Call_me_jorge said: "If Ken Davenport can get a way with it think about the precedent he's set. Imagine Nickelodeon creating a Kickstarter to get spongebob on the tony awards. Or they may add additional charges to your tickets which helps the show get on the tony awards."
But this ISN'T Nickelodeon or Spongebob Squarepants. Far from it- this is a tiny non-profit theater with the mission of connecting the Deaf and hearing. Hardly a money-making (let alone money-laundering as some of you are implying) venture, but a worthy and inspiring one nonetheless.
Give or take Ken Davenport, this whole debate comes down to the fact that Deaf West Spring Awakening would not perform at the Tony's this weekend without this Kickstarter. It is quite clear that they had to arrange a compromise with their producer(s)- to partially fund the performance with the fans' help in order to get the rest of the assistance from the producers. Otherwise, with no promise of partial fan assistance, this performance would not be happening. Period. It's clear the producers were not willing to back all of the expenditures involved, otherwise none of this would be happening. My guess is that the couple weeks' delay in starting this Kickstarter was caused by a back-and-forth with the producers that ended with this Kickstarter-funded compromise. Unfortunately for Deaf West, their main producer is the misguided Ken Davenport, who marketed and coordinated this Kickstarter completely wrong and dragged everyone's reputation's down with his. And Deaf West probably can't speak out or do anything against his wishes, because that would be biting the hand that feeds them and also might make them seem disloyal to potential future investors/producers.
In the end of the day, this debate comes down to how important you versus Deaf West feel a Tony performance is, and whether it is worth donating to help make it happen. I think it's huge for Deaf West, and that's why I donated $50. It's not much for me to give, but it's a cause I support wholeheartedly. Clearly, most of you (or at least the ones that are most vocal) feel differently about the importance of a Tony performance. That's fine. But in the end of the day, when this witch hunt is over (and yes I do see it as a witch hunt at this point), the fact of the matter will be that the Deaf West Spring Awakening cast - half of whom are Deaf plus the first performer on Broadway in a wheelchair - will make history while performing a piece from their beautiful show at the Tony Awards, and that is a milestone that will stay in the books, no matter what cynicism comes out of this message board. To me, that's the big picture here.
It's just too bad you all have been bullying Deaf West directly so much, because you have probably truly discouraged them from ever feeling they can be part of the Broadway community. That's what breaks my heart about all of this.
