New Light Theatre Company
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 833145708
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2022–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2025, Form 990-N 2021
- Location
- Bear, DE, USA
- Phone
- 6102202690
- Rating
- 64
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Theater
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $193,547
- Expenses
- $191,855
- Assets
- $70,069
- Liabilities
- $0
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
10 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Lena Mucchetti (Artistic Director / Board President)
- Newton Buchanan (Technical Director / Board Vice-President)
People named in this filing
- Lena Mucchetti (Artistic Director / Board President)
- Thomas Mucchetti (Managing Director / Board Treasurer)
- Newton Buchanan (Technical Director / Board Vice-President)
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
New Light Theatre is dedicated to improving the human condition by partnering each production with thematically connected charitable causes, while also placing a special emphasis on providing opportunities for student and emerging theatre artists to work in a professional setting. New Light Theatre is committed to bringing light to the darkness of the world, to raising awareness and support for organizations that illuminate, and to deepening our empathy and connection with one another through meaningful artistic work.
What it reported doing in 2025
New Light Theatre produced two full-scale productions in 2025: Our Town by Thornton Wilder in support of Delaware Hospice and Once by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova in support of RISE at JFS DE. Roughly 2,100 patrons attended these productions.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 61% 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
SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and program spending has grown recently. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 55
- Transparency & Controls: 73
- Sustainability: 41
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 55.1%; rating input score 55
- Program expense ratio: 55.3%; rating input score 55
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 88.9%; rating input score 89; 1st percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Limited
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 0.9%; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.37; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 20.9% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 36.1% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 36.8% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 55.1% of revenue deployed · 55.3% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $106K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 10 people listed
- Consistency: 9 of 9 current checks pass
- Schedules: 2 filed schedules
- Filing history: 3 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.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 55/100.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 55/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 34/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 30/100.