The Purpose of This Blog Post
The entire purpose of this blog post is to ask for donations, and to explain to you why you should give us money.
There are two reasons why theater in NYC gets done.
The first is to make money. A producer thinks that a particular play can sell enough tickets to make a profit. It is a two part decision.
- First, a producer asks themselves, “Do I like this play?”
- Second, they ask, “Is this play going to make money?”
- If the answer to either of those questions is no, then the play doesn’t get done.
Unless…
The play fits the mission of a not-for-profit theater company, like Rhymes Over Beats.
Not-for-profit theater companies don’t have investors whose investment has to be paid back. Instead, they have fans and supporters who donate because they support the not-for-profit’s mission and the kind of work they do. What they get back is the satisfaction of seeing work get done that they think ought to be done.
Most not for profit theater companies that are successful have been around a while, and are not in New York. It takes a while for a company to connect with donors and convince them to give financially. This is so much easier to do in a area that is smaller and less diverse than New York.
But we are a new company doing new work by new writers. We are also focused on a culture that most people who care about theater are not interested in. We do hip Hop theater.
We Are a Hip Hop Theater Company
Many playwrights have said to me, “My friends support me, and if you produce my play all my friends will show up and buy tickets.”
This works if the producer is a commercial producer, but will not work for a not-for-profit. Why not? Because in a commercial production all the costs of a production are in theory covered by ticket sales. In a not-for-profit only sixty percent is covered.
The bottom line is that if you support hip hop theater you have to do more than just buy a ticket. You have to donate as well.
If you can spend ten dollars a month for Apple Music or Spotify, can you not spend half that to support hip hop theater? Sixty dollars a year from each of our Instagram followers would allow us to do two shows a year.
Do You Believe in Hip Hop Theater?
I understand that you may not have anything to give now, but what about your friends? Can you get at least one friend that you can get to do this?
Just know whatever you can do will be greatly appreciated, and each dollar goes to the show we’re currently working on.
What shows are we currently working on? Read next week’s blog to find out!