Invest!

I read recently that the original producers of Avenue Q were a pair of 20-somethings with not-a-whole-lot of money who—long before it hit Broadway--saw something they liked, believed in it, and decided to throw everything they had at a show with puppets. Their friends and family thought they were out of their minds and other, more “seasoned” producers scoffed at the folly of it all. The two neophytes thought otherwise and took the chance that they would get a big return on their money. Now, six years after the fact, the pair will be reaping big financial rewards from Avenue Q for the rest of their lives. Every seat filled in every theatre producing Avenue Q—and they’re everywhere around this planet—will add a few more bucks to their bank accounts. And, more importantly, every laugh and every smile in an Avenue Q audience will be, in part, produced by them.

1st Stage could use a few 20-somethings—or for that matter any-age-somethings—to believe and invest in us. We’re a non-profit so the return on the investment will never make you rich but we can guarantee it will make you proud and satisfied.

We’ve built a theatre--and by “we” I mean all those who contributed their time, talent, money, wisdom and encouragement to this project. This has been no small accomplishment. Peter, David and Lucas produced a video recently--found elsewhere on this website--as an update on the construction of our space. When I first watched it, I thought, as the first few minutes of David in a spotlight rolled by, “Okay, that David…he’s pretty charming, but what else is new?” Then, with a crescendo of Philip Glass music, a shot of the theatre exploded—big word but appropriate—on the screen. Have you ever looked at something you’ve had a part in creating but felt, “Wow, where did that come from?” It’s the new parent feeling after the first look of a newborn. Labor aside, I’m not sure how it happened, but it did. And it’s amazing.

Well, “we” want to—need to, have to—share a little of that “wow.” For you see, the glory of it all is sitting on some very wobbly financial legs. We’ve got the place up and running and our first show, The Suicide, under our belts (with some pretty strong critical acclaim, I might add: “That a brand-spanking new Washington theatre would inaugurate itself with this wonderful, hilarious, completely unknown Russian play, and would do it as well as 1st Stage has done, is bracing, profoundly satisfying news for those who love theatre.” (dctheatrescene.com)). But now the really hard part is ahead…keeping it going.

As of now, our two biggest sources of income have been from our “Theatre-by-the-Square-Foot” campaign (about $18K) and our ticket sales to the first show ($15K: We started off fairly strong the first weekend (friends and family), took a suicidal (pardon the pun) dip the second weekend, built back up to about 50% capacity the third (word-of-mouth kicked in), and actually sold out two of the performances in our last weekend. So we emerged feeling pretty good about the size of future audiences but were still chastened by our actual ticket sales--about half of what we hoped for.) If you’ve ever taken a look at the back pages of a theatre’s program you’ve noticed that the biggest financial gifts are corporate and foundation sponsorships. Now that we’ve actually produced a show, we’ve begun applying for their assistance. Until their help arrives, we nee to depend on our local community, i.e., you.

So back to my story of the Avenue Q investors: The two 20-somethings apparently sat on a couch in the ground-floor, NYC, studio apartment of the show’s lyricist one hot day, listened to 60 minutes of songs played on an electronic keyboard and sung by two not-so-fine voices, walked out the door without saying anything, took a walk around the block, came back, and said, “We’re in!”

And now my segue to you: After finally finding the darn theatre on Spring Hill Road, walking through the doors and being stunned by the wild color scheme, sitting in the most comfortable theatre seat on the east coast, watching a huge cast in a “wonderful, hilarious, completely unknown Russian play,” why not walk around the block, come back, and say, “We’re in!” And just think, no puppets!

Throw your money into another square foot or two of 1st Stage. We need you. You’ll reap benefits for years. And it will certainly produce a better return than the stock market. Even now, I can hear the music of “I Want to Be a Producer” welling up in the background.