Red Mountain Theatre Company

The Red Mountain Theatre Company (RMTC) is a non-profit theater group specializing in musical theater productions.

The company was founded as the Summerfest Musical Theatre in 1979 by UAB drama professor James Hatcher with Birmingham Mayor David Vann and Birmingham Post-Herald entertainment editor Emmett Weaver. It served as a summer stock company that would extend the Town & Gown Theatre's repertoire to musical theater. As a non-profit, the group not only produces a full slate of public performances, but also provides training and education to area students. The company administers scholarships in honor of Hatcher and Fannie Flagg and operates several youth programs in the summer with visiting guest artists.

Over the years it grew into a year-round professional musical theater with summertime "Mainstage" productions at the Virginia Samford Theatre and smaller cabaret productions at its own RMTC Cabaret Theatre in the Kress Building at 301 19th Street North.

In 2007 the organization changed its name to the Red Mountain Theatre Company.

In 2008 the company received an anonymous gift of $250,000 per year for three years to be used as the basis for soliciting matching gifts toward a goal of $1.5 million by the end of 2011. Over the next decade, Kathryn Harbert led a $25 million capital campaign to help establish the theater company as a regional institution. Major donors included her and her husband, Raymond, and Gillian and Mike Goodrich. Additional funding was provided by Medical Properties Trust, the Alabama Power Foundation, and the Alabama State Council on the Arts.

Arts Campus

In 2018 Harbert and attorney Tim Segers purchased the former Huston Biscuit Co. building / Absco warehouse at 416 28th Street South with the intent of redeveloping it as an "Arts Campus" anchored by the Red Mountain Theater Company. Surveys of the existing structure convinced them that the redevelopment was impractical, and they eventually sold that property, which was demolished for a new 120-unit apartment complex.

In December 2019 ground was broken for the Arts Campus at the site of the former Wittichen Supply Co. at 1600 3rd Avenue South in the Parkside District. LIVE Design Group was the architect for the project, which was constructed by Brasfield & Gorrie with management by Harbert Realty Services. Construction continued through the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic and the new campus opened with limited seating in May 2021.

Executive directors

Keith Cromwell, 2007–

Productions

Summerfest

1979; Mame, The Desert Song, and Carousel
1980: Meet Me in St Louis, Damn Yankees, and Annie Get Your Gun
1981: Hello, Dolly!, Bye, Bye, Birdie, and Oklahoma!
1982: ShowBoat, Lil’ Abner, and Guys & Dolls
1983: The Music Man, Annie, and Barbary Coast
1984: My Fair Lady, The Pajama Game, and Peter Pan
1985: Kiss Me, Kate, Sugar, and Brigadoon
1986: The King & I, Bells Are Ringing, and South Pacific
1987: 42nd Street, No, No, Nanette, and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
1988: West Side Story, The Wiz, and George M!
1989: The Sound of Music, Barnum, and Gypsy
1990: The Unsinkable Molly Brown, The Pirates of Penzance, and Camelot
1991: Me and My Girl, Into the Woods, and Big River
1992: Kismet, Annie, and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
1993: Mame, A Chorus Line, and The Music Man
1994: OLIVER!, Fiddler on the Roof, and Bye, Bye, Birdie
1995: Peter Pan, Damn Yankees, and The King & I
1996: Phantom, Guys & Dolls, and Godspell
1997: ShowBoat, Pippin, and The Wizard of Oz
1998: The Will Rogers Follies, Crazy for You, and Cinderella
1999: All Night Strut, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and The Music Man
2000: The World Goes ‘Round, big, the musical, and Oklahoma!
2001: I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, Jerry’s Girls, Mame, and Hello, Dolly!
2002: Swingtime Canteen, My Way, a Tribute to Frank Sinatra, Grease, and Always...Patsy Cline
2003: Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill, Moon River, a Johnny Mercer Cabaret, Footloose, and Smokey Joe’s Café
2004: Sentimental Journey: The Rosemary Clooney Songbook, Forever Plaid, Beehive, and Annie
2005: Carousel with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra and the Alabama Ballet, Ain’t Misbehavin’, Spirit of Christmas, The Look of Love, Almost Heaven, Respect! A Tribute to the Queen of Soul, CATS, and Gypsy
2006: Annie Get Your Gun with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, A Grand Night for Singing, A Song for Christmas, Honky Tonk Angels, Doo-Wop, Once on This Island, and OLIVER!