It was inevitable. In spite of the festive season and holiday spirit, good old Ebeneezer Scrooge has stepped forward to warn us that we need to raise some money. In drafting a year-end request for donations, I could not help but note the unanticipated slate of expenses we have run into as of late. Without going into too much detail, we are already at least $17-20,000 “over budget.” Our cost overruns have nothing to do our on stage activities. Rather, we’ve had to spend significant money repairing and maintaining the playhouse. Additionally, it also looks like a hard cold winter ahead, which, even if nothing else breaks, will demand a higher than anticipated costs for utilities and parking lot maintenance!

As you may know, there is no true “budget” for these repair items. While we have a bit of a rainy day fund, which ironically was established to cover us if “the roof blew off” or the “furnace(s) crapped out.” Ironic because a good chunk of our recent unanticipated expenses went for a roof repair and the replacement of two furnaces!!

So, what do we do? We raise some additional revenue to keep the place afloat! I hope the membership will respond to the year-end donation plea. Remember, 100% of money realized from a solicitation such as this goes into our “capital improvement fund,” also known as the rainy-day roof/furnace/etc. miscellaneous fund.

So here is how you can help:

1) Buy tickets to the December 22 “Sing in the Season.” This event was added to the calendar as a fund generating program. We need to sell just over 10 tickets a day between today (12/12) and 12/22 to make this a sell out and a financial success. Bring friends, family, co-workers, neighbors, your dentist… pretty much everyone. It is going to be a great musical event and there is a craft sale in the lobby starting three hours before the show.

2) Respond generously to the year-end donation request. And I mean GENEROUSLY! It may hurt, just a little, but that makes the satisfaction of giving a bit higher.

Your Board of Directors is taking steps to address the deficit. It has approved increases to two of our existing revenue streams: season and member ticket prices. At least one of these measures will be put to a VP membership vote in June 2014. When it comes time for that vote, remember the long cold winter of 2013, and step up with your approval to keep us warm, dry, and fiscally secure.

–Gary Mach
Jake Badalamenti
James Badalamenti