History

Running to Places was founded by Joey Steinhagen in 2007 as a way to bring together the many passionate and talented young people of this area to make new friends, create theatre, develop life skills, and have life-changing experiences with people they might otherwise never have had the chance to meet.

Working under the umbrella of Social Ventures for the first year, Running to Places Productions (as it was then known) produced six fully-staged shows between January and August 2008 featuring dozens of teens from all over Tompkins County.

“I grew up in northern New Jersey doing community theatre in a company called Song & Dance Associates. That’s where I learned nearly everything I knew about theatre prior to college [at IC] – and made some of the best friends of my life, too. I wanted there to be something like that here." – Joey Steinhagen

Running to Places Theatre Company incorporated as a 501(c)(3) organization in September 2008. The mission of providing opportunities for middle and high school students to create great theatre while obtaining life skills and strengthening our community continued to be refined as we continued putting up six fully staged productions each year for our second through fourth seasons.

Perhaps the highlight of our second season was performing for the first time at the magnificent State Theatre of Ithaca with our production of Footloose. On opening night in August 2009, over 800 patrons flooded in and caused us to open the balcony, which had not been anticipated based on our average audience of 150 people to that date.

Our third year saw the development of “R2P2” — student-directed productions and projects. The first such project was “The Last Five Years,” with high school students Nathan Hilgartner directing and Jeremy Pletter as music director. (After studying music at IC, Jeremy returned to serve as Resident Music Director from 2015-2020.) The show ran at Risley Theatre at Cornell University. We collaborated with the all-youth run company Shakespeare in the Basement, with R2P providing resources and support and with them using their ticket revenue to support R2P as a show sponsor.

We were so proud of this and other student-led projects, such as Viva La Femme and Sing Out for Haiti; our student company members were taking initiative to independently create innovative works and then practice philanthropy toward causes they believed in.

The 2011 season brought about much change. We added the rental of a scene shop in which to build and paint our sets, as well as store our considerable costume and props stock. R2P2 expanded programming to include workshops in dance and stage combat. We also performed for the first time at Hangar Theatre with a production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, as well as regularly appearing at the State Theatre of Ithaca.

Our fifth season felt significant to us from the start, knowing that surviving the first five years is an important milestone for any organization. We enjoyed holding all five of our mainstage shows at either the State or Hangar Theatres. We welcomed Resident Designer Tyler M. Perry, as well as Resident Music Director Michael Wade, both of whom had already worked with us on several productions, and our momentum felt like great things were in store. However, nothing quite prepared us for the overwhelming response to our first show of the season, Hairspray, which broke the previous audience attendance record for a run with almost 2,300 people seeing the show and six standing ovations over the course of three performances!

For the closing production of our fifth season, Urinetown, we expanded the cast to include a number of R2P alums – even artistic director Joey Steinhagen got in on the act! Not only was this a ton of fun for everyone in the cast, but also the high school students in the cast were afforded new opportunities for mentorship by working with older and more experienced performers — and the alums and Joey were inspired by the skill, drive, and professionalism of the younger cast and crew!

In 2013, after years of running to various places for rehearsals and office space, we were delighted to move into our first real home at the Just Be Cause Center for Not-for-Profit Development (1013 West State/MLK Jr. St. in Ithaca).

Created by Jerry Dietz to honor the memory of his late wife Judy, the Center has provided R2P with beautiful office space (that doubles as a bustling hangout space for teens during rehearsals) and two rehearsal rooms, including a dance studio with a sprung floor and a full wall of mirrors – a tool we had never, ever had before! 

"Mirrors make an enormous difference to the kids' ability to learn and grow. When you're an adolescent, your brain and body sometimes disagree about where your elbows are in space – because last week the answer might have been totally different! Having mirrors provides real-time feedback that helps young people not only learn the dances better, but also to gain better self-awareness in a very direct and literal way." – Joey Steinhagen

Beginning with the 2015 season, R2P as an organization rededicated itself to its founding principle of universal accessibility to all of our community's youth by eliminating any financial obligation for participation. While it was founded as a free-to-participate company, years of growth and financial pressures led to an evolving model — “free” became “pay what you can” which eventually became tuition offset by scholarships. We went too far down that slippery slope and urgently needed a reset. We rewrote our entire budget from scratch to eliminate any need for tuition. Now and forever, any interested young person can participate fully in the R2P experience FREE of any charge.

“Even the most generous scholarships don’t create a level playing field. There can be a dealbreaking stigma attached to requesting one, especially for teens. Removing tuition leveled the playing field. It wasn’t easy for R2P, but it was right.” – Joey Steinhagen

If you support the principle of equitable access for all of our community’s children, please become an R2Patron for just a few dollars per month.

In 2018, we began a journey to create a home to call our very own and began work to transform the original abandoned movie theaters at the Ithaca Mall into a space where we could house all of our operations under one roof. This project has gotten stalled due to unanticipated issues with the facility itself – and then, of course, the pandemic. While we may need to shift our dream into another direction to finally find a permanent home, we have not given up hope.

New for 2021, we have closed the circle on making theatre truly accessible to all by making the tickets to our shows FREE, too! This was not the result of any financial windfall, but rather a deeper look into our priorities and principles.

I grew up going to community theatre all the time. I was lucky and had a very privileged childhood that way. When I first had the opportunity to participate in theatre, of course I joined in – it had long been a part of my life already. For many families, buying theatre tickets for parents and kids is a significant financial commitment. By making attendance at our shows free, we hope that every family will feel welcomed and included – and that someday, those children will be singing and dancing on stage to inspire the next generation. – Joey Steinhagen

Everyone at R2P is paying very close attention to the news and health guidance. Our #1 priority is the wellbeing of our community. We are doing our best to carefully craft programming that meets our mission while keeping our participants, their families, our staff, and our audiences safe. We are looking forward to gathering with you however we can, whenever we can. Until then, take care of yourself and each other.

Since our beginning, we have produced over nearly 70 fully staged shows. We also collaborate with and support other local theatres and organizations, including the State Theatre of Ithaca, Kitchen Theatre Company, Circus Culture, Opera Ithaca and school programs across the region on a variety of levels and projects. We have enjoyed the support of many community partners, particularly CSP Management, Purity Ice Cream, Inn on Columbia, Community Arts Partnership of Tompkins County, the Community Foundation of Tompkins County and The Park Foundation. They, along with our other sponsors, program advertisers, and donors, stand side by side with us to help keep access to theatre and the related arts accessible to all of our community's youth.

Running to Places today remains centered where it began: we put the focus on youth development, artistry, and community. Students (and by extension, their siblings and parents) involved in Running to Places have the opportunity to meet and work with new friends from all over the region and find a second family. Parents and company members attest that participation brings about transformative growth as both artists and people. The young people involved find a place where they belong and can make healthy life choices that will serve them well – even if they never set foot on a stage again after their time with us.

Theatre brings people together in unique and unexpected ways. We look forward to seeing you at the theatre soon.