Hornets' Nest — (2008 - current)

Play reading series that features contemporary plays investigating some of the most challenging and controversial ethical/moral dilemmas of our time. Each play reading is followed by a facilitated discussion with members of the audience and an expert panel of "instigators" who represent opposing perspectives on the salient issues. Last season's hot topics included gun control reform, building a wall on the U.S./Mexico border, and the often conflicted relationship between Rochester's police department and its black community. This popular series, featured in American Theatre Magazine is in its twelfth sold out season.

Prologue Program — (1997 - current)

A thirty minute informative discussion that precedes all of the subscription shows throughout the season; Prologue illuminates the context of the play, it's origins, and the artistic process at Geva. This popular series, the puts the artist in direct connection with our community, has been mirrored by many theaters around the country.

Summer Curtain Call — (Annual)

Annual Gala Fundraiser for Geva's Education and Outreach Programs, raises over $300,000 for the evening.

Geva Comedy Improv (Annual)

Created and implemented Geva's own professional improvisational troupe, now entering its fourteenth year.

Journey to the Son — (2014)

a four day celebration of the life of Son House

Rochester's own Mississippi delta bluesman, Son House was the grandfather of the art form, and is credited as the musician who taught Robert Johnson to play slide. This-four day celebration of his life included classes, workshops, concerts, a new film on the life of Son House, and a reading of the new Geva commissioned work by Keith Glover, REVIVAL: THE RESURRECTION OF SON HOUSE. Blues Music Awards winners John Hammond, John Mooney and Christopher Thomas King performed, and the festival culminated in the commemoration of a Mississippi Blues Trail Marker permanently placed in the Corn Hill District of Rochester, where Son House once lived. All twenty events were sold out, and the festival was covered in depth nationally by The New York Times, The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and London's Blues Magazine. REVIVAL: THE RESURRECTION OF SON HOUSE closed out Geva's '18'19 season.

Stage Door Project — (2008 - current):

The Diary of Anne Frank, Our Town, To Kill a Mockingbird, Little Shop of Horrors, Private Lives, ONCE

These collaborations with local high schools are unique in the American theatre. Geva selects a show from its Mainstage season then partners with the school. The school agrees to create their version of the same show, and joins the Geva artistic process. The high school director becomes the Geva assistant director, and all areas of Geva's show are paired with partners from the high school including all actors, stage managers, dramaturgs, lighting, sound, costume, scenic, properties, run crew, wardrobe, marketing, and development. The project culminates in the high school production performed on Geva's stage under Geva's design elements - light, sound, props and tech. Nearly all Stage Door projects have been sold out, and the Geva productions that have been connected with the Stage Door Program have been amongst the highest grossing shows in the theatre's history.

Special Note - With DIARY OF ANNE FRANK, Geva partnered with the Jewish Federation of Greater Rochester and the Center for Holocaust Awareness in creating a walkthrough exhibit with artifacts about Holocaust history and to bring students of Rochester and the surrounding five counties together with Holocaust survivors to pass along living history.

Stage Door Technical Design Project — (2009-current)

Designed to introduce talented, motivated students to the creative process and skills practiced by theatre professionals in the crafting of Geva shows, giving them unique access to the production process.

Stage Door Project: Almost, Maine — (2009-2010)

Teachers and students from nine local high schools shared their collaboration with professional Geva artists to create their own work as directors, actors and designers of John Cariani's ALMOST, MAINE. Each school prepared one of the scenes from the play, working closely with the playwright and the Geva team, and combined their work to showcase their own sold out performance on the Mainstage, supported by the full design and technical elements of the Geva production.

Geva Jurists: Ambassadors for August Wilson — (2008-2011)

Four successive senior English classes from John Marshall High School studied August Wilson's AMERICAN CENTURY as it was presented in productions and readings at Geva. These students and their teachers hosted Geva guest artists in their classroom, and crafted special investigations and projects to connect the historic legacy of these plays with the stories of their own personal history in Rochester.

Music Man Community Band Project — (2011)

The Music Man Band project was a collaboration with local schools and community bands to feature their talents as the "grand finale" of Geva's production of THE MUSIC MAN. The project helped catapult The Music Man to Geva's highest attendance and box office numbers.

Geva Theatre Center/SUNY Brockport Alliance — (2002 - current)

This alliance provides a bridge between college and professional theatre. Geva teaches courses in acting, directing, playwriting, theatre management, stage management, and auditions, as well as offering internships, guest lectures, workshops, and a free ticketing program to the SUNY Brockport drama department. This alliance helps to remove the mystery often surrounding a professional career in the theatre, and to offer an initial step to our artists of the future.