Cornerstone Theatre Company

What Cornerstone Theatre Company does

Cornerstone Theatre Company is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit community-engaged theater organization founded in 1986 and headquartered in Los Angeles (operating from a PO Box address in Los Angeles, CA 90041 with no physical office). Its core product is original theatrical productions created in collaboration with specific underserved communities across Los Angeles — including Watts, Venice, Skid Row, Native American communities, day laborers, and formerly gang-involved individuals — through a proprietary methodology centered on Story Circles, community engagement processes, and multi-year thematic play cycles (Faith-Based Cycle, Justice Cycle, Hunger Cycle, and the current Change Series). Supporting products include the Cornerstone Institute Summer Residency (four-week intensive), Two-Day Intensives (mobile workshops), Creative Seeds programming, the Cornerstone On Air podcast, Bridge Awards, and Cornerstone//Connect (a paid consulting/hiring service that licenses the methodology externally). Performances take place in non-traditional venues (parks, community centers, partner facilities) under a pay-what-you-can or free admission model.

The organization operates with a lean core staff of four (Artistic Director Sunder Ganglani, Managing Director Megan Wanlass, Creative Producer Drew Kelly, Administrative and Communications Associate Lu Valero) plus an 18-member ensemble, with 77 alumni over its 35+ year history. The business model is grant- and donation-dependent: the company raises the majority of operating revenue from foundation grants (notably a six-year James Irvine Foundation New California Arts Fund commitment and ongoing Ford Foundation support), multi-year individual gift programs (Core Funds Circle at $10,000+/year, Pledge Circle at $100–$9,999/year, Legacy Circle planned giving), corporate matching and affinity programs (AmazonSmile, Ralphs Community Contributions), and de minimis earned revenue from ticket sales. Customers in the traditional sense are absent — Cornerstone serves communities, audiences, and partner organizations spanning community housing (Venice Community Housing), social services (Homeboy Industries, Homegirl Café), day laborer advocacy (National Day Laborer Organizing Network via Teatro Jornalero Sin Fronteras), higher education (CSULB, Los Angeles High School of the Arts), and arts coalitions (Arts & Culture Coalition of Altadena).

Subsidiary/adjacent programs include the jointly-controlled Teatro Jornalero Sin Fronteras (seeded October 2008), Cornerstone On Air (podcast series), and the wholly-owned Cornerstone Institute (training arm). The company reports 150+ new plays commissioned and produced, 100+ playwrights engaged, and tens of thousands of community members impacted across its history, with active programming through 2026 including disaster-recovery coalition work in response to the Eaton Fire. Recent strategic positioning reflects a broadening into civic-resilience and modular, shorter-format community engagement work alongside the traditional multi-year cycle model.

Name

Cornerstone Theatre Company

Legal name

Cornerstone Theater Company

Website

https://cornerstonetheater.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1986

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Cornerstone Theatre Company is a Los Angeles-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 1986 that creates community-collaborative theatrical productions with underserved populations using a proprietary Story Circle methodology, funded primarily through foundation grants and individual donations under a pay-what-you-can model.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Community Theater

NAICS

Theater Companies and Dinner Theaters (71111), Performing Arts Companies (7111), Theater Companies and Dinner Theaters (711110)

SIC

Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900), Services-Motion Picture & Video Tape Production (7812)

akta.pro primary industry

Classical & Contemporary Theatre (Plays/Drama) (MPAGABAH)

akta.pro secondary industries

Performing Arts Organizations (Theater, Dance, Opera, Music) (BPAGAHAB), Fringe & Experimental Performing Arts (MPAGABAI)

Keywords

• Community theater productions
• Ensemble theater performances
• Theater training programs
• Collaborative theater methodology
• Live theatrical performances

Headquarters

HQ city

Los Angeles

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Foundation and Government Grants: Major grants from foundations including James Irvine Foundation, Ford Foundation, California Community Foundation. Government arts funding.
2. Individual Donations: Multi-year gift programs (Core Funds Circle $10,000+/year, Pledge Circle $100-$9,999/year), one-time donations, Legacy Circle planned giving.
3. Corporate Partnerships: Matching gift programs, corporate sponsorships, AmazonSmile donations (0.5%), Ralphs Community Contributions (1-5%).
4. Earned Revenue: Minimal ticket revenue through pay-what-you-can and free admission model. Most performances are free or low-cost.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels10 records

Core offering

Cornerstone Theater Company produces community-collaborative theatrical plays developed through a proprietary Story Circle methodology that partners directly with specific underserved neighborhoods and populations (e.g., Watts, Venice, Skid Row, Native American and immigrant communities) to co-create original productions reflecting community stories. Offerings are organized around multi-year thematic play cycles (Justice Cycle, Hunger Cycle, Change Series) and complemented by training programs (Institute Summer Residency, Two-Day Intensives), a companion podcast, and a hiring service called Cornerstone//Connect.

Product overview

Cornerstone Theater Company is a community-engaged theater organization offering collaborative theatrical productions, educational training programs, and a companion podcast. The core offering consists of community-collaborative plays that address social issues, supported by the Institute Summer Residency (four-week intensive training) and Two-Day Intensives (mobile workshops). The company also produces Cornerstone On Air podcast and presents annual Bridge Awards honoring community bridge-builders.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Community Theater Productions Community-collaborative theatrical productions developed in partnership with specific neighborhoods and populations, including productions addressing hunger and food equity, justice and law, immigration rights, Native American identity, and community-specific narratives. Performances take place in non-traditional community spaces with pay-what-you-can or free admission.
• Institute Summer Residency

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 150 new plays commissioned and produced
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core, minor and major.

• Arts & Culture Coalition of AltadenacoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 31 May 2026Co-hosted Creative Workers Rising event supporting creative workers impacted by the Eaton Fire. Over 500 participants and nearly 60 organizations took part in workshops, resource distribution, and performances.
• New DramatistsminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 20 May 2026Partnership to raise Agnes Borinsky's play The Trees from a new beginning during summer 2026.
• California State University, Long BeachmajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 26 February 2026Association with CSULB for THE ASSEMBLYWOMEN production. Co-directed by CSULB faculty and Cornerstone Artistic Director, adapted by playwright Kate Attwell. Performed at Studio Theatre on campus.
• National Day Laborer Organizing NetworkcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership to seed Teatro Jornalero Sin Fronteras (Day Laborer Theater Without Borders), a theater troupe entirely comprised of day laborers. Since October 2008, the troupe has developed and performed short plays educating day laborers about their rights.
• Homeboy IndustriescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOngoing collaboration producing plays like Café Vida with gang-involved men and women. Homeboy provides participants while Cornerstone provides theatrical programming. 75% of acting roles in Café Vida were community actors from Homeboy.
• The DeVos InstitutecoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerPartnership for 5-year Strategic Plan created in coordination with organizational leadership.
• Teatro Jornalero Sin FronterascoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDay Laborer Theater Without Borders - seeded by Cornerstone in partnership with NDLON. Develops and tours short plays about day laborers' rights to sites across Los Angeles County since October 2008.
• Homegirl CafécoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with Homeboy Industries subsidiary for Café Vida production. Employees of Homegirl Café participated as community actors.
• Venice Community HousingminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCommunity partner for Venice neighborhood collaborations including Ghost Town production with Oakwood Park community.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Center Theatre Group: Los Angeles's largest not-for-profit theater company, operating the Ahmanson Theatre, Mark Taper Forum, and Kirk Douglas Theatre. As a major institutional player in the same LA theater ecosystem, Center Theatre Group is a broad incumbent that commissions new work and runs community programs that overlap with Cornerstone's audience-development mission, though at much larger scale.

Direct peers

• TheatreSquared: A regional theater in Fayetteville, Arkansas known for commissioning new American plays and running community-based programs. TheatreSquared's combination of new-play development, community engagement, and professional ensemble is structurally similar to Cornerstone's model, though serving a different region.
• Pregones Theater: A Bronx-based Latino theater company that produces original bilingual work rooted in Puerto Rican/Latinx community experiences. Pregones operates a resident ensemble model and develops plays in collaboration with community members—mirroring Cornerstone's methodology of producing theater co-created with specific communities over multi-year engagements.
• TheaterWorks Hartford: A community-embedded regional theater that commissions new work and runs programming addressing social issues including homelessness, incarceration, and equity. Like Cornerstone, TheaterWorks pairs producing with deep community engagement and uses multi-season thematic cycles to drive programming.
• SITI Company: Founded by Anne Bogart and Tadashi Suzuki, SITI Company is an ensemble-based theater company that produces original work combining traditional and contemporary performance. Cornerstone's Managing Director Megan Wanlass spent 19 years as SITI's Executive Director, and both organizations share the ensemble-driven, methodology-focused nonprofit theater model.
• Teatro Campesino: Founded in 1965 as the theater of the United Farm Workers movement, Teatro Campesino is a community-based theater company that creates plays with and for farmworker communities in California. Cornerstone's Teatro Jornalero Sin Fronteras (day laborer theater) is directly modeled on this approach, and both organizations share a mission of using theater as a tool for social justice and community voice.
• National Asian American Theater Company (Ma-Yi): A 501(c)(3) ensemble creating new works by and about Asian Americans, with an in-house Writers Lab. Ma-Yi operates a similar ensemble-plus-training model and is a leading incubator for diverse playwrights, making it directly comparable to Cornerstone's commissioning and community-collaborative production approach.
• Watts Village Theater Company: A Los Angeles-based community theater founded in 2008 specifically to serve the Watts neighborhood, one of the very communities Cornerstone has long collaborated with. Watts Village's mission of producing original work rooted in South LA community stories and voices makes it a close geographic and methodological peer.
• The Foundry Theater: A New York-based theater company that produced socially-engaged new work in collaboration with other artists and organizations until its recent closure. Artistic Director Sunder Ganglani was previously Co-Artistic Director at The Foundry, sharing a lineage of ensemble-driven, justice-oriented theater-making that informs Cornerstone's methodology.

Regional players

• East West Players: America's premier Asian American theater organization, founded in 1965 and based in Los Angeles. East West Players operates as a resident producing company producing plays about Asian American experiences, sharing Los Angeles location and 501(c)(3) nonprofit structure with Cornerstone but focusing on a specific ethnic community rather than multi-community coalition work.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/cornerstonethtr
• Facebookfacebook.com/CornerstoneTheater
• Instagraminstagram.com/cornerstonetheater

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Subsidiaries3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Cornerstone Theatre Company