What are you supporting?
Contrary to what you might think (and what we wish!), it’s expensive to do what we do.
Here is a breakdown of our costs – and some myths and realities of producing our shows.
TYPICAL KEY EXPENSES
VENUE: $12,000-$17,000
PERSONNEL: $10,000-$12,000
MATERIALS: $2000-$3000
ROYALTIES: $1400-$2200
TOTAL: $25,400-$34,200
VENUE
Myth:
“Since you’re a youth community theatre, I bet the State Theatre donates the space for free!”
Reality:
Our friends and partners at the State Theatre do everything they can to make using their beautiful space affordable for us. But think about how expensive it is just to heat that place! They also are a struggling nonprofit organization – they have staff salaries, maintenance, etc.
And unlike a professional show that sets up just a few hours before a show, as an educational theatre company R2P occupies the space for more than a week so we can properly train and rehearse with our students. The State devotes many staff hours to our residencies – not to mention the income that they aren’t making from other big-ticket acts while we’re there.
Bottom Line:
State Theatre 8-day rental:
$12,000-$17,000
Note: We’re performing Honk at Newfield High School Auditorium, which is much more affordable, but still not free.
PERSONNEL
Myth:
“The volunteers who put on these shows do it for the love of theatre!”
Reality:
R2P could not operate solely with volunteers. There is no doubt that the adult team in R2P absolutely love what they do – enriching the lives of our community’s young people through theatre! But this is a full-time job for two employees and a key professional job for many other contract staff.
We believe strongly that our trained, skilled artists should be paid for their work. This includes musicians, designers, and technicians, in addition to the artistic leadership who work for months – even prior to the first day of rehearsal. No one is getting rich off of their work with R2P – wish always we could pay our team even more for the countless hours of work they dedicate to the kids.
Of course, we also rely heavily on our volunteers – but the work we do requires paid professionals in order to be done safely and effectively.
Bottom Line:
Artistic staff, designers, technicians:
$10,000-$12,000
MATERIALS
Myth:
“How much can cardboard sets and borrowed costumes cost anyway?”
Reality:
We take pride in the efficiency of our process. We have limited financial as well as human resources – so we work hard to keep our production designs as simple as possible. After all, if the first thing our audience remembers is the beautiful set, we’ve all missed the mark.
We work to keep down costs by reusing stock scenery units whenever possible, and we costume our casts with our existing inventory as much as we can.
However, we always have materials to buy like specialized costumes, fabric, paint, and lumber (which has skyrocketed in price lately!) Additionally, we have to rent Uhauls to transport our materials from storage to the theatre.
Our production budgets are much smaller than most school plays – but still, it adds up.
Bottom Line:
Costumes, paint, lumber, transportation:
$2000-$3000
ROYALTIES
Myth:
“Since you don’t charge for tickets, you probably get to use the scripts for free.”
Reality:
After a show finishes its run on Broadway, it becomes available for licensing. Companies like MTI manage the rentals for the materials. This is key to making sure that the artists who created these shows are fairly compensated and their work protected.
Even a youth community theatre nonprofit like Running to Places must pay to legally produce these shows. While the rates are partially determined by ticket prices, they never fall to zero.
A typical “Jr.” show (one specially edited for younger audiences and performers) costs around $1400, and a full-length musical like SpongeBob cost $2200.
Bottom Line:
Licensing and rental of scripts & music:
$1400-$2200