1986 – Suzy Bassani, Caryl D. Philips and Sara Exley joined forces to form Dayton’s own permanent professional theatre production company, incorporating it as The Human Race on April 28. The first production, Count Dracula, was performed at the old Victory Theatre in September. Kevin Moore became the first Executive Director, the position he still holds today.

1988 – We moved into the renovated lobby of the old Biltmore Hotel, where we performed four seasons – 19 major productions.

1991 – We produced and performed Viva Victoria to re-open the newly refurbished Victoria Theatre in January. Suzy retired from The Human Race to focus on the Muse Machine and Marsha Hanna was named as her successor. In June, we moved to our current home, The Loft Theatre in the Metropolitan Arts Center.

1992 – Negotiations were completed with Actors’ Equity, the union for professional actors and stage managers. We began our practice of combining our regional professional artists with visiting artists from Chicago, New York and other metropolitan areas.

1993 – The Human Race was accepted into Culture Works as a Level I constituent, establishing the company as an on-going recipient of community funds and insuring that a theatre production company would be a part of Dayton’s future cultural scene.

1996 – We premiered And That’s My Story as the completion of the Dayton Stories project, a 3-year collaboration with CityFolk in honor of the Dayton’s 200th anniversary. With an original script by Tony Dallas and directed by Sheila Ramsey, it featured the talents of Resident Artists Michael Lippert, Kay Bosse, and Scott Stoney as well as Sharon Leahy, Rick Good and other members of Rhythm in Shoes.

1997 – We began our partnership with the Victoria Theatre Association. By splitting our subscription series into Loft Series 1 and Loft Series 2 and mixing locally produced theatre with innovative touring productions, we increased our subscription base by 100%. This partnership between a producer and a presenter was unique to the industry, setting a precedent in other cities.

1999 – We commissioned and produced the world premiere of Mother Russia by Jeffrey Hatcher and moved the show to Indianapolis and Chicago. This represented our 4th collaboration with The Phoenix Theatre of Indianapolis.

2000 – We launched our Musical Theatre Workshop, dedicated to the development of new musical works for the stage (18 new musicals to date and 2 national summits for musical writers).

2001 – West Side Story combined our talents with The Dayton Philharmonic, Dayton Ballet, Victoria Theatre and Wright State University for an epic collaboration with record-breaking ticket sales.

2003 – We commissioned and produced the world premiere of Wild Blue for the Inventing Flight celebration. Our Executive Director, Kevin Moore, and Artistic Director, Marsha Hanna, were both inducted into the Dayton Theatre Hall of Fame.

2004 – The Human Race “Join the Race” 5K Run/Walk was introduced as a friend raiser. In the inaugural year of The DayTony Awards, The Human Race received 34 of 39 Awards in the Professional Theatre category. Resident Artist Scott Stoney was inducted into the Dayton Theatre Hall of Fame.

2005 – The “Race to the Future” capital campaign was launched to raise funds for renovation and programming of the new Caryl D. Philips Creativity Center of The Human Race, a facility to house both the additional classes and the company’s collection of costumes and props.

2006 – We began our 20th anniversary season. Kevin Moore was named to the board of the National Alliance for Musical Theatre. Resident Artist Kay Bosse was inducted into the Dayton Theatre Hall of Fame.

2007 – April 28th marks the 21st birthday of the company, a coming of age which will be celebrated in a day full of events, as we set off on a new decade of entertainment and discovery. Mark Your Calendars!! Plan To Join Us!!