how to start my own theatre company?

[children&art]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 9:54am

any suggestions?

there are several smaller theatre groups here in Dallas, but i think that i have an artistic vision that would be new and would fit in well with our community.

i have looked on the internet and the dallas arts council and theatre league aren't really any help.

i'm not looking to get rich, i'm looking to express my creativity in a company of my own and want the audiences to experience it.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 11:53am

can you be more specific? do you need to raise money or do you have startup money? registering as a non-profit might be helpful if you need supporters. or is what you need is an acting troupe? maybe advertise at a local college. you need a space, advertising, etc...

[colleen_lee]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 11:56am

they key to life, MONEY.

Decide how much you're willing to invest initially, and how you would feel if you never recoup. Or, if you're going to be strictly non-profit, start working on getting your non-profit status and navigating the arts grants process. That process itself can be pretty muddy and time-consuming.

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 12:01pm

I am interested in hearing what your vision is and how it is different than the other groups in your area.

[children&art]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 12:53pm

my difficulty is the non-profit status and grants and the whole raising money thing.

i've been involved in theatre since high school, so i know what to do once the money is in and things get going. it's just the "before" that is a mystery.

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 12:55pm

But what is your vision?

[children&art]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 1:02pm

sueleen, shouldn't i keep that to myself lest someone with more money and connections scoop me on creating a new company. and besides, if i share then i am just opening myself up to a barrage of insults from you harsh, inconsiderate members.

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 1:10pm

Believe me if you want to raise money you will have to let people know what your "vision" is. Do you want to start a theatre for inner-city kids to express themselves through the classics in a modern day setting? Do you want to start a Theatre to explore the works of new and different playwrights? Do you want to start a theatre for disabled people to write and express themselves?
Believe me, whatever it is, it has probably been done before, so it's not as if people are going to "steal" your idea. I don't mean that to sound rude, but you name it and there is a theatre company SOMEWHERE doing it already.

And if you don't want to open yourself up to criticism why did you start this thread in the first place? There are hundreds of BOOKS on this subject. Probably right there in the library at your very own school!

[children&art]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 2:20pm

ok sue - my vision is NAKED theatre. staging the classics without restraints of sets and costumes - just the actors and the words and the lights (of course im kidding).

i know that my idea is not new, but in Dallas it is new and that's my trepidation.

and as far as criticism, i didnt open myself up to that - just some ideas on how to begin. and not much on becoming a non-profit at the junior high library.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 2:20pm

seriously. go read a book or take a class. i'm taking a good class right now in college called Theatre Managment. And it basicaly is on how to start up and run an arts organization or well theatre company in our case. What everyone has been saying is right about money and vision and space. The book we are using is Management and the Arts by William J. Byrnes. Its a pretty good book and I think would be helpful for what you are wanting to do. Also have you checked out the TheaterSim website? Its a competition thing for creating your own theatre company that another member here posted about, it looks really cool and actually might be a good idea for you to do that before you try to start your own company in real life. http://theatersim.tripod.com/index.html

[Unknown User]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 3:37pm

to register as a non profit you generally need to have a mission statement, board of directors (usually min. of 3), $ to register & having a proven history of service always helps. You also need a name to register under that isnt already taken.

you can also use places like thefeild as 'sponsors' -using their nonprofit status to raise money without the hassle of registering, but I believe they take a percentage.

Once youre ready, you write letters of inquiry to foundations. You can try to find appropriate foundations via google but youre better off using a service, and if you or someone you know is lucky enough to be in a college with a huge amount of database access, you might be able to search via the internet or at a library without an actual membership to a place like FoundationCenter. Getting the first bit of support is always the hardest, and in-kind donations are usually easier to get.

Does that help?

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 3:44pm

Give it up c+a. If you're afraid of criticism NOW, you'll never make it through your first meeting to deal with finances. You think it's easy to qualify as a non-profit?

You think the process of fundraising is easy and that nobody criticizes your "vision" until they're reviewing your productions?

Tell us the truth, there's a role you've always been dying to play and this is the one way of guaranteeing you get to do it, isn't it?

[children&art]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 3:53pm

no namo, i have no aspirations to act but i do have a desire to see rarely performed works brought to life in new and relevant productions.

i have no fear of criticism, just of people who dont recognize that right now im looking for information not for opinions.

and i won't give it up, it's been a germ of an idea in my mind since sr year in college.

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 4:24pm

Senior year? Doesn't it only take like 2 years to get an AA?

[children&art]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 4:28pm

yes sueleen, but you know...im slow...

[WOSQ]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 4:30pm

Buy enough scripts to sit in your living room and read a play out loud with some actor friends. Boom! You have begun and at a cost of what, 50 bucks?

That's how theatres get started.

Then read it again with a little more direction. And again. Invite the actors to move around if it feels right.

Whatever you're aiming for won't happen over night.

Companies fail by going big too soon. Any company. Not just theatre.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 4:32pm

I also want to start a theatre, but not in Dallas. Maybe in Denison.. something to compete with the nonsense theatre I call Sherman Community Players.

But I think it might be hard to have a professional theatre where there aren't many professional actors. Denison ain't NYC.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 4:56pm

"i think that i have an artistic vision that would be new and would fit in well with our community."

Joan of Arc had a vision too, but you know how she met her fate.

Updated On: 4/4/06 at 04:56 PM

[children&art]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 4:57pm

Denison? Why so frickin far away from town?

You know Plano Rep folded, so Plano has no theatre company. And Regan Adair is slowly running Richardson Com. Theatre out of business. And Rep Co isn't so great anymore.

We need some legit theatre in far north Dallas. That Eisemann Center has 2 beautiful stages and rarely gets any local use.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 4:59pm

I grew up in Denison, and I hate the productions at Sherman, so..

Plano still has Quad C, right? Good enough for me.

[children&art]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 5:05pm

yeah Quad C is really really good, but there are 2 theatres by my house in downtown Plano that are just sitting empty most of the time - think of what a boon it would be to start them up again and get that area pumping.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 5:06pm

C_O, HOW will you be able to start a theater company at the same time you're going to culinary school and working on a novel?

c+a, shouldn't a teacher have some sort of sense of how to do research other than on the off topic board of BWW? I mean, I know you use BWW for one of your classes, so you don't seem to be much of an outside the box thinker... but, still.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 5:08pm

You still think I'm going to culinary school? I quit that months ago.

And as for the novel, it's almost finished. I'm on the last act.

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 5:12pm

Maybe Children & Art and Captain Obvious should start a theatre together. You could call it CACO. Pronounced Cock-O.

[Ebonic_Singer]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 5:13pm

Novels have acts?