CATCO is a regional professional theatre company in Columbus, Ohio

Columbus, Ohio

Columbus is the capital of and the largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio. The broader metropolitan area encompasses several counties and is the third largest in Ohio behind those of Cleveland and Cincinnati. Columbus is the third largest city in the American Midwest, and the fifteenth largest city...

. Operating under an Actors' Equity

Actors' Equity Association

The Actors' Equity Association , commonly referred to as Actors' Equity or simply Equity, is an American labor union representing the world of live theatrical performance, as opposed to film and television performance. However, performers appearing on live stage productions without a book or...

 SPT 6+ contract, it produces a five- to six-show season that commonly runs from October through June and consists of contemporary, classic, and new works.

In January 1985, founding artistic director

Artistic director

An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre company, that handles the organization's artistic direction. He or she is generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogul, since the organization is generally a non-profit organization...

 Geoffrey Nelson financed a production of Bill C. Davis's Mass Appeal

Mass Appeal

Mass Appeal is a two-character play by Bill C. Davis. The comedy-drama focuses on the conflict between a complacent Roman Catholic pastor and the idealistic young deacon who is assigned to his affluent, suburban parish.-Plot:...

at the YWCA

YWCA

The YWCA USA is the United States branch of a women's membership movement that strives to create opportunities for women's growth, leadership and power in order to attain a common vision—to eliminate racism and empower women. The YWCA is a non-profit organization, the first of which was founded in...

 under the company name Columbus Theatre Project. In 1986, CATCO was incorporated as a non-profit

Non-profit organization

Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...

 and the company converted a warehouse on Park Street in the Short North

The Short North

The Short North is a neighborhood in Columbus, Ohio, United States, centered on the main strip of High Street immediately north of downtown and extending until just south of the Ohio State University campus area. It is an easy walk from the convention center or Nationwide Arena district to the north...

 to a theatre. The Park Street location remained CATCO's home until 1997 when CATCO became a resident theatre company in the Vern Riffe

Vern Riffe

Vernal G. Riffe Jr. was an American politician of the Democratic party. Riffe served for many years in the Ohio House of Representatives and was the longest serving speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives in the history of that institution, holding that office for 20 years.-Life and political...

 Center for Government and the Arts in downtown Columbus

Columbus, Ohio

Columbus is the capital of and the largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio. The broader metropolitan area encompasses several counties and is the third largest in Ohio behind those of Cleveland and Cincinnati. Columbus is the third largest city in the American Midwest, and the fifteenth largest city...

.

CATCO produces a biennial Shorts Festival. The company chooses a common setting (recent settings include a gate at Port Columbus International Airport

Port Columbus International Airport

Port Columbus International Airport , commonly shortened to Port Columbus, is a Class C international airport located east of downtown Columbus, Ohio, USA. It is managed by the Columbus Regional Airport Authority, which also oversees operations at Rickenbacker International Airport and Bolton Field...

 and a suite in the Great Southern Hotel) and accepts previously unproduced 10- to 15-minute plays. According to the company's 2006 call for submissions, "Playwrights who are Ohio

Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

 residents or who have Ohio

Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

 roots will be given preference, but any author

Author

An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...

 may submit his/her work."

Key staff

• Steven C. Anderson - Artistic Director
  Artistic director
  An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre company, that handles the organization's artistic direction. He or she is generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogul, since the organization is generally a non-profit organization...
  
  
• T.J. Gerckens – Managing Director
• Geoffrey Nelson – Artistic Director Emeritus
• Joe Bishara – Associate Artistic Director

Notable productions

• The Last Smoker in America
  The Last Smoker in America
  The Last Smoker in America is a four-character, one-act musical comedy featuring book and lyrics by Bill Russell and music by Peter Melnick. The musical had its world premiere at Contemporary American Theatre Company in Columbus, Ohio in the fall of 2010 in anticipation of an Off-Broadway opening.-...
  
  
• The Santaland Diaries
• The Exonerated
  The Exonerated
  The Exonerated is a made-for-cable television film which dramatizes the true stories of six people who had been wrongfully convicted of murder and other offenses, placed on death row, and later exonerated and freed after serving varying years in prison...
  
  
• The Pillowman
  The Pillowman
  The Pillowman is a 2003 play by Irish playwright Martin McDonagh. It received its first public reading in an early version at the Finborough Theatre, London, in 1995...