DRAGONFLY THEATRE COMPANY DBA Subtext Studio TC

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
853867867
IRS 990-EZ coverage
2022–2025
Forms available
Form 990-EZ 2025, Form 990-N 2021
Location
Chicago, IL, USA
Phone
3123074861
Rating
94
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Theater

Reported finances

Revenue
$39,299
Expenses
$45,515
Assets
$7,317
Liabilities
$0

Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

8 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Rodrigo Fernandez (President, Board of Directors)
  • Emmanuel Flores (Vice President, Board of Directors)

People named in this filing

  • Omar Fernandez (Artistic Director)
  • Jean Gottlieb (Managing Director)
  • Zuzel Garcia (Media/Marketing)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Live theater for literary, cultural and educational purposes

What it reported doing in 2025

Dragonfly Theatre Company (dba Subtext Studio TC) produces new plays that are by, for and about traditionally marginalized communities and peoples in order to express the ideas, voices, and experiences of all people. We endeavor to make these shows accessible for all people, because a shared experience can foster understanding and empathy. We offer low and no cost theater to remove any barriers to the cultural arts and provide access to theater in multiple communities. Our programming includes Productions of new plays and an annual New Play Festival. Each season we produce two new plays that focus on the season's theme. The 2025-26 Season was entitled Haunted and the plays we produced were Saving Myself by Maria Arreola, which focused on teen relationships and participated in the 8th International Chicago Latino Theater Festival, and Odessa by Dante Flores, which focused the question what makes us human? The first annual New Play Festival is scheduled to took place in July 2025 and fetured four emergin gplaywrigths and their new plays. Our productions are staffed by Chicago Actors and Designers, rehearse in Chicago and have performed in various venues in Chicago. We offer free student performances for University of Illinois Chicago and Benito Juarez Academy each season, and approach Chicago-based Service Organizations to partner with us in educating community members through post show discussions. We serve an estimated 750-1500 community members each year and employ 60-80 Chicago area artists. After the 25-26 season Dragonfly Theatre changed it's mission and programming to focus on plays by, for and about women.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 82% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Revenue has declined or grown slowly and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 100
  • Transparency & Controls: 100
  • Sustainability: 30
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -15.8%; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.16; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 1.3% per year; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -14.6% per year; rating input score 0; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -29.6% per year; rating input score 0; 7th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: Filed governance answers
  • Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $46K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 8 people listed
  • Consistency: 9 of 9 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2022 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 24/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 16/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 56/100.