Chip In
Dear friends and fans of Ten Foot Pole Theatre,First of all, let me once again thank you all for your incredible ongoing support for our work. Since our beginning in 2007, your support has helped us develop three successful new Canadian plays and tour them across the country and overseas.
This summer, we've been lucky to book ourselves once again into a ten-city cross-Canada tour. While we expect to have a wonderful time in bring our old hits Fucking Stephen Harper and Big In Germany to new audiences, we're also developing two brand new shows: RAW, which will play at the Toronto Fringe Festival, and First Day, which will play in Victoria and Vancouver.
While we're excited to debut these shows, we're also finding that creating RAW is stretching our resources beyond what we're able to create.
RAW is a violent, sexy, darkly comic, and deeply moving play about the lines of responsibility that bind two men together: Stephen and James, two young gay men who meet at a bathhouse and have a hot, steamy, sexual encounter without a condom. But what Stephen doesn't tell James is that he's recently been diagnosed HIV-positive. A month later, Stephen sends James an anonymous letter warning him to get tested, and when James tests positive, he tracks Stephen down to confront the man he believes has killed him. But what do you say to your killer if given the chance? What can you do?
With this show, we're hoping to up our game significantly in terms of production values. We've hired the design team of Karen Elizabeth and George Quan to create a full theatrical world for us to play in. We've also got to buy some fairly expensive props, costumes, and set pieces (we can't say what without giving away too much of the plot).
Normally, we don't have a problem paying for our shows with ticket sales, but this show will be particularly expensive, and there are no current plans to tour it outside of Toronto (although if it's a success, we do hope to bring it to other cities in the future), meaning that its revenue potential is limited for now. This is why we're hoping you can help us out.
We're hoping to raise $2000 to help us put this show together. Can you help us out? We'd be very grateful for any contribution to the budget. It's simple to chip in. Just click on the "Chip In" widget in the panel to your right and you'll be taken to a Paypal portal where you can contribute. If the widget isn't appearing for you, you can go directly to the donation page at Paypal.
As a special thank-you to everyone who helps us out putting together this show, we have some special benefits we'll happily give back:
A thank you in the RAW program
$25 or more
An autographed poster from the show and a thank you in the RAW program
$50 or more
All of the above, plus a signed copy of Rob's book, Fucking Stephen Harper.
$100 or more
All of the above, plus 2 tickets to any Ten Foot Pole Theatre show on the 2012 Fringe tour.
$250 or more
All of the above, plus a signed manuscript
Rob Salerno
Artistic Director, Ten Foot Pole Theatre
