I never planned on starting a theatre company. As I was driving back and forth to rehearsals for my fourth production of Bye Bye Birdie, my mind would wander. I had been working as a music director and accompanist in the Sacramento theatre community for the past ten years and I kept working on the same shows over and over again. I appreciated the 'standard' musicals but longed to do something different, something that many deemed too risky. I decided to make a list of shows that I had always wanted to music direct, but were rarely attempted in the community. I realized that to make any of these shows happen, I would have to produce them myself. I decided that I would need a likeminded partner, so I contacted Maggie Hollinbeck, a highly respected actress and music director who I hoped shared my feelings about the local theatre scene. After much deliberation we decided on producing William Finn's musical about a family living at the dawn of the AIDS era, Falsettos. Not having a space of our own we worked out of Davis Musical Theatre Company's Hoblit Performing Arts Center, in Davis, CA. Assembling a cast of some of the brightest talent in Sacramento, Falsettos began rehearsing in the my parent's living room, the closest thing we had to a rehearsal hall. One night after a late rehearsal, I was speaking to our director, Michael RJ Campbell, about future projects. When Michael asked what was next for the company, I realized that my initial "let's put on a show" idea had grown into something much larger than I had ever anticipated. Performers and audiences felt a growing need for this type of theatre in the community, and Artistic Differences was born.

Falsettos opened in July of 2006 to rave reviews by local critics. Word of mouth spread and audiences tripled by the second weekend, which was unfortunately also its closing weekend. Davis Enterprise reviewer Bev Sykes wrote, "If the first production, Falsettos, now playing at the Hoblit Performing Arts Center, is any indication, Artistic Differences should have a long and successful life." Not wanting to rush into another show too quickly, we decided to wait a full year until mounting our second production, the 60's tribal love-rock musical, HAiR. Playing at California Stage (formerly The Space) in midtown Sacramento, HAiR sold out it's month long run due to word of mouth from our ever growing audience and glowing reviews in the Sacramento Bee, Folsom Life, Davis Enterprise and Sacramento News and Review. Audiences flocked to a repurposed warehouse next to the lightrail to experience the hippie revival and HAiR became the hottest ticket in town.

2008 was a year of tremendous growth for our company. With Hollinbeck stepping into the role of Artistic Director, Daniells moved to the role of Executive Producer and new staff members joined the company: Kelly Daniells as General Manager, Ian Cullity as Technical Director and Ken Pierce joined as Public Relations Director. Our first full season has seen the Sacramento premiere of the musical bare, which performed to sold out houses, and our critically acclaimed productions of Stephen Sondheim's bare, which performed to sold out houses, and our critically acclaimed production of Stephen Sondheim's Assassins.

As we move into our second season, Artistic Differences is looking to the future. With plans to increase our staff, establish a board of directors and one day open our own venue, we haven't forgotten our goals. We strive to be the premiere producer of lesser known musicals in the greater Sacramento area. We remain committed to providing our audiences with a fresh and unique interpretation of the musical theatre art form while providing the highest production values possible. As we begin work on our new season of musicals, we hope that audiences will again take the journey with us to discover lost and underperformed works in the musical theatre repetoire.

Erik Daniells
Executive Producer, Artistic Differences