How You Can Help
I want to see you and your friends at my shows, enjoying the singing, dancing, love and laughter. Come rub shoulders with rising stars of the theater in Chicago and, eventually, the established stars of Broadway. Come celebrate amazing success (or noble failure!) at after show parties. Share the company of other like-minded lovers of the musical theater, and help ensure its future. It's all great fun, that you won't want to miss. But to make it possible, it all starts with fundraising.
Join My Board
I will be setting up a new not-for-profit, tax exempt theater compan soony. If you've ever wanted to serve on the board of a new theater company to support the development of new musicals, now is the time to contact me.
Your Individual Donation is Needed Now
Until the corporation is set up, and we obtain a 501(c)(3) tax exempt status letter from the IRS, I won't be able to solicit funding from foundations and other charitable organizations who only give to such companies. Also, the new organization will need a two year history in most cases to qualify for such assistance. At this point in time, I really need your help as individuals. I would so much appreciate your help in covering organization expenses. Please make a donation of any amount by clicking the "Donate" button now.
If you want to deduct this from your taxes, we can sign documents identifying this as a non-recourse loan, and you can write it off as a bad debt. From a tax point of view, it's effectively the same thing for you as a charitable donation. I will also announce when the new organization is set up, and has its 501(c)(3) tax exempt status, on this website and through the mailing list. At that point in time, your donations will be deductible as a charitable contribution.
With your permission, whatever you give me will be used for general developmental expenses, including actor stipends, accompanist fees, xeroxing, demo recording, etc. However, if you prefer to designate that your funds be used for a specific purpose, that's fine, too.
No donations is too small... or too large! If you donate $10, you can pay for a script. $100 will pay for an Equity actor to do a reading, or several non-Equity actors to receive smaller stipends. $1000 would pay for a week of theater rental at a small space in Chicago. $10,000 or more would pay for readings of all my shows, and fund the basic renovations of the small performance space described below.
Help Me Start a Small Performance Space
I am seeking donations to turn the central portion of the artist studio space at 1040 W. Huron in Chicago into a multi-use space where I can present readings of my shows and new musicals by other writers. The space is similar to the basement space at Chicago's Chopin Theater, where David Cromer's successful production of "Our Town" was launched, except that it is subdivided into smaller artist spaces.
I plan to purchase 50 padded folding chairs. I need fire resistant black drapes to hang over the gallery walls in such a way that they can be raised to display the artists' paintings as well. I will install a few small theatrical lights, and purchase a lighting board to control them. I anticipate it will take approximately $5000, and perhaps more, to do this.
Help Pay for Developmental Readings
Once the space is ready, I plan to use it for readings of new musicals, including my own. Typically, readings range in cost, depending on how many actors are involved, from $1000 to $2500.
Help Pay for a Showcase Production
When the scripts are set in final form based on feedback from the readings, my hope is move them tall o small productions. If I can raise enough donations, I will be able to either mount them under my new not-for-profit umbrella, or partner with another small, not-for-profit theater company to do so. In that case, the funds would be used as "enhancement" money to induce the other not-for-profit theater company into a partnership, where they would contribute resources as well. Generally speaking, If I can raise $20,000 - 50,000 in enhancement funds, I should be able to partner with a small, non-Equity company. To take my show(s) to a major regional Equity theater would require $200,000 to $2 Million Dollars. If you are a musical loving sheik from an oil rich country, or a lottery winner, please let me know!
Be Part of a Commercial Production
If you agree that one or more of my shows have commercial potential, you may want to help me finance them as a for-profit production. If you are a producer, want to be a producer, or are simply interested in finding investors for a finder's fee, you can take an active role in mounting the show. At some point in time, I'll also be reaching out to qualified investors, one on one. Typical investors are limited partners with no control, but also have no liability beyond their investment. Such offerings are always made on a limited basis to a small number of qualified individuals, and you won't want to be left out!
The world of the internet is so exciting, because now I can reach out to literally millions of people I don't yet know to determine their level of interest. If you know me already, I hope you will want to support my projects however you can. If we haven't met yet, I look forward to getting to know you. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me anytime via email at jlylesegal@aol.com, or by phone at 323-828-8740.
To read more about the various stages of development a musical goes through, click here.
To return to the home page, click here.
Thanks in advance for your consideration.
On with the show!
