Elevated Storytelling

The mission of Cadence is to inspire, transform, and educate our community by developing talent and presenting contemporary theater and film works that uplift the spirit, challenge the mind, and honor both our individuality and our shared humanity. Through a commitment to artistic excellence, Cadence fearlessly tells the stories of our lives as we live them now. 

Cadence is a vibrant theater company committed to promoting artistic excellence and celebrating the world's most renowned playwrights, composers, screenwriters, and lyricists. The company was founded in November 2009 by Anna Johnson and staged its highly acclaimed inaugural production of Sam Shepard’s Fool for Love at The Firehouse Theatre Project.

As an emerging company, Cadence quickly gained the support of Richmond’s theatrical community and in early 2011 formed a long-term collaboration with Virginia Rep. This alliance provided Cadence with a permanent home and enabled the company to uphold and strengthen live theater as a vital art form, build future audiences for all theaters in Richmond, and create safe spaces for critical dialogue across communities. In 2022, Cadence moved from Virginia Rep’s Theatre Gym to the Libby S. Gottwald Playhouse as a result of the worldwide pandemic.

Cadence offers a wide range of education and outreach programs for people of all ages, including KdentsTV, a student leadership team; the STAGE WRITE College Prep & Workforce Readiness Program; Cadence Camps; the TRAIN Pre-Professional Training Program; Cadence Internships; and the Unstaged classes and workshops for adults.

Since its formation, Cadence has produced a wide variety of critically acclaimed Mainstage shows, winning Richmond Theatre Critics Circle (RTCC) awards for Best Play in 2012, 2014, 2018, and 2019, and an award for Best Musical in 2015. Cadence was also awarded the Virginia ArtStars Award in 2018 and in 2022 Best Acting Studio in Richmond by DistinguishedTeaching.com. The company has won several international and national awards for its film projects and was recently awarded a prestigious Challenge America grant through the National Endowment for the Arts.

Notable programs include the Pipeline New Works Fellowship Program, led by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and screenwriter David Lindsay-Abaire, and Sitelines BLM, led by Omiyemi (Artisia) Green, and the an original episodic TV series in production, Bloodlines.

– Anna Johnson
Founding Artistic and Managing Director