funding your theater troupe

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Theater is an expensive art. There is an old theater adage that in theater, you might "get lucky and make a killing, but you may not be able to make a living".

A first step in determining how to fund your theater troupe is to determine what your costs are likely to be.

Some likely costs:

1. costumes and make up- Depending on the show, these may be built, bought (for cheap at Salvation Army or Goodwill- or you may shop at real retail if you have the budget), or borrowed/rented.
   
2. fees, honoraria, stipends- You may consider paying the director, tech director, or various specialists for workshops in dance, design, music, or stage combat.
   
3. food- I've been working in youth theater for many years. EVERYTHING goes much more smoothly with adequate hydration and snacks every couple of hours. This works for adult groups too. These needs may be addressed by donated items or requesting folks to bring their own; however, I am listing food because I believe it to be an essential ingredient to successful theater!
   
4. insurance- At the very least, you should consider having liability insurance.
   
5. office supplies- Paper and pencils and pens, oh my! The thousand and one things needed to keep your organization organized must to come from somewhere.
   
6. postage- More and more communications are digital; however, there are still uses for the post office in mailing checks for reimbursement, sending packages, mailing promotional materials.
   
7. printing- Printing will be needed for programs, scripts, enrollment forms, posters, promotional materials.
   
8. props- "Properties" such as canes, cards, guns and roses may be acquired in much the same ways as costumes.
   
9. rental- You will need to plan for rental of rehearsal space, of performance space, of tech equipment such as lighting or microphones, of instruments- you name it. However, the big one is space: unless you are fortunate enough to have a relationship with a site suitable for rehearsal and/or performance, this is a big expense.
   
10. repairs- You will need to plan for the repair of the items you have in inventory, or (gulp) the ones you borrow that get damaged.
    
11. royalties- Theater artists should support other theater artists! If you are using a script written by a modern playwright, or a script translated recently, you will need to pay royalty fees to the holder of the copyright/publisher of the script. One of the many benefits of Shakespeare- and Shaw and Wilde as well- is that the scripts are in the public domain, and thus royalty free.
    
12. scripts- The physical scripts themselves may need to be purchased. This is a separate cost from the royalty costs.
    
13. sets- These can be inexpensive using backdrop curtains or existing sets on your site and borrowed furniture- or elaborate and expensive - or anywhere in between.
    
14. technology- Depending on your play and your concept, this may include laptops, light projectors, dimmer boards for lights, mixing boards for sound. Again these may be borrowed or rented. A website is fast becoming a necessity for virtually* any organization.
    
15. video- Often friends or family of the cast will volunteer; however, having a quality video is often well worth the price of having a professional do your recording.

In my theater troupes, we have found ways to minimize every one of those costs.

1. Costumes have been supplied by parents for individual actors, or costumes have been supplied by the actors themselves. Costumes have been borrowed from other theater troupes at low/no cost. While the plus side is that the costume budget is low, the negative side is that the design unity will inevitably suffer.
2. For years I was not paid for any of my work, nor was anyone else. While this use of a "labor of love" keeps costs down, it can also lead to burn out of your best- and also to the difficulty of "firing" those whose work is not the best in quality or in timeliness.
3. Food costs can be kept down by asking each family to take turns donating snacks or to have members bring their own.
4. I don't advocate skimping on insurance. This is for everyone's protection.
5. Office supplies are often donated by members/participants.
6. Postage costs have decreased as more and more communication has become electronic.
7. Printing costs can be brought down by printing fewer items. Sometimes, materials can be distributed as PDF files and each individual user can print their own.
8. Props are borrowed whenever possible. It was a game for my husband to try to spot how many items from our home were onstage. On one occasion, as the set opened to the interior of Scrooge's home, my husband turned to me and said, "Wow! We have a wall clock at home just like that one!" Without missing a beat, I said, "No we don't- not right now, anyway!"
9. Rental costs are hard to keep down. Our troupes have borrowed members' basements for rehearsal, rehearsed outdoors in public parks, and negotiated percentage-of-profit or percentage-of-fees payments to some of the theater spaces we have used.
   
10. Repairs can only be minimized by being very careful with the materials that you use.
11. Our troupes have favored the plays of Shakespeare because they are brilliant- and also because they are royalty free, since the works are now public domain. When using the work of a living translator for Sophocles' Antigone, we were able to find a translation online that the translator made available royalty-free- so long as you acknowledged the work and let the translator know where your performance was.
12. Scripts have been distributed as PDF attachments in email, for individual printing.
13. Set costs can be minimized by creative use of design- deliberately choosing minimalist or easily borrowed/adapted sets.
14. Technology costs have been minimized by having crew members use their own laptops, and/or borrowing from the theater spaces we are using. Volunteers for website design and maintenance can be lovely, but you are not retaining ownership and control of your site.
    
15. Videos have often been made by friends and family, with distribution costs borne by individual purchasers (Hey! Give me a blank tape and I'll make you a copy!). However, in more recent years, MYT was fortunate to connect with Double Vision, a team of videographers who taped the shows and sold the DVDs to the cast members, at no/low cost to MYT. The quality of these videos has been far superior to the volunteers from previous seasons.

So- those are some of the tips for reducing costs. However, reducing costs doesn't make them disappear! The problem of funding remains.

Funding sources can include:

1. admission- This is the easiest source of funds. Most people are used to paying admission fees to performances. Depending on where you are performing, or the requirements of any grants you may have received, you may need to call these funds "suggested donations".
2. advertisements- Selling ads in your program is another way to garner funds for your production.
   
3. donations- One of the best reasons for actually incorporating and seeking status as a 501(c)3 organization is that you can offer tax benefits to those who give you donations. As a 501(c)3, you can also give tax credit for donations of tangible goods, such as furniture or costumes. We have also asked for donations for our refreshments table at show time- each family contributing items, which the troupe then sells to the audience members at intermission, often for a "suggested donation" price.
   
4. fees- The instituting of cast or show fees for participants was a difficult choice for me to make. However, when one considers the fees paid by student dancers or musicians for their performances and/or concerts, it does make sense. The fees collected not only go towards the costs of costumes and props for the production at hand, but also go towards the cost of insurance and other indirect costs.
   
5. grants- Grants can be challenging to write, and the pool of grant money for the arts is drying up these days. Nevertheless, funds are available for the arts and the long hours of research and writing can pay off big time for specific projects or even for your organization.
   
6. sales- Sales of refreshments, tee shirts, videos and other merchandise can offset the costs of- and sometimes even net a small profit from- the merchandising of memories.
   
7. sponsors- Finding an angel who supports your mission, or a corporate sponsor who wants to be associated with your organization can bring in big bucks. A good relationship with a sponsor can bring in money for years, and provide good will and exposure to the company that supports you.

Over the twenty years and more that I have been involved in youth theater, I've enjoyed the benefits- and the headaches- of grants and of sponsors only a few times. Using all the other funding sources, our troupes have operated in the black for every realized production in our seasons.

* pun originally unintended, now definitely intended!

A fun production- for YOU?

Award-winning playwright (and my daughter) Beth Kander has a special offer:

All right, social media machine: prove your value! I just got a letter from a publishing company that they are interested in publishing "See Jane Quit"... IF it gets another 1-2 regional theater productions first. Who can help make that happen? I'll allow a *rights-free production* in exchange for the guarantee of a newspaper review/some publicity. This should not be impossible. Please help make my dreams come true! :D

****************

Interested? Email Beth at beth_kander@yahoo.com

Early days of MYT

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.

beginnings: a class act

My friend Lisa B- and there are a lot of Lisas in my story- asked how I got started with my youth theater troupes. How did I fund them?

So, it's as a good a place as any to begin to answer Lisa's questions, and start to outline the journey I have had with youth theater.

I had joined a 4-H club for home educators. This was a general 4-H club. Each of the project leaders- and I was now one- was to lead a project during the year. I created and directed a skit, based on my skill set.

It was fun, low key, well received.

Another 4-H club was doing an adaptation of Midsummer Night's Dream- could I come and give some advice? So I did.

And I thought: I love Shakespeare! Why haven't I done Shakespeare with my kids?

So I founded a 4-H club, Class Act Drama, to introduce kids ages 5-19 to theater arts. I founded this club in 1992.

The advantages to starting this troupe as a 4-H club were several. Because 4-H is an established youth organization, we started out with some name recognition, and connections to a larger organization and its resources. As a 4-H club, we had access to group insurance for $1 / member, for liability purposes.

Also, the structures and forms of the organization gave us a place to start for internal structures. Later, when I founded the independent group Michigan Youth Theater, I borrowed heavily from the 4-H forms for media release, for medical/insurance info and release, for set up for database info.

For this organization, we charged minimal dues- $5/child*- which covered the insurance costs, and paper, copying and so on. We were able to get free rehearsal spaces, in part thanks to the 4-H label.

When it came to our first production, Taming of the Shrew in spring of 1993, each of the families chipped in for each of their kids' costumes. We found a theater that would let us use their stage- on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday- for $100.

I put up the $100, figuring I might never see it again.

However, I was paid back. This, and every production that has been seen through to performance, ended in the black.

Our funding came from: volunteering and donations from participant families; "well-wisher ads" in the program; admission donations for the performance; donations for the refreshments.

Well-wisher ads are greetings from parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, or friends- one-liners in the program such as "Gloria, you will always be our star!- love, Gramma and Gramps"- for $5. These ads- and later, actual ads from businesses- have always covered the cost of the program, and then some.

Refreshments were donated by the participant families, so any money collected for them was profit for the troupe.

Class Act Drama went on to produce several plays, present workshops, visit television studios and more.

As Class Act grew, I learned more and more about how to run a successful theater troupe. We also developed a core group of young theater artists and their families who were ready to try for the next level of theater excellence.

So we decided to found a new troupe, independent of 4-H, for older youth who wanted a more intense, professional level experience. We created Michigan Youth Theater.

*For Class Act, and for Michigan Youth Theater, I established from the outset that an inability to pay would never be an impediment for participation. Family discounts and scholarships were set up for each organization.

Shakespeare

Many years ago I directed a production of Twelfth Night with actors aged 7 to 17. After the show, an audience member- someone I knew well- asked in all seriousness how long it had taken me to "translate" the script.

He understood everything being said so well that he assumed I had changed the script.

I hadn't changed the script. The actors, Shakespeare and I had all done our jobs well enough that the audience entered into the world we created together and understood the characters, action and dialogue.

The audience enjoyed the show. They forgot it was Shakespeare. They forgot it was youth. They just had fun watching the comedy.

That's how it should be. Shakespeare is a theatrical genius; just do the *show*, and the audience will have a blast.

And wonder later how long it took you to translate the script from Shakespearean to understandable.

paper trails, to you...

My last show with my youth theater troupe closed this weekend. Our Comedy of Errors was set in the Wild West, with cowboy-themed sound track. Roy Rogers was singing "Happy Trails, to you..." at every performance.

Hence the title.

I am retiring from this phase of my life- over 20 years of leading youth in exploring theater. I am going through the files, some to save as a part of my life history, and some to give back to the organization for their archives, and some paper goes to the recycling bin.

There is a lot of paper involved in over 20 years of volunteering with youth. In 1990, I became a trained 4-H leader. In 1992, I founded a 4-H club to explore drama. In 2000, I founded a teen theater troupe.

Back in the day, digital archives were not a possibility. So there are multiple, multiple copies of many, many workshop outlines, promo pieces, schedules, programs...

A lot of paper.

It is an opportunity to reflect and recognize the amazing journey.

If you were there in the early years, you may be receiving some snail mail.

I'll share the hard copies of our shared memories with you.

Paper trails, to you...

giving notes; or, how I exercise my drive to be a standup comedian

I actually enjoy giving director's notes to the cast.

During much of the rehearsal period, as a director, you are breaking the play down into scenes, into moments. I am very vocal during this period, jumping to my feet YES! or ACK! Stop! Do it again- think about where you just were! What do you want?

Later on, however, we have to put it all back together, establish continuity, rhythm, pace, the long arcs of the characters and of the play itself. We can't stop. We run through, all the way through the scene, the act, finally the entire play.

While I, like most directors, take notes.

Sometimes, because the hour is late and actors (and I) have to go home, I type up the notes and email them to the actors after I've returned home. I don't like to do this because A) actors may not understand a specific note, B) actors may not read the notes and C) I like to give notes.

I like to give notes. I do. I make eye contact. I make jokes. I exaggerate, exhort, and expound. I prance and I posture, I prod and I praise.*

From time to time, I may have to shush the actors who are starting side conversations. After all, for many years, the actors with whom I have worked have been teens.

Still, all in all, I have fun giving notes, and the actors have fun receiving the notes.

Here are some of the key ingredients for good note-giving:

• Make eye contact. Make sure the actors are listening.
• EVERY actor should receive a comment. Each actor should know that they are important, and that their work is (literally) noted.
• Use humor. I use a lot of humor at my own expense... I tease and challenge them to be bigger, bolder, more energized than this "old lady"
• Catch them doing something right; be specific about when it happened, and what it was. Comments like "you're great" or "good job" might feel good for a moment, but they don't tell the actor where they are succeeding or how to build on that success. A comment like: "I could really see you focus on the other character on your line 'Not now, darling''" tells the actor what is working and when.
• Be specific about what you want the actor to change. Comments such as "That's no good" or "I didn't like that" again do not give the actor any useful information. A comment like "When you enter in scene two, try rushing straight to the couch- remember what just happened to the character before you entered" gives the actor useful information about what needs work in the scene, and a suggestion for a new approach.
• I try to give both the "director's reason" and the "actor's reason" for a direction. For instance, in the above example, I might remind the actor that the actor's reason- the character's reason- for rushing in is that the character is escaping from an uncomfortable encounter in the other room; while I will admit that my "director's reason" for asking you to rush in and cross to the couch is that the scene needs more energy, and I need you out of the doorway!
• Be a believer. Believe in the play, believe in your actors, believe in theater magic. Keep cheering, keep watching, noting, and sharing what you see. Eventually, it all comes together- how? It's a mystery!

*In fact, over the years many parents have confessed they stayed at rehearsals for the entertainment value of watching me give notes!