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Renaissance Theatre Company finds temporary home in Church St. Orlando

Alastair Mac
25 minutes ago
4 min read

It's a Christmas Miracle as The Ren finds a temporary home in the former home of Fringe ArtSpace, thanks to the City of Orlando!

Renaissance Theatre Company finds temporary home in Church St. Orlando

Renaissance Theatre Company is thrilled to announce a temporary new home just in time for the holidays: the City of Orlando is granting a short-term lease to Renaissance Theatre Company (the Ren) at 54 W Church St in the space formerly occupied by Fringe ArtSpace (also the former home of Mad Cow Theatre). The company will bring its signature flair to the temporary home with two planned productions: a remount of their beloved original seasonal hit The Office Holiday Party Musical Extravaganza Show and, coming in January, the regional premiere of the hit movie-turned-Broadway-sensation, Mean Girls.

Opening December 5th, The Office Holiday Party will maintain its immersive atmosphere in the new venue, as guests receive nametags as honorary “co-workers” at the annual Gripp & Pfister holiday bash—only this year, the venue is all new and the hijinks hit a new level. Wander the “office” and you might stumble upon Karen from HR belting her heart out in the janitor’s closet after one too many coquitos, or end up trapped at in a conversation with Sheila—the office mensch—lamenting the lack of nice Jewish boys at holiday mixers. Wherever you land, you’ll find witty banter, spontaneous musical numbers, and a comfy perch to take in the madness, jingle juice in hand.

Mean Girls (the famous musical comedy penned by Saturday Night Live Legend Tina Fey) will open January 16th and marks a tangent for Renaissance Theatre Company, known more often for large-scale immersive productions. “The timing of all of this feels a little like kismet,” says Ren staff member Abby Cash who is slated to choreograph Mean Girls. “I’ve always loved this show so when we saw that it became available for licensing recently, we applied as quickly as we could. Even though it’s not really the kind of show we would typically produce in our normal venue, it’s perfect for this downtown space.”

On September 19th, 2025, Renaissance Theatre Company’s home venue was closed unexpectedly after their annual fire inspection; the organization had previously passed all annual inspections since opening in 2021.

The closure occurred during the Ren’s largest annual production, Nosferatu, and financial losses have exceeded $500,000, as the initial closure led to a more in depth permitting process due to the immersive nature of the kinds of productions that the Ren produces.

The company has remained afloat thanks to the generosity of Board Member Chris Kampmeier, who has been joined by 350 donors who have given more than $55,000 to the beloved non-profit. “While safety has always been a priority for us, we don’t do theatre in the traditional way, and we’re learning now how to work within city code in order to keep a fresh and innovative product. We’ll get to the other side of this and we’ll be stronger for it,” Kampmeier says. In the meantime, The Plaza Live and the Beacham Group immediately came to the company’s aid, hosting performances as the company adopted a fitting new motto: “The Ren is more than just a place…it’s you.”

Donations can still be made at rentheatre.com/donate.

A lengthy permitting process has kept the doors closed at the home venue, but Co-Founder Donald Rupe remains optimistic that things will get rectified soon enough: “One of the more challenging aspects of this has been not really knowing how long this process will take. The fine folks in Permitting are helping us where they can, but it’s one of those things that just takes time, so we haven’t been able to plan ahead and that’s been really tough.” The Ren has continued to pay its 60 staff members and artists throughout the closure, but no live performances means no revenue from ticket sales and concessions, and it’s unclear how much longer the organization could remain afloat in this manner. “Theatre people are scrappy, and we’ve worked quickly to keep the momentum of the Ren going and to continue to provide a space for our community.”

“The swift decision by the city and its Community Redevelopment Agency to support the arts community by helping us find a temporary home says a lot about our local government’s commitment to culture in Orlando. Though this type of programming isn’t necessarily what we normally do or want to do for the long haul, this will allow us time not only to get through the permitting process but also to plan ahead into 2026 and beyond,” Rupe continues.

Mean Girls will occur at the Downtown location even if the Ren gets back into their home space sooner, allowing the company time to operate a production while building and planning their homecoming performance in Ivanhoe Village. The Ren will leave the City-owned downtown venue at the end of March.

Founded in February 2021 by Donald Rupe and Chris Kampmeier, the Ren moved into its 15,468 square foot theatre space in Loch Haven Park in Summer 2021. The Ren is dedicated to producing original theatre for Orlando and beyond, focusing on fair pay for artists, sustainability, and diversity to cultivate a new theatre audience in the area. The Ren’s many successes include the popular immersive blockbuster Nosferatu, and two Off-Broadway Productions in the summer of 2024 (From Here and Ain’t Done Bad).

The Office Holiday Party runs December 5 - 22 and Mean Girls will play January 16 - March 15. Tickets for both productions are on sale now at rentheatre.com.

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