Ghostlight Theatre Co

What Ghostlight Theatre Co does

Ghostlight Theatre Co operates as Starry Night Theatre, Inc., a non-profit 501(c)(3) arts and education organization based in North Tonawanda, New York. Founded in 1972 by Father Louis Dolinic as the NT Summer Theatre Workshop and incorporated in its current form on March 22, 2001, the company produces and presents live stage plays and related programming from a 208-seat venue housed in a historic 1889 former church at 170 Schenck Street. Its core product is a five-show annual mainstage season (priced as a $70 season subscription covering all five productions), supplemented by youth acting classes (ages 8-17, 10-week sessions at $200), family-friendly ghost tours around Halloween, branded merchandise (shirts, hoodies, mugs, backpacks) sold through a Creator Spring e-commerce store, and a published book of ghost stories sold on Etsy.

The business model is community-supported and diversified across ticket sales, education, merchandise, ghost-tour admissions, and donations, with no institutional funding or equity investment disclosed. Audience acquisition is community-led and word-of-mouth-driven, supported by Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, email newsletters, and an online ticketing site at starrynighttheatre.com. Founder/Director L. Don Swartz has directed 130+ plays and authored 30+ scripts distributed internationally through six theatrical publishers across 48 states and 7 countries, providing a modest royalty/licensing tail alongside the local production operations.

The customer base consists of general-audience theatregoers in Western New York, parents enrolling children in acting classes, ghost-tour attendees, and merchandise buyers, with no enterprise or contract-based revenue concentration. No AI/ML, proprietary technology stack, app, or API is present; the company operates on standard website, social media, and box-office tooling. The historic 133-year-old building functions as both operating venue and brand asset, with documented ghost lore formalized into branded products and tours.

Name

Ghostlight Theatre Co

Legal name

Starry Night Theatre, Inc.

Website

https://starrynighttheatre.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1972

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Ghostlight Theatre Co (operating as Starry Night Theatre, Inc.) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) community theatre in North Tonawanda, NY, producing a five-show annual season of live stage plays, youth acting classes (ages 8-17), Halloween ghost tours, and branded merchandise from a historic 1889 church venue with 208 seats.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Live Theatre / Performing Arts

NAICS

Theater Companies and Dinner Theaters (711110)

SIC

Services-Miscellaneous Amusement & Recreation (7990)

akta.pro primary industry

Community & Amateur Theatre (MPAGABAD)

akta.pro secondary industries

Theater & Drama Education (Acting, Improvisation, Musical Theater) (EDAMAAAG), Musical Theatre (Non-Broadway/Fringe) (MPAGABAG), Performing Arts Organizations (Theater, Dance, Opera, Music) (BPAGAHAB)

Keywords

• Live theatre productions
• Performing arts education
• Youth acting classes
• Community theatre
• Stage performance

Headquarters

HQ city

North Tonawanda

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. Ticket Sales: Individual and season ticket sales for theatrical productions. Season tickets offer all 5 main shows for $70. Individual show tickets available through box office and online.
2. Acting Classes: 10-week acting class sessions for kids and teens aged 8-17 years, priced at $200 per session. Taught by Debby Swartz and Julie Senko.
3. Merchandise Sales: Sale of branded merchandise including shirts, hoodies, coffee mugs, backpacks, and production-specific designs through an online store.
4. Ghost Tours and Events: Family-friendly ghost tours around Halloween and public ghost hunts offered throughout the year.
5. Gift Certificates: Gift certificates sold through the Box Office for single tickets or gift subscriptions.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Ghostlight Theatre Co is a 501(c)(3) non-profit arts and education organization that produces and presents live stage performances, including musicals, classics, dramas, comedies, children's theatre, and world premieres. It also offers youth acting classes, hosts ghost tours of its historic 1889 church building, and sells related merchandise and a commemorative book, with all proceeds supporting theatrical programming.

Product overview

Ghostlight Theatre Co (operating as Starry Night Theatre, Inc.) is a non-profit theatre company offering a portfolio of live theatrical productions and arts education services. The core offering consists of season ticket packages granting access to five main-stage productions annually, including musicals, dramas, and children's theatre. Supporting offerings include acting classes for youth (ages 8-17), family-friendly ghost tours around Halloween, and a merchandise store. The 2026-27 season features productions including Twisted Tales, The Christmas Rose, Renfield, Noodles, and The Little Mermaid.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Season Ticket Subscription
• Mainstage Theatre Productions
• The Little Mermaid (Children's Theatre Production)
• Youth Acting Classes
• Ghost Tours
• Ghostlight Theatre Merchandise
• The Ghosts of the Ghostlight Theatre (Commemorative Book)
• Gift Certificates

Quantifiable outcome

• 170+ stage productions produced including world premieres
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers2 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

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered minor.

• Concord TheatricalsminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorPublisher distributing scripts written by L. Don Swartz for productions worldwide. One of multiple theatrical publishers handling Starry Night Theatre's original play catalogue.
• Dramatic Publishing CompanyminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorPublisher distributing scripts written by L. Don Swartz for productions worldwide. Part of the theatre's script licensing distribution network.
• Eldridge PublishingminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorPublisher distributing scripts written by L. Don Swartz for productions worldwide.
• Big Dog PublishingminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorPublisher distributing scripts written by L. Don Swartz for productions worldwide.
• Norman Maine PlaysminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorPublisher distributing scripts written by L. Don Swartz for productions worldwide.
• Heartland Plays, Inc.minorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorPublisher distributing scripts written by L. Don Swartz for productions worldwide.
• JDS ElectricalminorOthersElectrical company owned by Jesse Swartz that sponsors the theatre's podcast. Continues sponsorship support for the theatre's multimedia content.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Beef & Boards Dinner Theatre: Beef & Boards (Indianapolis, IN) is a small-scale professional dinner/producing theatre with year-round programming and educational offerings, comparable in size and operating model to Ghostlight's community-based producing theatre.
• Barter Theatre: Barter Theatre (Abingdon, VA) is the State Theatre of Virginia and a long-running professional/community-rooted producing theatre with a comparable mix of season programming, youth outreach, and a rural/small-city footprint, making it the closest structural analog to Ghostlight.
• Ogunquit Playhouse: Ogunquit Playhouse is a historic seasonal professional theatre producing a mix of musicals and plays with a small-town footprint, closely matching Ghostlight's seasonal, locally-produced, all-ages programming model.
• Flat Rock Playhouse: Flat Rock Playhouse ('The State Theatre of North Carolina') is a similarly small-city, community-anchored professional producing theatre offering seasonal subscriptions and educational programming, structurally analogous to Ghostlight.
• Forestburgh Playhouse: Forestburgh Playhouse (Sullivan County, NY) is a small summer-stock community theatre producing musicals and plays for a regional audience, mirroring Ghostlight's scale, seasonal cadence, and family programming approach.
• Cortland Repertory Theatre: Cortland Repertory Theatre (Cortland, NY) is a small upstate NY professional summer theatre producing a season of plays and musicals with educational outreach, closely matching Ghostlight's scale, geography, and programming mix.
• Cape Playhouse: Cape Playhouse (Dennis, MA) is America's oldest professional summer theatre, with a comparable seasonal producing model, small venue footprint, and family-friendly programming mix serving a regional audience.
• Mac-Haydn Theatre: Mac-Haydn Theatre (Chatham, NY) is a small seasonal community theatre in upstate New York with a musicals-focused repertoire, serving a comparable rural/upstate audience with a similar small-employee, volunteer-supported model.

Regional players

• Shea's Performing Arts Center: Shea's (Buffalo, NY) is the dominant regional presenting venue in Western New York, serving the same geographic audience Ghostlight draws from but at a much larger scale with touring productions rather than locally produced ones, making it the primary regional incumbent.

Broad incumbents

• Goodspeed Musicals: Goodspeed Musicals (East Haddam, CT) is a larger, established musical theatre producer known for developing new shows; it overlaps with Ghostlight's musical programming and script-development heritage but operates at a national scale.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/StarryNightTheatre
• Instagraminstagram.com/starrynighttheatre
• TikToktiktok.com/@starrynighttheatre
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/starry-night-theatre-inc

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 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 Ghostlight Theatre Co