Caption: (From left) Theatre NOVA artistic directors Diane Hill, Briana O’Neal, and Carla Milarch are staying flexible and widening their search for grants in the face of Trump’s National Endowment for the Arts cuts. | J. Adrian Wylie
Across Huron St. from the YMCA, the Yellow Barn emerges incongruously from the parking lot, its yellow and green exterior popping out from the surrounding service businesses. Step inside, and you’ll find yourself in Theatre NOVA’s intimate performance space. There’s room for just seventy people, with seats right up to the stage.
Theatre NOVA takes pride in their size—with only seven permanent staff members, they’re on the smaller side for a professional theater company.
“Our size isn’t a limitation, it’s our superpower,” says producing artistic director Diane Hill. Without the weight of a larger space and staff, Theatre NOVA is able to take risks and try new things—for instance, it’s the only professional theatre in Southeast Michigan committed to exclusively performing contemporary works.
Theatre NOVA is heading into its eleventh season in 2026 in the face of financial uncertainty. In the summer of 2025, the Trump administration called for a 35 percent cut in funding for the National Endowment for the Arts. Its grants are vital to many creative organizations, and Theatre NOVA is no exception.
“The biggest and most devastating thing is how this is affecting the Michigan Arts and Culture Council,” says Theatre NOVA’s founding artistic director Carla Milarch. The MACC is responsible for disbursing federal funds to community organizations, but now its future is up in the air.
“Honestly, we don’t even know if there will be MACC funding next season,” Milarch says. “It’s devastating, and if it turns out there is no MACC funding, we will lose between 5 and 10 percent of our annual operating revenue.”
Theatre NOVA depends on federal funding for support in multiple areas of operation: compensating actors and playwrights, maintaining and upgrading performance and rehearsal spaces and their accessibility, funding their Playmakers Summer Camp to bring theater education to Ann Arbor students, and continuing to function in countless other ways.
“Without continued support from NEA and MACC, we risk losing a consistent and reliable source of income that sustains our core operations,” explains Shelby Seeley, a producing artistic director and the literary manager of Theatre NOVA. “Our mission—to bring new plays and new voices to Ann Arbor—would be at serious risk.”
Theatre NOVA is preparing by staying flexible and trusting in their Ann Arbor community. They’ve also widened their search for grants, donors, and sponsors.
“The first [step] is to apply for as many other community and national grants as we have time to write,” says Milarch. “We’ve already secured our first national grant from the Shubert Foundation, so we are having success!”
In such uncertain times, Theatre NOVA isn’t losing sight of their mission as a company and their commitment to supporting the arts, no matter what. As Briana O’Neal, producing artistic director and resident stage manager, puts it, “We all need the arts, and right now, the arts need you.”