What’s the best way to support your local theater? That’s a question that gets asked often, and there are a variety of answers to it. However, by looking at a few of those answers, we can help you to narrow down what’s best for you, even if you don’t have an easy choice ahead of you.
Donate
The local theater is always in need of patrons. These are not professional actors, and they likely don’t have a good deal of extra revenue supporting them or what they love to do. The theater is always in need of extra funds to help support the cost of venues, sets, costumes, music, and food. Even small donations are always received with a welcome smile because it doesn’t just help the actors and stagehands out, it is also an act of showing that you care about what they do.
You don’t have to be rich to donate. In fact, you don’t have to give money at all. There are many other needs besides cash. For example, there are sets to be built, costumes to be adjusted, lines to be practiced, and more. Donating your time to the behind the scenes workings of the local theater to help the actors put on the best show that they are capable of performing.
It doesn’t matter if you are donating your cash, or just some sweat and muscle. There’s always a need for more help in the theater, and giving is one way that you can show your appreciation for what these people do, and give a little back to them at the same time.
Volunteer
If you are unable to give your cash or extra time, helping out at the performances can go a long way toward improving the theater experience for others and ensuring that they come back in the future. There’s always a need for ticket sales, refreshments, ushers, and more. Oftentimes, they will even let their show day volunteers view the performance for free as a thank you for their help. This is a really easy way to support the local theater, and it doesn’t require much beyond what you would do anyway.
Go!
Most importantly, the best way to help out your local theater is to go to performances. Even if you can’t donate your time or money to helping out in a philanthropic manner, you can still get a couple of tickets for local performances and support your community by going to shows and sitting in the audience. This is why communities, schools, churches, and more put on these shows, and if you are in the audience, you are showing your support for the performing arts in the simplest way possible. No matter how you show your support, this is an easy and fundamental way of doing so.
Not sure who to contact? Do a quick Google search for local theater in your community. You will find a lot of hits, so just scroll to the contact information and send out that email or make that phone call. You’ll be glad you did.