Rainbow Company

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Rainbow Company, also known as the Rainbow Company Youth Theater, is a theater company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was established in 1977 as part of the City of Las Vegas Cultural Affairs Division. The founding artistic director, Jody Johnston Davidson, is the daughter of the late Las Vegas comedian, Totie Fields.

The company mounts a season of five plays each year. Offerings are diverse: past productions have ranged across a broad spectrum of family-favorites (Cheaper by the Dozen), entertaining musicals (Oliver!), folktales, and grimmer dramas (The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds). It regularly introduces original plays dramatizing Southern Nevada's history as part of the yearly Tales of Old Nevada series, which tours elementary schools in the spring. Rainbow has also benefited from a long association with local award-winning playwright Brian Kral, whose plays have occasionally premiered on the Rainbow stage.

The Student Ensemble is one of Rainbow's most striking elements. About 40 students, ranging from 10-18 years old, are selected by open audition at the beginning of each season. These students are responsible for all the technical and backstage elements of the craft: they build sets, make costumes, hang and run lights, run sound, work as ushers, and stage-manage. In each area, they are supervised by talented professionals in the Rainbow Company staff. The fourth show of each season is particularly remarkable as student designers meet, plan, and implement concepts in consultation with the play's director.

Many alumni of the company's ensemble have gone on to successful careers in theatre, television, and film including director Joseph D. Kucan who was also once Educational Director for the company.

Over half a million people have attended performances of Rainbow Company productions.

On March 27, 2007, Rainbow was honored with Nevada's prestigious Governor's Arts Award for leadership in arts education. It won the award for best theater company in Nevada in 2004.

In June of 2007, the company celebrated it's 30th anniversary with acknowledgments from Nevada Senator's John Ensign and Harry Reid as well as proclamation from Las Vegas Mayor, Oscar Goodman, of the Rainbow Company Youth Theatre Day.