Lots of people dream of starting a local theater. It’s a way to get into show business on their own terms or share their passion for live performance with their neighbors—and perhaps make some money doing what they love.
Thursday, November 06, 2014
What It Takes to Keep a Community Theater Running
Lots of people dream of starting a local theater. It’s a way to get into show business on their own terms or share their passion for live performance with their neighbors—and perhaps make some money doing what they love.
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Running a community theatre is very difficult. I have been a part of a few different community theatre companies and I have seen the struggles that they have all gone through. Money is a big issue especially when there are a bunch of different community theatres in a certain area. Money from donors is the main income for the theatres because ticket sales are not always the best. There is always a need for more people to help volunteer and be on crew. I feel like some community theatres are struggling more than they used to because new ones are always forming and there is more competition.
So, I don't think that donors really have to be a big part of a community theatre's revenue. They just need to spend what they think they will make in money. One of my community groups back home puts on a professional quality show for less then $30k. We have a huge fan base that was built over the last 40 years, so that probably helps. We only do one musical a year during the summer. Everyone involved is volunteer. Not even the director is paid. We reuse wood to build sets, props are mostly things that we ask people to bring in, costumes are built new and refashioned for purposes of the show, and things are rented as needed from other theatres. I especially know the costume side because my mom is the costumer. Her budget is usually around $5k to costume 100 people, where most will have multiple costumes, like Les Mis. We do it every year.
See it's funny that so many people are struggling when we can donate a large chunk of money out of our profits to local charities without ever going under. We even have $35k sitting in the bank in case we do a show that is less popular. That's enough to cover all of our expenses and donate our usual amount to organizations. We did Will Rogers Follies once, and that had to be the smallest audience in my lifetime, but we still pulled through fine. Perhaps it is in the management of the company or that we just have a more loving local community.
People dump on community theatre all the time, especially in our industry. And, yes, it's true that if you are spending your time getting a degree in this, you probably don't want to find yourself working in a community theatre. However, there are many people out there who do this as a hobby, and have no intention of making it a career. This is where community theatre is important. It provides a leisure activity to non-professional people, and it provides an opportunity to see shows in places that may not have many otherwise. I can see that these theatres would be very hard to keep afloat. Because you are providing a leisure activity, there isn't as much thought to financial implications as there is in professional theatre. There also is not much budget, and not much room for hiring people that actually know how to handle that budget. So, all in all, running a small town community theatre could at times face more and different challenges than running a professional theatre, simply because the percentage of skilled labor is very low.
Community theatre needs the support of the community. Period end of story. Money is needed sure to do the actual operating costs. But you need the whole community to be behind you and you really can accomplish anything
Community theatre needs the support of the community. Period end of story. Money is needed sure to do the actual operating costs. But you need the whole community to be behind you and you really can accomplish anything. The community is what provides the resources, the personnel, the actors. The other thing to realize that in community theater, is that it's never anybody full commitment. You have lawyers, acting, chefs making clothes, investment bankers directing, you never actually have someone who is 100% dedicated to the show, so I feel that that is what's really lacking in keeping a community theatre afloat is having that consistent support system with someone whose a full time employee.
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