Formerly known as "Ooky-Spooktacular Productions," Kitchen Sink Theatre Company was founded in 2021 by Katie Royse Ginther and Audrey Andrews for the purposes of mounting a production of The Rocky Horror Picture Show in Bellingham, WA. Rehearsed in a driveway and performed to sold-out crowds in a local firehouse, Rocky Horror was the first drop from the faucet that would become Kitchen Sink. Following the success of Rocky Horror, Royse Ginther produced and directed another theatrical project in Bellingham, this time for The Sylvia Center for the Arts. Good Water, written by Jessica Moreland, is now a nationally acclaimed play which received The National Partners of the American Theatre Award from The Kennedy Center in 2022. A summer stock season in partnership with The Sylvia Center followed, and to nourish the company’s growing ambitions, Royse Ginther moved KSTC to New York City in 2023.

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KSTC’s New York debut was April 2023’s 48-Hour Play Festival at Matthew Corozine Studio, an event designed to connect with a new artistic community. Building on these relationships, KSTC went on to produce Poster Child by Caroline Ullman at the now-defunct Kraine Theatre, 54 Sings Diana the Musical at 54 Below and a NYC reading of Good Water.

The 2024 season was dedicated to carving out the company’s artistic identity within New York City, fostering collaborations that continue to bear artistic fruit. We presented six staged readings by a diverse slate of LGBTQ+ playwrights: Ever, Oscar by Maeve Chapman, STRIKE/OUT by Lizz Managan, Affecting Expression by Eliana Cohen-Orth, Clown Lung by Steven San Luis, and Role Models by Caroline Ullman.

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The 2024 Season also included five full productions: Delivery Boy by Jaden Alvaro-Gines, Nosebleed: A “Comedy” of Hypotheticals, Crazy Loud Sex, and Mail by Carly Polistina, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and PickNic: A Nic Cage Variety Show* created by BT Hayes. 

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To support these projects, KSTC has hosted two major fundraiser events at the DIY Brooklyn venue Rubulad in June and September. We were the proud recipients of a 2023 IndieSpace Pay Your People Grant and a Broadway Greening Grant. In-kind support has ranged from free pizza for our production of Delivery Boy to gifted rehearsal and performance space from Cordelia Brooklyn and Playgarden Prep. Finally, we have received minor support from individuals via our online donation form. 

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To date, Kitchen Sink has received ten BroadwayWorld Award nominations: three Off-Broadway nominations for our production of Poster Child by Ozzy Dickson, and seven for Delivery Boy by Jaden Alvaro-Gines including Best Scenic Design and Best Off-Off-Broadway Production.

The three new works chosen for our 2025 staged reading series – The Unauthorized Blair Witch Musical, Snog Islet, and Everything I Do, I Do for Taylor Swift – embrace humor as a tool for social commentary, utilizing comedic settings and queer cultural touchpoints to investigate mechanisms of power. By developing these works over multiple seasons, we simultaneously invested in our own future and helped launch the artistic voices who will define the medium’s future.

Our 2025 full productions, Pandora’s Shut-the-Box Game and Protect the Protectors, exemplified our belief that theatre must challenge authority and provide a space for reflection and action. These plays confront global injustices and address our present political angst head-on, inviting audiences to engage with urgent conversations in ways that only live performance can facilitate.

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Ending our season with The Rocky Horror Picture Show was a testament to our commitment to queer joy and liberation. The first production Kitchen Sink ever staged, Rocky Horror, remains a symbol of our company’s past, present, and future – a bold, irreverent celebration of identity, community, and the radical act of being unapologetically yourself.

2025 marked an exciting milestone for Kitchen Sink Theatre Company as we initiate partnerships with other small independent theatre companies to create new artistic and community opportunities. In March, KSTC collaborated with Walk Up Theatre Collective and Forager Theatre Company to co-present The Neighborhood, a new works festival.. This one-night-only event celebrated the three independent theatre companies, each showcasing a short reading of a new work.

Additionally, KSTC teamed with Forager Theatre Company to host a networking event in June 2025. Designed to bring both artistic communities together, this event provided a valuable space for artists to connect, build relationships within their fields, and foster new creative collaborations.

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Community members often express their appreciation for Kitchen Sink Theatre Company’s impact, sharing sentiments such as, “The work [KSTC] does is so inspiring!” (Halley Platz). Many have found a true sense of belonging, with one artist stating, “I feel more at home with KSTC than I did with my college theatre department,” (Bali Kay) and another sharing, “I feel like I have finally found my artistic home” (Sam Bash).