Quasimondo Physical Theatre

What Quasimondo Physical Theatre does

Quasimondo Physical Theatre is a Milwaukee-based nonprofit ensemble that devises and stages original physical theatre productions fusing movement, puppetry, mask theatre, clown, bouffon, circus arts, dance, and multimedia. Founded in 2012 by Brian Rott and Jessi Miller — originally as a collective of MFA candidates at Italy's Accademia Dell'Arte — the company relocated to Wisconsin and has produced 30+ original works across eight documented seasons (2012-2020), including touring productions such as Kamikaze Cutesauce (FringeNYC), Giraffe on Fire, Bottle 99, The Depths, Celsius 232, and The Feast. Productions are created through ensemble devising and frequently involve cross-disciplinary collaboration with composers, choreographers, and visual artists.

Name

Quasimondo Physical Theatre

Legal name

Quasimondo Physical Theatre

Website

https://quasimondo.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Quasimondo Physical Theatre is a Milwaukee-based nonprofit ensemble that devises and stages original physical theatre productions combining movement, puppetry, mask, clown, dance, and multimedia for live audiences across Milwaukee and touring Fringe festivals.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Performing Arts / Physical Theatre

NAICS

Theater Companies and Dinner Theaters (711110), Dance Companies (71112), Other Performing Arts Companies (711190)

SIC

Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900)

akta.pro primary industry

Circus & Physical Theatre (MPAGABAL)

akta.pro secondary industries

Puppetry & Marionette Theatre (MPAGABAK), Fringe & Experimental Performing Arts (MPAGABAI)

Keywords

• Physical theatre productions
• Devised ensemble performance
• Puppetry theatre
• Movement-based theatre
• Interdisciplinary performing arts

Headquarters

HQ city

Milwaukee

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Ticket Sales: Revenue generated from audience ticket purchases for live performances. Quasimondo sells tickets directly through its website and at the door, with tiered pricing for general admission, students, and artists. Performances are held at various venues including the North Milwaukee Arthaus, partner theatres, and site-specific locations.
2. Individual Donations & Philanthropy: The organization maintains a 'Support' section with donation options, corporate giving programs, matching gifts, and a donor recognition program with annual donor lists (2017-2021 donors listed). This indicates active individual and corporate philanthropy as a revenue stream.
3. Grant Funding: Quasimondo receives grants from organizations including the City of Milwaukee Arts Board ($227,500 awarded to 35 organizations including Quasimondo), Wisconsin Nonprofits solar energy grants, and Joy Engine's Community Challenge Grant. Grants manager Kimberly Pratt oversees the grant process for the company and North Milwaukee Arthaus project.
4. Venue Rental & Programming (North Milwaukee Arthaus): The company is developing the North Milwaukee Arthaus in the historic North Milwaukee Village Hall & Fire Station into a performance space and center for arts and education. Site-specific benefit performances (e.g., Celsius 232) are presented at this venue as it approaches completion.
5. Corporate Giving & Sponsorships: The company maintains a corporate giving program and sponsors section, with explicit acknowledgment of supporters on its homepage. Collaborating organizations such as Present Music and Old World Wisconsin co-present programs that likely involve shared funding.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Quasimondo Physical Theatre devises and stages original ensemble theatrical productions that blend movement, puppetry, mask theatre, clown, bouffon, dance, circus arts, and multimedia into live performances. All works are created through ensemble devising rather than adaptation of existing scripts, presented across multi-show seasons in Milwaukee and at regional and national Fringe festivals. The company also develops site-specific work and is converting the historic North Milwaukee Village Hall & Fire Station into the North Milwaukee Arthaus performance and arts education venue.

Product overview

Quasimondo Physical Theatre is a physical theatre company that creates original theatrical productions. Founded in 2012 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the company offers a diverse repertoire of original works spanning multiple seasons. Their portfolio includes productions such as Robot Cabaret, Bacchanalia, Americlown, Love and Cthulhu, Bottle 99, Animal Farm, Kamikaze Cutesauce: Cosplay Club, Giraffe on Fire, Buboes, Kama Sutra, Children of Pac-Men, Carnival, Animolecules, The Depths, Mrs. Wrights, Celsius 232, and The Feast. The company specializes in interdisciplinary ensemble work combining drama, comedy, music, movement, puppetry, dance, and circus arts to create challenging productions that address contemporary issues.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Robot Cabaret An original Season I (2012-2013) production billed as a fully automated performance made by machines for human beings, featuring celebrity-bots, automatons, and machines that act, dance, sing, perform acrobatics, and stand-up comedy.
• Nutcracker vs. Mouseking An original Season I production adapted from E.T.A. Hoffman's story that challenges the power of imagination and takes audiences on a trip through mouse-holes, across continents, time, and space.
• Paper or Plastic An original Season I production examining consumer culture, featuring characters like TV Man, Dartboard Woman, and Paper Monster, devised in collaboration with MACA (Milwaukee Area Composers and Artists).
• Halloween Tree An original Season I production inspired by Ray Bradbury's story, following a troop of young boys in hodgepodge costumes on a trick-or-treat adventure through time and space.
• Bacchanalia An original Season I production offering a festival to the gods honoring Bacchus, featuring mythology, religion, ritual, philosophy, and theatrical performance with exotic music and cuisine.
• Seagull 3D An absurdist adaptation of Chekhov's comedy brought to life in space with Technicolor and Surround Sound, presented in Quasimondo's Season I.
• Americlown An original Season II (2013-2014) all-American clown show examining fears and follies of homeland insecurities through immigration, gun control, consumer culture, and fanaticism. Listed by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel among the 'Top Ten Wisconsin Plays of 2013'.
• Love and Cthulhu An original Season II production inspired by H.P. Lovecraft, presenting a theatrical experience of profound horror featuring miniature and large-format puppetry, live classical music, and dance.
• Bottle 99 An original Season II psychological deep-space ballet exploring the physiological and psychological effects of interplanetary deep-space travel, with an ethereal score by composer Wylie Hefti, gravity-defying imagery by animator Patrik Beck, and ensemble movement.
• Animal Farm An original Season II adaptation of Orwell examining the slippery slope of liberation, the erosion of rights, and the high cost of consumption, featuring original puppetry.
• Hansel & Gretel: A Cautionary Tale A family-friendly Season II production addressing consumer culture and healthy eating habits through giant puppets, masks, music, and dance; commissioned for the Artown performing arts festival in Reno, Nevada, with workshops in puppetry, mask-making, and healthy eating.
• Kamikaze Cutesauce: Cosplay Club A Season III (2014-2015) Japanese-infused movement and horror piece exploring contemporary costume play and the threads that form gender, identity, and culture through dance, puppetry, and martial arts. Official Selection at FringeNYC 2015 and featured in Time Out New York, The Village Voice, and The Daily Beast 'Best of Fringe NYC' coverage.
• Giraffe on Fire A Season III dance rhapsody in the key of Dali exploring surrealism through dance, music, puppetry, circus, poetry, and visual art, bringing together 7 composers, 7 choreographers, and 7 visual artists in a single production. Awarded 'Best of 2015 - Overall Design' by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
• Buboes A Season III bouffon medicine show examining the bubonic plague in light of modern medicine with humor, gallows jazz, feudalism, and hunchbacks. Awarded 'Best Wisconsin Theatre 2015' Production Honorable Mention by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
• Carnival A Season IV (2015-2016) theatrical concert collaboration with Present Music and Grammy-winning pianist Cory Smythe, deconstructing Commedia Dell'Arte characters and Schumann's composition.
• Zie Magic Flute A Season V (2016-2017) co-production with Milwaukee Opera Theatre and Cadance Collective featuring Mozart's music performed at the Tripoli Shrine Center with contemporary movement and giant snakes. Returned in Season VII (2018-2019).
• Animolecules A Season V original Choreographia Microbiotica exploring viruses, enzymes, cells, and microorganisms through dan-sci theatre with bioluminescent costumes.
• Angst, Horror, & Fun! A Season V cinematic collaboration with Present Music and Milwaukee Art Museum inspired by German Expressionist films including Nosferatu, Metropolis, and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.
• The Depths A Season VI (2017-2018) deep-sea puppetry thriller about Aquanaut Lilith Hooper mapping the Marianas Trench, featuring supernatural sci-fi elements; nominated for a Footlights Award for Best Professional Special Performance. Andrew Parchman named 'Best Designer for Puppetry 2017' by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel for his work on this production.
• Performance Ecology Project A Season VI research project/performance exploring how somatic practices can enhance the experience of meaning and value in living nature with actors, dancers, musicians, and poets, in partnership with the Urban Ecology Center (Riverside Branch) and Morton Arboretum.
• Sound & Sight A Season VI collaboration with Present Music at the Lynden Sculpture Garden featuring musicians performing among monumental sculptures.
• Dumb Lear A Season VI collaboration with Optimist Theatre and Shakespeare in the Park, inspired by King Lear and presented as an allegorical survival from the morality play.
• Mrs. Wrights A solo dance theatre work created and performed by Jenni Reinke, embodying the women in Frank Lloyd Wright's life; presented at Hillside Theater at Taliesin and toured to Minnesota Fringe and Chicago Fringe in 2018.
• Celsius 232 A Season VII (2018-2019) site-specific production at the North Milwaukee Arthaus inspired by Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, examining freedom of speech, power of press, and populist prescriptions through movement, poetry, and puppetry. Ticket pricing: $20 at the door, $17 online advance, $15 student/artist.
• The Feast A Season VIII (2019-2020) preternatural popcorn thriller about elite mercenaries retrieving an ultimate weapon in the Russian interior, featuring puppetry, action, and horror. Ticket pricing: $25 at the door, $20 online advance, $15 student with ID.
• North Milwaukee Arthaus Venue A developing performance space and center for arts and education at the historic North Milwaukee Village Hall & Fire Station, 5151 N. 35th Street, Milwaukee; intended to host Quasimondo productions and other community arts and education programming.

Quantifiable outcome

• 30+ original productions created and performed since 2012
• +7 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Synetic Theater: Arlington, VA-based physical theatre company producing original wordless and movement-driven adaptations. Comparable as a midsize nonprofit physical theatre ensemble with a distinct stylistic identity and original repertoire.
• Pig Iron Theatre Company: Philadelphia-based devised physical theatre ensemble creating original ensemble work blending movement, clown, and text. Closely comparable in ensemble-driven original devised productions and nonprofit operating model.
• Dell'Arte International: Northern California physical theatre training and producing organization rooted in the same Accademia Dell'Arte / Commedia tradition that trained Quasimondo's founder. Comparable in physical theatre focus and devised original work.
• STREB Extreme Action: Brooklyn-based action-theatre company creating original performances blending dance, circus, and stunt-driven movement. Comparable as an original-physical-performance ensemble operating in the same performance-language niche as Quasimondo.
• Manual Cinema: Chicago-based ensemble that creates original devised works combining puppetry, live music, movement, and multimedia projection. Closely comparable to Quasimondo in its interdisciplinary physical-theatre language, original-only repertoire, and Midwestern base.
• Third Rail Projects: New York-based company producing original immersive and physically-driven performance work. Comparable as an original-devised physical theatre ensemble with touring experience and a distinct aesthetic.
• Mabou Mines: New York-based experimental ensemble producing original, often avant-garde performance work. Comparable as a nonprofit original-only ensemble with avant-garde positioning and a strong critical reputation.
• SITI Company: New York-based devised theatre company creating original ensemble productions with an emphasis on physical training and collaboration. Comparable in its ensemble-driven original repertoire and physical-theatre training methodology.

Broad incumbents

• The Actors' Gang: Los Angeles-based experimental ensemble founded by Tim Robbins producing original devised work. Comparable as an established ensemble-driven experimental company with a strong brand and touring history.

Regional players

• Touch Mime Theater: Minneapolis-based physical theatre company producing original movement-driven work in the Upper Midwest. Comparable as a small ensemble physical theatre company operating in an adjacent regional market.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/quasimondopt
• Facebookfacebook.com/quasimondophysicaltheatre
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/quasimondo-physical-theatre

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Subsidiaries1 record

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 Quasimondo Physical Theatre