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  • 1.  Budget

    Posted 10-07-2015 17:47

    I have been trying to get our district leadership to fund our theatre program for several years now. We have been surviving from play-to-play using the profits from the play before each. I also write 2/3 of the plays we perform to save money. After five years here, I am ready to move on to bigger and better plays. I would really like to do an MTI production next semester. After much back-and-forth, I was offered a $400 budget for the entire year, which is usually three productions. I'm hoping to bring evidence to the leadership of about how much it actually takes to do a major production. Would anyone be willing to share about how much budget your school allocates to theatre and/or about how much finances it takes for a major production?

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    Chelsea Petty
    Columbus MS
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  • 2.  RE: Budget

    Posted 10-08-2015 05:49

    Wow!  Go you for getting your administration to give you money to spend!  In Indiana, the only money provided ANY extracurricular is to pay the directors.  So marketing our shows is really important for us.

    For starters, I would get a quote for several musicals (including the one you want to do), and show them the cost.  They may not realize the THOUSANDS of dollars it takes to just get the rights! 

    Next, who is your pit?  In my school, we have to utilize an adult pit, and so we pay them a modest $500 for their service (we do five performances).  If we have even 7 adults, that's $3500. 

    And we haven't touched on sets, lighting, sound, costumes, etc.

    How large is your house?  Maybe a way to boost your account is to do a well-known play that will bring in the community--especially kids.  It could be a straight play or a musical.  But even if you have 200 seats, and you do something like Alice in Wonderland, Annie, etc., at $5 a ticket that's $1000 a performance just on ticket sales.  That doesn't include refreshments (which we have found we make about a dollar per patron on average).

    Overall, I am envious of your $400, and the fact that you have the talent to write your own work!  But keep in mind that marketing your shows, and picking shows with a name draw every so often will also help your bottom line.

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    Raymond Palasz
    Schererville IN
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  • 3.  RE: Budget

    Posted 10-09-2015 05:55
    Hi!
    I have a very small budget, about 1000, which pays for royalties,makeup, occasional props and class items, and my EDTA membership. The tech teacher has a separate budget, equally small, to purchase lumber, paint, batteries, etc. We have built, over the years, many flats and platforms that we re use, and large costume collection, mostly through donation. We also have several great community theaters nearby that we can borrow from. When I was first hired, there was no clear budget. The school didn't even seem to know about royalties. I taught them, and I kept my budgets low. (We are a private school and do not charge admission to plays or concerts, so, I do straight plays only, at 60 to 100 per night. We do just two performances for three shows a year-we used to do four.) I rely heavily on stock flats and parent/community volunteers. We budget for the entire year in advance, so we might mix a heavy set show with a simple one, or an expensive royalty with Shakespeare. I do plays with music to give musical theatre aficionados their chances to sing. I find that a low budget actually makes us more creative! Just itemize your budget for admin, and compare to cost of other after school activities if you can. (What do they pay Varsity coaches? How much are uniforms and equipment? I am compensated like a coach, now because I successfully made that argument.) Good luck!

    Sent from my iPad


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  • 4.  RE: Budget

    Posted 10-08-2015 08:32

    I am at a middle school.  We don't get any sort of extra budget funds from the school, district, admin, etc. to do our shows either.  We're sort of in the same boat as you, where we operate show to show using funds from the previous show. 

    I do the same thing as you - write a bunch of my own shows.  Last year, two of the four shows we produced were written by me - the other was an MTI Jr. show. What I try to do is a lot of creative marketing, show-connected fundraisers, and getting donations, etc.  For example, for most shows I sell the standard tickets (our ticket prices are usually $2 for students, $5 for adults).  In addition, I sell special "packages" that give them a ticket to the show, priority seating, and a signed autographed poster from the show for $10 a person.  The poster is a little less than $1 to print, so the rest is pure profit.  I also do those as pre-sale only, which gives me a little bump of cash right before a show that I can dip into for last minute touches, costume and prop enhancements, etc.

    I have gotten show sponsorships before to cover the cost of the show kit.  I have gotten show shirts donated/covered by local companies. 

    This year is the first year that we are planning on doing a straight up fundraiser - and it is just because it is a fundraiser that the students love that student council normally does, but isn't doing this year - so we're taking it over.  It is just to sell stickers the last week of October that will allow students the opportunity to wear a crazy hat or head accessory on Halloween if they wear the sticker.  At most, it is a $900 profit if we get almost all of the students to purchase one.

    This year, I went out on a limb and purchased two one-acts to do in November for my 8th graders.  We WERE going to use this as a fundraiser for our spring shows as well and had/have several ideas for fundraising opportunities we were going to add to it.

    However, all of that changed this past weekend when our community was hit by the flooding here in Columbia, SC.  I have already made the decision that this show will support relief efforts.  We have to do what we have to do. 

    While I have some students that are well-off, a good chunk of my students don't have a lot of resources.  We do what we can to get by.  I keep other costs low by borrowing set pieces, making costumes myself, borrowing costumes from others I know, keeping my design "minimal", etc. 

    That being said, I do think that theatre programs should come with some budgeted money.  Schools/districts have money set aside for almost all other programs.  I think it is funny that the art department gets all of this extra money for supplies for students, when I do a bunch of art-involved projects as well.  Masks, puppet making, costume sketching, set design, etc. all have to come out of my funds that I raise as well, so that also takes a chunk out of my program as well.  I get the same paper/copy allotment as all of the other teachers that have text books, workbooks, etc., but often have to print my own scripts (for the ones I write or have print royalties for), monologues, etc. I have to purchase copy paper out of my drama fund as well. 

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    Jennifer Simmons
    Lexington SC
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  • 5.  RE: Budget

    Posted 10-08-2015 08:41

    We also have no budget from the county and survive play to play.  Coming from the non-profit theatre world into teaching, I already strongly believed that productions have to cover their expenditures, so I've survived, but it's been hard.  We do one musical, two full-length mainstage shows, a competition one-act, and two one act plays from my classes each year.  I don't have time to write anything, so they are all plays I pay royalties for (except for the few times we've done Shakespeare or public domain shows).  I do try to do things low-budget and reuse everything we possibly can.  We do season sponsorships and ad sales, which helps, and we fundraise like crazy, but money is still always an issue.  My budgets for the one-acts are really just the cost of the scripts and royalties.  For the competition, I try to keep all costs combined under $500.  (And I don't make anything back on this.  Tickets are free)  For the full-length shows, it's about $1000 each.  Our current musical budget is $12500.  It's flexible depending on what show we do, but includes line items for orchestra (we don't have the students to do it), choreographer, fight choreographer (when needed), and someone to come in to do sound and lights.  Some years I have also paid a costumer a small fee.  We are blessed that we have a set builder/designer who has donated his time to us for years.  He's a construction guy, but he's been really enthusiastic and learned a lot.  Our musical budget is kind of our average cost--costs were more when we did Les Miserables, but so were our ticket sales, and less when we did Footloose and Oklahoma.  Thoroughly Modern Millie  had us in the hole, as it was expensive to produce and no one around here had heard of it so ticket sales were low.  One piece of advice that I have is to ask for a starter "loan" from the school if you want to do a big musical.  We did that the first year and just asked the school to cover royalty and rental costs until we had box office proceeds and then we paid them back.  It worked, and helped us tremendously at the beginning.  We also chose to do a really popular and well known play that first year to get things started.

    What hurts me the most is costs for classroom.  I have no budget for textbooks, supplies, plays to read, etc.  And it seems wrong to make students pay for those things or fundraise for basic classroom needs.  So I struggle along, but it's rough.  If I could get anything from my county/school, it would be a budget for that.  Every other department and subject does, so why not Drama?  Do you have that aspect of things covered?  If not, I'd say start there.  

    If seeing a copy of our musical budget would help you, I could send that to you.  Good luck! 

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    Amy Bussey
    Stuarts Draft VA
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    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: Budget

    Posted 10-08-2015 09:21

    Hi Chelsea,

    In 2012 the Educational Theatre Association conducted a landscape survey of US high school theatre programs that included lots of data and benchmarks, including average budgets and funding sources. Every public high school with an enrollment of at least 200 students was invited to participate in the survey, and the results include over 1,200 responses.

    The study found that on average schools reported spending $7,510 on musical productions and $2,701 on full-length non-musicals. Over half the schools received occasional support for theatre from school budgets. Just under a third of respondents received regular or substantial support from their district budgets. The primary funding source continues to be ticket sales.

    You can see a lot more detail on funding sources, budgets, and many other aspects of theatre programs at this link:

    https://www.schooltheatre.org/advocacy/landscapesurvey

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    Julie Theobald
    Executive Director
    Educational Theatre Association
    Cincinnati OH
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    Original Message


  • 7.  RE: Budget

    Posted 10-09-2015 22:50

    I have been teaching in public schools for 23 years and have never once been given any money from the district for productions.  It's just not as valued as sports and most likely never will be.  All of my funds are from fundraisers, etc. 

    But over the years, I have learned to turn it into a learning opportunity for my students.  Having worked in community and professional theatre as well, I know the value of budgeting for a performance and budget all of my shows with the intention of making a profit off of each show, so that my shows are the fundraisers themselves. 

    I put this responsibility on my officers.  With each show I present them with a budget for the show, including projected ticket sales and program ads.  The officers must go over the budget and approve it.  At the end of a show the officers must go over an expenditure report I provide for them so they can determine any changes that must be made for the next show.  I tell them that it is their club and their money so they have to determine how it is spent and how it is earned.  It is a fantastic learning tool that is real world for them.  I have found that I am much more profitable when I put it in their hands because they have a better understanding of how it all works.  They work harder for ticket sales and also find creative ways to cut corners while still providing a quality production.  Then when I present them with a budget, they will question things like - do we really need to spend this much on costumes - how can we make props rather than buy them - and how do we get more students to attend performances?

    I'm a big believer that this is EDUCATIONAL theatre, not a professional one and I feel that making the students take a responsibility for the financial end of the production is extremely valuable for them and for the school and the program itself.  I hope this helps.

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    Jeana Whitaker
    Theatre Director
    Mesa AZ
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    Original Message


  • 8.  RE: Budget

    Posted 10-09-2015 14:01

    Hey! Here are some fundraising ideas for you:

    -We take pictures of our cast during dress rehearsal and get them blown up poster size  (through our school printer). We display them in the lobby and have a silent auction on them throughout the run of the show. The evening after the final show I call the highest bidders and they come by my room the next week to claim their poster and write our program a check. We start the bidding at $10, which is what it costs me to print them. I usually do 6-8 posters. We've raised as much as $2,000 from this. Parents and grandparents look forward to it.

    -We also print out star cards on colored paper (basically blank cards with the logo of the show and the year on front) and friends and family can purchase them for a dollar and send a note to an actor backstage. These sell like hotcakes.

    -This year, we will be using opening night as a fundraiser, by selling packets of tickets to businesses for a higher price than we sell to the public, but they also get a goodie bag including 2 free tickets to the next show, backstage passes, signed photos of the cast, 2 drama club tshirts, and their business mentioned in future programs that year. We'll see how that goes.

    -I also have my seniors organize two theatre camps during the year for middle schoolers and we charge $10 a kid for 6 workshops on a Saturday from 9-4. It's a great fundraiser and all the kids enjoy it. 

    When I started I had $300 and, like you, really wanted to do an MTI show. My principal helped me write some grants to get the program re-start ed and I ended up getting a $7,000 grant that year for a musical. I was nervous it might not be enough so I got was able to get a ton donated. I went to churches and asked if they'd donate sound equipment.  I approached the local newspaper and had them do an article about me and the kids trying to get a musical together along with ideas on how the community could help (props and Costumes pieces we were looking for, etc). I sat down with the manager of our local hardware store. Told him we had a limited budget, showed him the list of supplies we needed for the set and he made me a great deal. I made sure to send out thank you cards and mention each business and individual in our program and managed to do the show with half the money we'd been granted. The remaining funds went straight toward a musical the following year. Now we have a little over $10,000 in our musical fund. Show administration that you can take the money you're given and be wise with it. Think of creative fundraisers that dont necessarily cost you very much or take much time. Everyone in your community wants students to have that kind of opportunity.  Ask for help. People like to help. 

    Hope this gives you some ideas. Best of luck!


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    Summer Rickman
    Hobbs Municipal Schools
    Hobbs NM
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    Original Message


  • 9.  RE: Budget

    Posted 10-13-2015 14:46

    Does your state have an IE for Theatre Marketing? That might be a great way to get your kids involved in the budgeting that you do and have statistical information to bring directly to your administration. Another option is if you have hard data on the costs for the shows you have done in the past that weren't from a company like R&H or MTI. Showing a comparison between what you have spent and what you are projecting to spend for a big musical can explain the need for the difference in the budgeting. Be careful with this though. If your admin doesn't see the value behind the "big name" musical they may tell you not to produce it because of cost. 

    Does your program have any sponsors? We cover most of our costumes through sponsors and it's a huge relief in the budgeting. 

    Good luck! (and go you for getting the $400)


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    Shira Schwartz
    Chandler Unified School District
    Chandler AZ
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    Original Message


  • 10.  RE: Budget

    Posted 10-15-2015 12:55


    Would it help if I sent our budgets for the past couple of seasons?
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    Laura Steenson
    Theatre Director
    Reynolds High School
    Troutdale OR
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