(Another letter to another friend on starting a theatre without money and with few obvious resources...hopefully it's not too "pompous" ;-)

She hasn't done it before and needs to know what to think about...)

Hi Mandie! It's raining like Noah will be through here with the Ark soon. Thought I might write a bit more.

No money for theatre? Here's my thoughts on starting a theatre when you're broke...

Use the K.I.S.S. method to start, and spend very little money until ticket sales start rolling.

Talk to as many people as possible already doing, or interested in, theatre in the area and ask them if they have any of the things you need to borrow, such as equipment, lights, costumes, carpentry skills, rich uncles etc?

You can start simply, with a small core of dedicated, interested, talented people and expand from there, but the more people you get involved, the easier in many respects the task will be if you're a good manager of their energies, and ask about what they have and who they know who might contribute.

Also talk to rock bands or DJs, who often have extra lights and sound equipment.

Look around for temporary venues that maybe already have stuff installed that you won't need to buy, at least until you get more money and find your permanent space. Work out a reasonable deal to use some local performance space on given performance dates for your show (rehearse elsewhere except for the last two or three rehearsals).

Make these arrangement at least four months or more in advance to get the dates you need.

Make a list and give it the correct scale of priorities so you're not spinning your wheels.
Accumulate what you need a piece or a link at a time.

Pick your show. Cast your people. Find a space. Start selling tickets. Build a fun-looking set. Get word out. Make sure there's seating, eating, parking and bathrooms.

My advice is to start your theatre with a Christmas show, something fast-paced and really fun, because that's the time of year EVERYONE goes out to spend money, and sees or does group things.

Find six or eight people who are great singers/comic actors/dancers and put together a kickass Xmas revue.

You need a good director/music director/choreographer, but sometimes the people in the acting company can fulfill those functions too. Offer them all some small piece of the profits, without giving away too much, so you have plenty of seed money for the next show.

You can build an 8X16 or 12X16 small stage pretty darn cheap, skin it with OSB, topped and skirted with masonite. It's small, but you're really just building a raised focal point for the attention of the audience. Make a couple of stair slides to get off and onstage from audience level. Seat the audience close to the stage, leave aisles for entrances, exits, etc.

Try to have at least three levels to perform from - ground level, stage level, some small platform level onstage. Hang curtains made from acceptable fabric from the bargain section of the fabric store, and maybe lightly spray them with glitter spray for Christmas sparkle...

You can do a simple center entrance in the middle of a big pile of "christmas presents", mostly cutouts and boxes painted like a bunch of presents and grouped pleasingly, with certain places that can be sat or stood upon for different numbers. Use your imagination, Santa.

Use cheap par 64 fixtures for stage wash, build coffee can lighting fixtures if you have to for supplemental lighting (REALLY cheap), get or rent a spotlight, borrow a couple of fresnels for focused lighting. All can be done cheaply and attractively by using good design and creative thinking.

If you have a little money, buy some cheap lighting equipment online from American DJ, like multi-dimmers and controller board. Make a plan B in case of lighting equipment failures, and buy extra bulbs for everything.

Upgrade equipment as you can afford better stuff. Use good light-diffusing membrane over cheap par can lights to even out the hotspots, which cheap lights tend to have.

Build a colorful set well ahead of the date you go into the space, a piece at a time if that's all you can afford, but do it all according to a master stage design so it all fits together on the stage when done.

I've been so broke at times that I tore apart old box springs I found dumped in alleys, for the dimensional lumber in them, which I used to frame elements of the set. Whatever works!

You can make flats and cutouts out of cardboard you can get for free, just make sure it doesn't look scrunched or is in a stage area where it will get damaged.

We've used construction paper before instead of canvas, just to define an area. It's all an illusion anyway. It looks about the same painted, and you throw it away after the run of the show. Just don't puncture it accidentally, tape and fix it if you do.

There's lots of little things you can do if you start thinking creatively. You don't always need a bunch of money to start.

You WILL need creative talent, problem solving ability, and an eye for scaling things up or down as your resources wax or wane. And the people you involve in the project can be an enormous help in finding, borrowing, donating, or scrounging for things you need. Many of them will do it out of love.

What you are really trying to create is a place people will come to love. The place has to have a heart or people won't love it. That goes for actors, audience and everyone involved in making it happen.

What will be your theatre's heart?

How can you create an entertaining, even if simple, refuge from the problems and weight of the world for them?

People are always looking for a place to belong, to feel special, to not feel so lonely. You want them to leave feeling better than they did when they came in,.

That's why my own theatres have always featured entertainment, and not social angst. There's enough social angst on TV.

And the most unlikely group of misfits and outcasts can create magnificent theatre by doing the right things at the right times, and working hard together according to an intelligent plan.

Be prepared to lead, because if you don't, any group you've assembled will dissipate, if you aren't prepared with a clear plan and a vision you can articulate.

As far as the show -

You've been in someone's living room before with a group of friends when the energy was just so sparkling you didn't want to leave, right?

That's what everyone is looking for, always; that's what you should create for them onstage, even in a small under-nourished place with a dinky stage and uncomfortable seats.

You make them forget the rest of the world by focusing their attention, moment by moment, on the talent and humor onstage. If you're successful, they'll come back and you can then build up from there.

Funny songs about Christmas. Goofy but charming comedy skits. Well-sung solos. Beautifully harmonized choral numbers. Pretty girls. Handsome guys. PERSONALITY. A few specialty costumes that make people laugh or go WOW. At least three "production" numbers featuring most if not all of the cast. Dance specialties and tap numbers. The kind of revue-y stuff that moves right along and builds energy and the spirit of the season in a way all ages can get into.

Surprise and delight the audience. Praise the efforts of actors, staff, and volunteers. Create happiness.

Make sure you sell some creature comforts, too. Find someone who bakes awesome cookies and brownies and cakes, sell them with popcorn and hot cocoa and cider and soft drinks and other snacks on a "snack table" - whatever...use the KISS method at first. Notice what people are buying the most of and don't run out of it. Give them at least two opportunities to buy food and drink.

WRITE OUT A DO-ABLE PLAN ON PAPER. Then do it.

Get your ticket sales started AT LEAST TWO MONTHS OUT.

Four months out get a visa/mc merchant account. You'll need it because it's how a lot of people pay for tickets. Try to get one from a well-known company with reasonable percentage fees. Research this all on the net. I used to use a company called PAYQUAKE. They were fine. Ask around and see who's reputable/affordable these days because it changes.

HAVE A STEADY PHONE NUMBER LISTED IN INFORMATION AS THE THEATRE'S PERMANENT NUMBER. GET LISTED INTO ALL AREA PHONE BOOKS. DO THIS RIGHT AWAY!

THE PHONE NUMBER = MONEY. ALWAYS ANSWER IT CHEERFULLY AND RETURN ALL CALLS PROMPTLY. And treat good box office people like gold. They can make or break you.

Do a flier that leaves a great impression. Remember, that flier is a representation of the show, your product; so take some GREAT shots of the cast in costume, perhaps in stagy poses, and pick one or two for the flier that scream out "WE ARE REALLY FUN AND WORTH YOUR MONEY!".

Sell the sizzle, not the steak, as they say. Especially if what you have is more sizzle than steak at the moment. Just make sure the steak is there by showtime...and delivered as promised when butts are in the seats (you can rent the seats if you have to).

You are not helpless just because no one will give you twenty grand to kick things off.

Break the whole process down into the necessary, then the possible, then the desirable. Start by listing out then creating the necessary. That will help you better understand what is possible, which, if what you've created brings in business, will help you finally get to the desirable as finances build.

Make a timetable and a materials list so you get a clear mental picture of what is needed, then start scrounging. Work an extra day a week at something, or have a yard sale or whatever, to get money to buy some power tools at Harbor Freight, or some Ryobi power tools (cheap but good) from Home Depot, so you can do all the pre-work necessary for your stage and set in your spare (ha!) time.

Store your stuff in a mini-storage for 70 bucks a month until you find a suitable place to perform, be it an Eagles Lodge, community rec hall, empty storefront or The Perfect Spot For A Theatre.

Remember, SUCCESS is what happens when PREPARATION meets OPPORTUNITY. Make your own breaks. Proceed no matter what. Always do what you CAN do a little at a time. Then you'll be ready when opportunity present itself.

Get it done and have it ready, while simultaneously putting your cast together, rehearsing in your living room if necessary (done it!), and beating on the doors of all the news medias with some compelling reason they should write your efforts up.

There are a LOT of clues and ideas in what I've sent you already, and no reason to be frustrated.

If you're frustrated, then you haven't been thinking, planning and problem-solving.

What CAN you do with what you already have? Ask your brain for the answers, pick a small corner of the project to start on, and get the world involved helping you. Everyday complete some small step of the plan, and do it on a realistic timetable.

THEN ask for money to expand on what you and your new friends have been creating. If you create a compelling vision and enough people get a whiff of it, they will help and things will move at a much faster pace.

This is all a LOT of WORK. Creativity is work.

A LOT OF HARD, BURN THE MIDNIGHT OIL, TOUGH sh*t IF WE'RE TIRED THIS HAS TO BE DONE BY MORNING, FOOT-WEARY, BUTT-BUSTING WORK.

That's what takes the place of money, and it's what you'll have to squeeze out of your soul if you really want it to go anywhere, as you have expressed you do.

So you don't have to wait until your financing is in place. Start anyway. Build a solid plan you can actually turn into reality, even if it's not your final best goal. But you'll give yourself momentum toward it if you get started and persist. Even without much money.

All the best,
David Michael Max