In the spring of 2003, a group of about 20 of Washington University's Performing Arts students sat around a table at Uncle Bills Pancake House, anxious and unsure about their future in the world of theatre after their upcoming graduation. This 3 a.m. meal was the last of many like gatherings where we learnt our Edison show lines, wrote our Hotchner award-winning plays, analyzed the play we would direct for a senior thesis, and most importantly, laughed, cried, and stayed up all night talking about our passion, insecurities, aspirations, and dreams.

One dream in particular was born out of this middle-of-the-night last-hoorah over pancakes and eggs. Nice People is a dream that had been in the making for a long time and talked about at just about every 3am pancake gathering. But before we all went our separate ways a few days later, we signed a mission statement and contract on the back of the Uncle Bills Pancake House menu/placemat that this dream would, when the time was right, become a reality. Today that ‘contract’ is framed and hung in the lobby of the theatre for each of our productions.