About Ragtag

Who We Are

Ragtag Theatre Company is a group of diverse artists dedicated to creating fresh and inclusive family theatre.

What We Do

We do fairytales. But no yo mama’s fairy tales. We do drag infused fractured fairy tales that spoof and riff off of pop culture, and we do it all in the style of Commedia dell’Arte, which is an early style of Italian street theatre. Our shows are highly interactive and we use improvisation to engage directly with the audience. In our productions eccentric and out- of-the-box personalities are celebrated. It is our goal as a theatre company to empower and inspire our audiences to live big colorful lives and to embrace what makes them different. #beweird

Community and Education Outreach

Since 2015, RTC has marched in the New York City Pride March to celebrate our LGBTQ+ youth and their families, and continues to work with various LGBTQ organizations. For all of our shows we offer a self-empowerment pre-show runway extravaganza with the Fairy Godmother entitled “Get Fierce and Fabulous with the Fairy Godmother”. RTC also offers Commedia dell’ Arte workshops and classes for students in grades 3-12, and just recently completed a 2 month residency at Barrington Stage Company. In summer 2017, RTC participated in the Paul Newman’s Hole in The Wall Gang Summer Fandango.

History Of Ragtag Theatre

The world premiere productions of “The Commedia Cinderella” and “The Commedia Rapunzel” (original titles) were produced by Columbia Children’s Theatre in Columbia, South Carolina in the summers of 2012 and 2013. Then in 2015, Rapunzel was reworked and produced by The Scranton Shakespeare Festival in Scranton PA on July 17th, 2015. It was then selected to be a part of the New York International Fringe Festival 2015 (FringeJr.), and went on as the only FringeJr. show to the “Best of Fringe” 10th anniversary Fringe Encore Series. Shortly after that Rapunzel opened Off Broadway at the SoHo Playhouse and was nominated for Best Family Show by the Off Broadway Alliance. In 2016, Ragtag Theatre Company was formed and a reimagined production of Cinderella debuted and ran until July 2016. In 2017, Ragtag Theatre’s Cinderella won the Off Broadway Alliance Award for Best Family Show as well as the KidsPass Parent’s Choice Award for Best Performing Arts Company. Ragtag Theatre’s Cinderella played a sold out limited engagement Off Broadway in NYC at McGinn/Cazale Theatre and Theatre Row (2017 – 2018). Since then, Ragtag Theatre Company has toured schools and performing arts centers ranging from cafeterias to 800 seat performing arts centers. We recently completed a 3 week residency in at Redhouse Arts Center in Syracuse, NY where we played in schools and libraries for students in grades 3-5 and for families of the community. So far, Rapunzel and Cinderella and have been produced by 7 different companies in 4 different states.