Welcome. It's nice to meet you.
Our Team
Sarah Lopez | Chief Financial Officer
Johánna Crystal | Founder & Chief Executive Officer
M. Perez | Chief Technology Officer
Our Mission
Sunny Side Theatre Co is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit charity dedicated to Black, API & multicultural representation and mental health awareness in Sacramento theatre. We aim to connect disenfranchised theatrical artists of color while producing collaborative art that is both humanizing and economically accessible.
Photo credit: UvVisions Photography
About Us
This organization is the first Black & Filipino, women-led nonprofit theatre company in Sacramento, California. The team works to create evocative stage and technical opportunities while accommodating, contributing to, and elevating the inclusion of thespians from all backgrounds, abilities, and identities.
In 2019, Founder & CEO Johánna Crystal was moved by the need for genuine portrayals of color and nurturing disability practices in the Sacramento theatre community. With her team, Sarah Lopez & M. Perez, Crystal strives to bridge the representation gap by creating authentic programming through the plays she writes and directs.
As Sunny continues to grow, Crystal has begun adapting licensed work and developing hybrid theatre & film showcases as well. She purposefully recruits diverse cast and crew members and partners with local cultural organizations.
Sunny has previously received support from Sacramento Office of Arts + Culture, California Arts Council, CRC Theatre Department, Shuttered Venue Operators, California Endowment, APIs RISE Fund, Black Artist Foundry and Artist Relief.
Racial Equity Statement
Sunny is rooted in the artistic equity of Black, Asian/Pacific Islander and multiracial communities of color. Our organization executes racially equitable programming well, because not only are we hands-on artists from these communities, our mission and model are rooted in and guided by our goals of expressive economic change. A 2021 study examined in the “Journal of Experimental Social Psychology” asserts that attending live theatre promotes empathy, illuminates viewpoints regarding socioeconomic welfare, and leads to prosocial behavior.
Our programs are designed to reflect a social action model. Under this model, Sunny focuses on creating stage opportunities, providing free coaching and conducting polls. We listen and respond to, empower, and connect disenfranchised Sacramento thespians while making the art produced is healing, humanizing and accessible to patrons of varying socioeconomic backgrounds. To reach these targeted audiences, we keep our stage ticket costs–whether video-on-demand or live–low ($0-$30). We charge no membership fees, and offer travel stipends to artists and crew to minimize barriers in member participation.
We also encourage artists of any performance level to audition! We honor true inclusion in the arts by writing, casting, staging and offering original and mindfully selected programming that is the product of research and real life. We want to reach and teach our local community members wherever they hail from and currently reside. Our work is a culmination of our honed experience and passionate belief that no person who seeks out art should ever come away feeling like they do not belong in such spaces. We have zero tolerance for prejudice and toxicity of any kind, and encourage positive communication practices within and beyond our Sunny team. We lead by learning, and strive to consistently reevaluate to elevate what it means to be a cultural arts practitioner.
