serving approximately 30,000 audience members—and conducts innumerable performing arts classes, predominantly for the youth of the community. To date, Civic has produced more than 800 shows, represented Spokane at national and international festivals, garnered throngs of awards, and nurtured generations of artists, educators and performers.

Facility

For decades, Spokane Civic Theatre’s home on Howard Street has been a creative haven for some and a source of community and entertainment for others. Initially, Civic staged performances in several of downtown Spokane’s historic venues, including the Orpheum Theatre and Riverside Playhouse. In 1967, a dream was realized when Civic’s facility opened on Howard Street—made possible through the tireless efforts of leadership and the unwavering support of patrons and community members. Just five years later, the facility was expanded with the addition of the costumes department, scene shop and Firth J. Chew Studio Theatre, a 96-seat flexible black box space, named after a devoted Board Member and champion. Prolific architect Moritz Kundig, known for his distinctive midcentury modern style, designed both phases.

To learn about Civic’s property-wide renovation project, click here.

Our Sponsors

Board of Directors

  • President: Randy Schwaegler

  • Vice President: Corey Kahler

  • Treasurer: Amber Williams

  • Secretary: Karen Brathovde

  • Member at Large: Sallie Christensen

  • Past President: Chris Wolf

  • Member Emeritus: Margot Ogden (1925-2015)

Board of Directors

  • Board Member: Thomas Armitage

  • Board Member: Mark Arnold

  • Board Member: Kathie Doyle-Lipe

  • Board Member: Lance Nilson

  • Board Member: Ted Redman

  • Board Member: Adell Whitehead

Endowment Board

  • President: Mary Starkey

  • Secretary: Heather McHenry – Kroetch

  • Board Member: Bob Francis