THEATER IN ASYLUM
NYC-based theater company challenging and empowering our community.
This campaign has ended, but you can still make donations by visiting this fundraiser's general support page.
Donate NowTheater in Asylum 2022
Help us get new projects started, expand our reading series, and pay dozens of artists! Invest in the future of Theater in Asylum!
New York, NY, US
- $10,323 raised of $10,000 goal
- 83 donations
- -1525591 minutes left
Fiscally Sponsored by Fractured Atlas
Dearest Supporters,
2021 was one of our busiest years yet. Despite the ongoing difficulties of the pandemic, we:
- Produced one online play, The Debates 2021, alongside a get-out-the-vote effort for New York City’s democratic mayoral primary.
- Produced one in-person play, Occupy Prescott, with sold out houses. We kept our team safe with weekly testing, vaccination, and mask mandates. A lot to organize!
- Hosted 33 Cold Readings, including three in-person Cold Readings.
- Revised our Mission Statement
- Released our Community Agreements and Transparency commitments
- Won three grants!
Next season, we reach with hope and eagerness for:
- An in-person cabaret inspired by the Federal Theatre Project.
- An intensive workshop of our next production, a full-length inspired by the life and work of Hallie Flanagan.
- Over a dozen Cold Readings.
- A reorganization of TIA’s leadership structure, including the hiring of a curatorial team and annual staff.
Our Ask and Our Gratitude
If you are in a position to donate, we humbly ask for your support of Theater in Asylum’s work in 2022. We are so grateful for all that’s been made possible these past 11(!) years, and we look ahead to 2022 with eagerness and hope.
Our Focus for the Next Year: Hallie Flanagan and the Federal Theatre Project
From 1935-39 the Federal Theatre Project (FTP) was a New Deal program to put unemployed artists back to work. With a network of more than 200 theaters across the country, the FTP employed tens of thousands of artists and performed to 30 million people. In just four years, nearly a quarter of all Americans had seen an FTP production. Under the leadership of Hallie Flanagan, who went above and beyond the assignment, the FTP was so much more than a relief program and its legacy continues to impact the American Theater. Rife with achievement, and controversy, the rarely told story of Hallie Flanagan and her Federal Theatre Project demands our attention and inquiry.
Beginning early 2022 we begin a massive research, devising, and performance process. We’ve already begun a reading group, will soon put together a scripting team, and are eager for a collective brainstorm in the form of an unforgettable cabaret with over 30 commissioned artists. Following the cabaret, we’ll begin rehearsing for a workshop production of TIA’s still-untitled Hallie Flanagan/Federal Theatre Project show.
“Neither should the theater in our country be regarded as a luxury. It is a necessity because in order to make democracy work the people must increasingly participate; they can't participate unless they understand; and the theater is one of the great mediums of understanding.” - Hallie Flanagan
As artist-activist-voter-citizens, we couldn’t agree more.
Cold Readings
Since 2015, Theater in Asylum has gathered friends and fans to read and discuss great plays (135 so far!). Wednesday nights have become a cherished place not only for play reading but for processing these wild times. We plan to continue a combination of online and in-persons readings as safety allows, as well as invite more guest facilitators to bring new plays and new ideas to the group.
Beginning in 2022, an expanded curatorial team will choose the plays and hire facilitators. As always, we are looking to bring the widest possible variety of work to our room. We seek to learn about plays past as a means for understanding our present and imagining our future. It's also great fun! Part theater-literacy, part acting practice, and part social event, Cold Readings continue to be a bright spot in Theater in Asylum’s work.
Our Expenses
Theater in Asylum commits to two competing goals: pay the artists without becoming a financial burden to the audience
We believe in radical transparency and accessibility. We know theater must be accessible to the widest audience possible in order for ideas to spread, catch hold, and ignite. Therefore, we have had a "Pay-What-You-Can" option at every Theater in Asylum event for the past six years. It is also imperative to recognize the time, skill, and talent each artist we engage with brings to the table. With your help, we can meet both of these competing goals.
Next year we will:
- Pay over 60 artists (Personnel Costs): $12,570
- Rent space for a cabaret, a workshop, and a dozen Cold Readings (Space Costs): $3,420
- Produce excellent work (Production Costs): $2,450
- Continue building Theater in Asylum as a home for our community to be challenged and empowered (Administrative Costs): $2,046
- Learn and become better artists and people (Development): $600
- Have a backup fund (Contingency): $897
- Total spending in 2022: $21,983
Our Revenues
We rely on the support of our community to make this all possible. This year we are hoping to raise:
- $10,000 from this fundraiser
- $1,000 from other donations throughout the year
- $3,000 from grants
- $379 from ticket sales
- Total revenue in 2022: $19,879 (we are covering the different between costs and revenues with the surplus we made in 2021)
About Theater in Asylum
Theater in Asylum (TIA) challenges and empowers our community through performance. Since our founding in NYC in 2010, we have joyfully pursued a rigorous research- and ensemble-driven approach to theater-making. We envision a theater for all, where performance is used to investigate our past, interpret our present, and imagine our future. We prize space to process, space to question—asylum—for ourselves and our community.
Theater in Asylum's core programming includes: the creation of original devised theater pieces; productions by contemporary, up-and-coming playwrights; one-night-only cabarets featuring works by our community; and a play-reading series (Cold Readings) to spread theater literacy. In each of these programs, we actively work to build a welcoming space for both those who identify as artists and those who do not. We provide many entry points to our process and aim for participants to return again and again in new capacities. We eagerly share our tools of theater-making and actively seek to learn others’ tools. In doing so, we assert that the tools of theater-making — collaboration, empathy, questioning — are valued and utilized for understanding what is, and imagining what could be.
Learn more about Theater in Asylum on our website.
Thank You
We have big plans for 2022 and, if you are able, we humbly ask for your support in making these plans possible. Thank you, thank you, thank you. We wish you and yours safety, good health, and a bright new year.
Paul, Katie, and Kathryn
Rewards
Our Gratitude and Thanks
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Shakespearean Insult / Compliment by Kara
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Are you looking for a fancy way to tell someone you love them or that they bug you? Would you like an extra-fancy Shakespearean insult or compliment made for someone you know? If so, sign up for this perk! Kara (a Mary Baldwin University Shakespeare & Performance graduate student) will record an audio and/or video message for a person of your choosing.
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Learn the basics of Adobe Premiere Pro with Francine
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**Attendees must have access to Adobe Premiere Pro
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A Special Message from NY Dawn
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For $25, you’ll receive a special thank you from these two icons.
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Fresh Baked Focaccia by Kathryn
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A custom cover song from Ali Dineen!
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If you've seen The Debates, or been to Jalopy Theater, you know how talented Ali is. For $60 you can commission a cover song of your choice. You pick the song, she'll send you a recording. For those unfamiliar, feast your ears on Ali's music on Spotify, Bandcamp, or on her website at alidineen.com
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Rick's Chocolate Rye Cookies
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Amount over $20.00 is tax-deductible.
** If you live within biking distance of Rick and Paul's Brooklyn apartment, we'll HAND DELIVER the cookies. Otherwise, we'll mail them to you.
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A D&D Game with Supreme Dungeon Master Christopher DeSantis
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Amount is fully tax-deductible.
Calling all Warriors and Wizards! Wish to partake in the classic tabletop roleplaying game Dungeons & Dragons? Christopher will Dungeon Master a 3-4 hour session for you and up to three friends, including a brief tutorial for any new players!
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Civics Happy Hour with Paul
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Ecstatic Cookie Box baked by Rick
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WARNING: Consumption may cause ecstasy.
CLARIFICATION: Aforementioned ecstasy is caused by sugar, butter, chocolate, and salt. These are NOT pot cookies.
** If you live within biking distance of Rick and Paul's Brooklyn apartment, we'll HAND DELIVER the cookies. Otherwise, we'll mail them to you.
3 claimed
3 Tutoring Sessions with Nadia
Donate $150.00 or more
Amount over $60.00 is tax-deductible.
Do you know a young person ages 9-18 in need of an academic boost in a remote, hybrid, or just plain hectic schooling environment? Nadia has been an academic coach for almost 10 years, with experience in executive functioning development, school-subject support, and standardized test preparation. With a donation of $150 or more, your young person can experience three virtual sessions with experienced tutor Nadia Diamond to receive guidance on navigating any academic challenge they are currently facing (except physics, chemistry, or calculus)!
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Fully Claimed!
Biscuits from Jonas and Marcus' Drop Everything Biscuit Company
Looking for love? Looking for a little comfort? Then what could be better then good ole homemade Drop Biscuits! Lovingly made with simple ingredients and seasoned with a variety of exciting flavor combinations, Jonas Cohen and his business partner Marcus Baker want to share a little of what they’ve been up to with their Drop Everything Biscuit Company. Six lucky donors will receive a sampler’s half dozen with two of their most popular flavors: Apricot & Tarragon and Cinnamon Sugar Pecan with a hint of Molasses. Safely and personally delivered to you by hand within NYC's 5 boroughs.
6 / 6 claimed at $35.00 or more