Will you help us continue telling stories that transform minds, hearts and lives? Are you willing to help Spooky Action Theater raise $34,000 by December 31?

Spooky Action Theater takes its name from a phenomenon of quantum mechanics, in which particles become entangled - so that a change in one is mirrored by change in the other. As an award-winning professional theater, SAT recharges people’s intuitive and emotional core by linking artists and audiences in a shared act of imagination that leaves all parties transformed. Our vibrant, diverse, culture-seeking neighborhood at the intersection of Dupont Circle, Logan Circle, and U Street is home to seven professional theaters – more than any other neighborhood in DC.

Our black-box theater is an intimate space, where our DC community comes together to experience live theater - through groundbreaking plays by diverse writers from across the globe that uplift our shared humanity across cultures, backgrounds, and identities. Highlights from the last few seasons include:

Heart-breaking, life-affirming urban myth, Cracking Zeus by Christopher Hampton, for which actor Lolita Marie won the Helen Hayes award for Outstanding Supporting Actor for Cracking Zeus
A raging, rocking musical adaption of "The Master and Margarita", Professor Woland’s Black Magic Rock Show
Our best-selling, provocative adaptation of Soviet-era fairytale satire by Evgeny Schwartz, The Dragon.
Our special events have included new cabaret acts by local performers (Fran Tapia, Jordyn Taylor, Deimoni Brewington), genre-blending shows (Lucy Eden’s autobiographical one-woman show Circus of the Self: a Show About Queer Joy, Juggling, and Identity).

In the second half of the season, there are many things to look forward to:

In December '25, we present Tony-Award-winning playwright and composer of Passing Strange, Stew Stewart, in a one-night-only concert as we transform our intimate space into an underground speakeasy
In Spring '26, we open the DC premiere of Dave Harris’ time-travelling fantasia Tambo & Bones, (LA Drama Critics Award "Best New Play", TimeOut London "Best Plays of 2023," Playwrights Horizons, Center Theatre Group) directed by award-winning director-choreographer Ashleigh King and starring Jeremy Keith Hunter and Deimoni Brewington.

ARTISTIC DEVELOPMENT:

Our New Works in Action offers generative artists the opportunity to develop daring new works of performance and exposes our patrons to a diverse array of stories and experiences:

The Portuguese theater company Colectivo 84 chose SAT to workshop the first English translation of a thrilling new horror play about fascism;
Drew Lichtenberg, Shakespeare Theater Company’s Artistic Producer, collaborated with SAT to workshop his new, provocative adaptation of Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler; we were a member theater of an Ibsen celebration in partnership with the Shakespeare Theatre Company and Theater J, where Elizabeth Dinkova was a key member of several Ibsen panels and discussions;
All three world premiere productions in our 24/25 season (Cracking Zeus, Professor Woland, Lucy Juggles) were developed through out NWIA program.

IMPACT:

We keep theater affordable and accessible for all of our neighborhood and the DC community. Our general admission tickets are among the lowest of any comparable professional theater in DC, and we also offer initiatives like pay-what-you-can previews, economy tickets for each performance, special community performances, industry-rate attendance, in-depth talkbacks, and free pre-show receptions.
Immigrant actors and artists of color made up over 80% of our 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 season casts.
We offer FOOD FOR ALL 25% of our space for their charitable work feeding the hungry in DC.
Partnering with DC Public Charter Schools, Spooky Action offers after-school programming for elementary school children.
Through the Bloomberg Sitar Arts Center Program, we offer paid internships to high school juniors and seniors, giving them hands-on professional experience in theater production and administration that builds their workforce skills and prepares them for success in college and beyond.
We partner with the Institute for Creative Advancement, an organization that trains at-risk young adults in technical theater skills, to give students opportunities to connect emerging technicians with working professionals, expanding their networks and opening pathways to sustained careers in the performing arts industry.
Through collaborations with local universities (Howard, Georgetown, Bowie State, Catholic University, UMD), we employ theater undergraduates and graduates in acting, dramaturgy, administration, and production roles.

We are now asking for your help to build a bright and strong future. Your contribution will help us to fulfill some fundamental values to our art, our artists and our community:

Increase our creative artists and production staff fees to continue to contribute to local artists' better standard of living and attract top talent.
Support one additional full-time staff member to help as we expand to three productions a season.
Improve theater infrastructure to enhance audience comfort and accessibility.
Underwrite a marketing intern from a local university to provide hands-on experience while expanding our theater’s outreach and audience engagement.
Subsidize tickets so we can keep the cost of our tickets among the lowest in the city for independent, professional theater productions.

What we’ve built together is extremely special and rare: an international theater with national recognition, embraced by a fiercely loyal community of supporters, with a diverse company of passionate local artists. We hope that you’ll consider supporting our campaign as we dream up next season, in a year when our theater’s vision is at its most vital.

2025-2026 Fall Fundraising Campaign

Fuel the next act—where your generosity becomes transformation.