Help Support Independent Theater

The expense of producing theater is prohibitive. An Off Off Broadway production, running for 12 shows, costs 25-30 thousand dollars to mount — and that is keeping expenses and salaries to an absolute minimum. Theater for the New City (TNC) is producing my play, “A Healthy House,” June 2-17, and I am asking you, a patron of the arts, to help make this possible. In this instance, Theater for the New City provides the theater, rehearsal space, and insurance, while the playwright/producer is responsible for set and lighting, publicity, and paying the cast and crew, amounting to a budget of $8,725. That is our goal in this fund raising campaign. Any donations in excess of that goal will be donated to theater, with the purpose of meeting operating expenses into the future.

So, what is “A Healthy House” about? While selling an expensive siding job, the salesmen insinuate themselves into the lives of Tim and his elderly father, through issues such as the father’s battle with cancer and recently being widowed, and Tim’s failed dream of being a screenwriter and suffocating marriage. When the sales team breaks the trust, embroiling father and son in a scam that will cost them significantly more money, it makes for an explosive scenario, with the future of the home hanging in the balance, and the father’s care in question. The wickedly funny, and emotionally powerful “A Healthy House,” is at once deeply personal, while exploring themes that are universal, family, the march of time, life and death.

Theater for the New City, a non-profit theater supported by NYC Cultural Affairs and NYC Council of the Arts, is a Pulitzer Prize-winning community cultural center that is known for its high artistic standards and widespread community service. TNC productions have won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and over 42 OBIE Awards for excellence in every theatrical discipline.  TNC is also the only Theatrical Organization to have won the Mayor’s Stop The Violence award. In addition, TNC offers free youth acting workshops, and brings street theater to all five boroughs. Donations to TNC are tax deductible. Tax ID: 13-2694851.

The arts are a vital part of our city, and our society, enriching our lives, and challenging our perceptions. The Covid pandemic has been particularly devastating to theater. TNC was dark in 2020. The production of “A Healthy House” was rescheduled twice. These trying times have given us a glimpse of a world in the absence of those things, like theater, that celebrate life. By supporting “A Healthy House,” and Theater for the New City, you’re supporting independent theater, and helping bring to stage stories that entertain and enrich, which might not otherwise have had the chance to reach an audience. Thank you!