It's All About the Money
Community Theatre seems like a pretty inexpensive endeavor, wouldn’t you say?
Community Theatre seems like a pretty inexpensive endeavor, wouldn’t you say? Grab a script, score some volunteers (actors, tech crew, house crew) and go to town. It would probably cost, what, a hundred bucks or something? Well…..
There is no one set of costs or a standard formula for costs at a community theatre. Many things factor into the budget: Does the organization own its own space? Does the organization have a stock set of set pieces with which to build the sets? Are there in-stock costumes? Are there sponsors in place? If the organization does own its own space, there are multiple costs: mortgage payments, utilities, insurance, internet…lordy, the list goes on and on. And if the organization does NOT own its space, there is the ultimate challenge of finding rehearsal and/or performance space (often not free). At OCT that’s about $5,000 a month in overhead costs! It’s starting to add up…
But let’s start at the very beginning: The play. To secure rights to any script that is not in the public domain, anyone looking to produce a play has to secure the rights to that play. It’s not well-advertised, but it is true that there are precious few companies that hold the rights to these plays you’re seeing. If OCT wants to produce, say, Company (our second show of the 50th season), we have to apply for performance rights to Music Theatre International (MTI). That is the ONLY company who holds the performance rights. We are at the mercy of MTI to grant those rights, and we have to pay whatever they set as the royalty rates for that play. There is usually a production package you have to buy on top of the royalties…so, depending on whether the play is a musical or non-musical, rights can vary from $100/show to $1,500/show. You would, of course, also have to buy or rent the actual scripts. Non-musical scripts run about $15/script and for musicals it’s usually a rental of about $800. If you are keeping track the rights, scripts, and music tracks for Company will cost OCT around $3500.
Let’s keep adding, shall we? Although it is traditional in community theatre to secure volunteer actors, personnel such as the director, music director, choreographer, and stage manager are typically paid positions. Do you have your calculator? Director fees vary wildly, but if we need to ballpark it, let’s call it $1,000-$2,500 per play. Same range for music directors, perhaps a tiny bit less for choreographers…and stage managers would pull in $500-$1,000. OCT has a great collection of costumes, set pieces and props, but on occasion we need to supplement those. So those items are not in stock then get the purchasing card out…..
Whew! Well, that’s a lot. I guess we can’t get by with just $100. Oh, no! We’re not done! How about program printing, cleaning supplies for the facility, concessions (although these typically pay for themselves), maintenance, landscaping…
We would love for this thing called theatre to be all about the art. We revel in the art part of it, and our focus is primarily on high-quality art. So, no, it’s not all about the money. But if we didn’t address the monetary aspects, we wouldn’t be able to bring you the art. Which is what we are here to do.
Do we sometimes ask for money? Yes. Do we always need money? Yes. Would it be ideal if some millionaire decided we were worthy of their money and just handed us a fortune? Absolutely. Do we hope for the day when we don’t have to worry about money? We sure do. But, for now, we will forge ahead balancing art and practicality, magic and money. Stay tuned.
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