Hedgerow was founded in 1923 by Jasper Deeter, a theatrical visionary who built a company internationally recognized for artistic excellence. Deeter?s vision of a theatre favoring artistic quality over commercial profit foreshadowed the development of the American nonprofit regional theatre movement decades later. By all accounts the early years were dynamic and clear in artistic focus. Although the non-commercial approach to theatre came with periods of financial vulnerability, the Hedgerow theatre became a major feeder system into the national community of professional theatre artists.