Early days of MYT or, how to found and fund your own theater troupe.
I'd founded a 4-H club- a drama club- 8 years earlier.
In the 4-H drama club, we produced Shakespeare. We piloted a Creative Drama Curriculum. We visited a TV studio. We went to plays in Detroit and at Meadowbrook. In the 8 years, we had produced 11 full length plays, including 8 Shakespearean plays. We had created two touring shows. We had field trips to Stratford, Ontario for the Shakespeare Festival.
And some of the teens wanted more.
In founding Michigan Youth Theater, we drew from what we had learned from Class Act as a drama club. We drew from what we had learned from 4-H about organization and creating forms. And we did something completely new, in forming a corporation and applying for 501c3 status.
From Class Act, we had scripts for traveling shows. We had forms created for auditions. We had workable plans for scheduling rehearsals.
From 4-H, we adapted forms for media release, medical release and for collecting insurance information, and forms for registering and creating a database. We searched and found a liability insurance provider similar to that used by 4-H.
Incorporating was a relatively simple process. The government provides helpful websites for those wishing to submit articles of incorporation-- at least in Michigan. You can even find helpful hints of one kind or another or still another.
Applying to become a 501c3 non-profit was a bit more daunting. That required a bit more effort. I'll detail that in a later post.
