Little Lake Theatre, a Pittsburgh-area community theatre whose artistic director is Columbia College Chicago Theatre alum Patrick Cannon ’12, a graduate of the Theatre Program’s BA Program in Musical Theatre, is thriving at a time when many theatres are facing financial challenges and audience dropoff, according to an article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette published June 6, 2025. Under Cannon’s leadership for the past five years, Little Lake is “an exception to the erratic post-COVID trends so common at other nonprofit performing arts organizations,” wrote Post-Gazette music critic Jeremy Reynolds in a story headlined “Pittsburgh’s Little Lake Theatre Defies the Odds with Surges in Attendance and Revenue.”

“Little Lake Theatre was born in a barn. But unlike so many larger Pittsburgh theatre organizations that are struggling with attendance and finances, the company is currently seeing growth in ticket sales, subscriptions and donations,” the article says. “Little Lake’s . . . budget is roughly $600,000, tiny in comparison to the Broadway-oriented Pittsburgh CLO’s $8 million budget or Pittsburgh Public Theatre’s roughly $7 million budget. . . . At Little Lake, 2025 subscriptions have surpassed 2024’s by 28% and 2023 numbers by 60%, [and] the organization’s overall box office profit has increased 32% over the historical average from 2006-2023, as well.”

As a community organization, Little Lake – located in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, about a 30-minute drive from downtown Pittsburgh – produces nine shows a year with unpaid amateur actors and production crews. “Some of the best actors in the city are high school teachers or accountants, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t get to act,” Cannon says in the article, adding that he hopes to pay his volunteer actors a modest stipend if the organization continues to grow.

“Part of our goal is to merge the professional and community theatre scene,” Cannon adds, noting that many of the volunteers who work at Little Lake later land spots at degree programs for acting or technical work or go on to paid professional jobs. Says Cannon, who is himself a working professional actor in addition to his position at Little Lake: “I’ll never be in The Beatles, but if I can introduce Paul to John, then that’s the goal.”

In addition to its productions, Little Lake offers workshops in acting, directing, and auditioning, led by Cannon and his fellow Columbia College alum, Pittsburgh-based J. Cody Spellman ’13, a graduate of the Theatre Program’s Theatre Directing program, as well as summer acting camps for children and seniors. And the Post-Gazette article emphasizes that community theatres like Little Lake, under Cannon’s leadership for five years now, serve as social centers for the communities they serve. “Volunteer actors at Little Lake regularly bring their families to performances and rehearsals to hang out or help with the technical aspects of a show. It’s a place to unwind and bond and create,” the article notes before quoting Cannon as saying, “This place creates a lot of weddings and a lot of babies. We’re crafting a place for life to happen outside of work. It really is a family.”

To read the full article, click here.