(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
-------------
"It's never too late to be who you might have been..."
George Eliot
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