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's 2023 Fundraiser
Help us premiere The FTP Show, our most ambitious production to date!
New York, NY, US
- $12,178 raised of $15,000 goal
- 80 donations
- -1022785 minutes left
Fiscally Sponsored by Fractured Atlas
Dearest Supporters,
Thank you for making Theater in Asylum a vibrant space for new, provocative, and joyful research- and ensemble-driven theater! We are so deeply grateful to our community that makes this all possible. We have big dreams for next year, and we hope you will consider donating to our 2023 season, our 13th year of work. You’ll be supporting a new production, increased artist pay, free tickets at every show, Cold Readings, and a more sustainable structure for the company.
Looking Back, Reaching Forward
Last year, your support made it possible for us to grow and develop in tremendous ways. In 2022, we:
- Produced a cabaret of new work, with 37 artists, 120 in-person attendees, and over 600 online streamers.
- Held a week-long workshop of The FTP Show, developing the script and getting high quality photos and videos.
- Implemented an annual staff, with 7 paid team members to keep TIA running between projects, allowing us to plan bigger and more sustainably for 2023.
- Paid 56 artists for their work, including Cabaret artists for the first time, as well as increasing production stipends.
- Held 18 Cold Readings, amplifying 18 organizations doing good work in the process.
- Won the most funding from grants in our Company’s history, making 2021’s mission and systems revision a smashing success!
- Maintained a free ticket option at every public event.
With your support, we can build on our growth in 2022 to reach new heights in 2023. For our 13th year, we’re looking to :
- Stage the premier of The FTP Show in a 3-week, 12 performance run, our longest ever!
- Host 9 Cold Readings, with a mix of online and in-person gatherings.
- Pay over 30 artists at increased levels, stepping up our business structure and issuing tax documents for the first time.
- Maintaining a free-ticket option at all public events, a commitment we have kept since 2016.
- Reincorporate the company as an LLC, solidifying our ability to pay higher stipends.
Our Focus for 2023: The FTP Show
What’s it All About?
The FTP Show (working title) explores the story of the Federal Theatre Project (FTP): its participants, its obstacles, and its legacy into present-day.
What’s the FTP?
The FTP was a New Deal program that allocated federal tax dollars to directly employ thousands of theater artists from 1935-1939. Led by Hallie Flanagan, the project thrived across the country, and approximately one quarter of all Americans saw an FTP production.
Tell me more about your production!
Our show focuses on six artists, following them from the FTP’s inception in 1935 through its demise in 1939, with flashes forward to the fights at the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) in the 60’s and 90’s to the COVID-19 pandemic and today. Our characters represent, in Hallie Flanagan's words, the "ten thousand anonymous men and women who did the work, the somebodies who believed" in the Federal Theatre Project and made it exist. The piece will showcase the major theatrical successes of the FTP, as well as the tougher internal moments. Our show also tracks the external pressures the FTP were under: Productions faced near-constant congressional censorship, and accusations of Communism led to the erosion of the FTP budget and eventually the cancellation of the project. Our characters fracture in debate as the play jumps forward in time. Over 80 years later a group of artists on Zoom, some benefitting from Covid Relief grants, others not, wrestle with the same questions of public funding and art’s value in society.
How long have you been working on this show?
We have been developing this show for over a year. We have read numerous books written about the project, read plays produced by the FTP, and held a workshop this past summer to develop our original work.
What makes this production stand out from the rest?
This production will be our biggest to date with 12 performances across three weeks all at the Jalopy Theater in Summer 2023. With this long of a run, we have the chance to secure reviews from the press who only review productions with numerous performances. We have the chance to have our work seen by more people and let the idea of what a present-day federally funded theater could be catch fire.
How are you allocating the money you want to raise for this production?
Good question! We are prioritizing people. Artists stipends will increase by over 300% from our past productions. Often artists on our projects have two or three jobs in addition to performing in our shows. The more money we are able to pay them, the more they can concentrate on their art and less on making ends meet. Scroll down to see a detailed chart of our expenses for 2023.
Other Happenings in 2023: Continuing Cold Readings
Since 2015, Theater in Asylum has gathered friends and fans to read and discuss great plays (152 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-person readings, as well as invite guest facilitators to bring new plays and ideas to the group. Part theater-literacy, 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 every working artist a meaningful stipend. while keeping programming financially accessible to all.
We believe in radical transparency and accessibility. We know theater must be accessible to the widest audience possible in order for ideas to ignite, spread, and catch hold. Therefore, we have had a "Pay-What-You-Can" option at every Theater in Asylum event for the past eight years. It is also imperative to recognize the time, skill, and talent of each artist with whom we engage. With your help, we can meet both of these competing goals.
Next year we will:
- Pay over 30 artists (Personnel Costs): $27,900
- Rent space for a full production and 9 Cold Readings (Space Costs): $12,660
- Produce excellent work (Production Costs): $12,500
- Continue building Theater in Asylum as a home for our community to be challenged and empowered (Administrative Costs): $2,680
- Learn and become better artists and people (Professional Development): $600
- Have a backup fund (Contingency): $2,560
- Total planned spending in 2023: $58,900
Our Revenues
We rely on the support of our community to make this all possible. This year we are planning to raise:
- $15,000 from this fundraiser
- $1,800 from other donations throughout the year
- $20,000 from grants
- $14,500 from ticket sales
- Total revenue in 2023: $53,100 (we are covering the difference between costs and revenues with the surplus we made during the pandemic)
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 2023. From $5 to $5000, any amount is helpful and will make a difference! Plus, as an extra thank you for donating, we have a number of lovely perks for you to choose from!
I can’t donate, but I want to help. What else can I do?
Have a talent you can lend us? Become a perk partner and donate your time and talents to our donors. Email info@theaterinasylum.com
Have social media or a blog? Write about us and encourage your friends to chip in to our fundraiser!
We are so grateful for all that’s been made possible these past 12 years, and we look ahead to 2023 with eagerness and hope.
Thank You
We have ambitious plans for 2023. Thank you, thank you for your donations that make these plans possible.
We wish you and yours safety, good health, and a bright new year.
Paul, Katie, Kathryn, Charlotte, Al, Melissa, Brea, and Adin
Theater in Asylum
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 indispensable for imagining and building a more equitable, just world.
Learn more about Theater in Asylum on our website.
Rewards
A Thank You Ditty by Amanda and Danny!
Donate $30.00 or more
Amount is fully tax-deductible.
Our Theater in Asylum friends in Liverpool will send you a Beatles-influenced short thank you song!
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Our Gratitude and Thanks
Donate $1.00 or more
Amount is fully tax-deductible.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. From the bottom of our hearts, and from Deer Heaven, we thank you for your donation.
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Watercolor postcards by Jaclynn!
Donate $15.00 or more
Amount over $1.00 is tax-deductible.
J.K. Workman, also known as Jaclynn our fabulous Cold Reader!, makes beautiful prints from her mountain home. This perk includes two 4"x6" prints: "Snowfield in Summer" and "Reading by the River".
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Chill Butterfly Earrings by Molly McGaughey
Donate $50.00 or more
Amount over $38.00 is tax-deductible.
Anxiety relief earrings with acupressure rings. The discrete portability of the acupressure rings make these earrings the perfect fidget for managing stress while out and about. Simply release the acupressure rings from the earring magnets and roll rings up and down fingers for an instant calming effect.
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Homemade Brioche from Kathryn
Donate $60.00 or more
Amount over $10.00 is tax-deductible.
Enjoy a homemade loaf of fluffy brioche! Only available to those living in the Bay Area.
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Rick's Chocolate Rye Cookies
Donate $70.00 or more
Amount over $20.00 is tax-deductible.
If you've worked on a TIA show, you've tasted these incredible cookies. Fudgey melty salty magic. So good.
** 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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Tutoring session with Nadia
Donate $75.00 or more
Amount over $25.00 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 $75 or more, your young person can experience a virtual 1-hour session 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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Ecstatic Cookie Box baked by Rick
Donate $100.00 or more
Amount over $30.00 is tax-deductible.
Are you ready for a box of assorted cookies baked by the one and only Rick Fudge.
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.
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Civics Happy Hour with Paul
Donate $100.00 or more
Amount over $10.00 is tax-deductible.
Paul is, you surely know, obsessed with politics. He's passionate and rigorous with understanding the levers of power we have as citizens. Each election, he prepares a "Reps" document for himself, with all of his representatives and how to contact them. He also makes sure he knows what each of them do, what they could do, and how to bother them to do more. For $75, Paul will prepare a "Reps" document, customized to your location and local government, and chat about it with you over a drink.
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