June Newsletter

Dear Community,

Summer is here! 21ten is bustling as we finish off the month of June hosting productions by Bridge City Theatre Camp, JANE a theatre company, and Deep End Productions, as well as welcoming in our Summer Residents into rehearsals. We are sorry to have kept the newsletter on hold for the past few months, but we are back with many updates, so strap in and get ready to read all about what we have been up to. Thanks for being here!

Summer Residency

As you may know, our first yearly residency program which is hosting 4 incoming groups during the month of July (selected from 16 applicants) is up and running with the first performance on the Fifth of July.

This is a community driven offering, as we grant the use of our space for free to the participants. The cost is well worth the reward of supporting artists who might otherwise be unable to produce their work in town. Ticket sales alone cannot cover all of our costs for the month, so we do look to donations to allow this program to continue. We also expect foundation money to support the program going forward. Please come enjoy the experimental work these wonderful artists have conjured!

Get your tickets today and chose how much you'd like to contribute to the program and the artists, starting at $15 each.

More Exciting News - Stupid F**king Bird at 21ten

21ten is thrilled to be bringing you a show in August that was already performed last spring in Portland!

Ted was blown away by the heartfelt and extremely well acted Stupid F**king Bird (A spin on Checkhov’s The Seagull, written by Aaron Pozner), which was presented in the “creative space” of the Sunnyside Basement in SE late last March. Ted felt that its two-week stint in this tiny venue was too short. So now, 21ten is extending the production's life for another two-week run in mid-August at 21ten!

We are love that you get to enjoy this funny and moving piece that we feel has the quality and heart of a 21ten Production. It is also a nice follow up to our spring production of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya.

Stupid F**king Bird has a seven-person cast (As Vanya had), so to make this all happen financially, we are going to have to do a little fundraising.

Since we began producing shows only 2 years ago, we have paid actors as much as we can and more than a small, young theatre normally would. We have also carried five Actor’s Equity contracts. But with such a large cast, those numbers add up fast. To give you an idea, the cost of paying the actors alone for Uncle Vanya was $15,000 dollars. We basically sold out the run, but ticket sales only amounted to $13,000. You can imagine that with all of the other expenses of the show, we took quite a hit to our bottom line, which we felt was worth it to bring you this dynamic story. But we cannot continue to pay so much from our savings. This is why theaters cannot survive without financial support from grants, sponsors and the community. We predict that our budget for SFB will have a $4,000 shortfall. Expect to be hearing of opportunities to support bringing Stupid F***ing Bird to 21ten! We hope to have a couple fun events! (Any ideas for raising some cash? Car wash? Street fair? Busking? Standing on Hawthorne and screaming like a mad man? :-) 

Working Toward Next Season

We’ve been spending much of our time since closing Uncle Vanya reading plays, having group read-throughs, and taking suggestions from anyone and all for plays that would suit our intimate space. We hope to have a core of plays selected within the next few weeks, so we can announce what 21ten’s third season holds for you. And seriously: if you have an idea for a 21ten show, please drop us a note.

We’re also looking to launch our after hours program this year. So, if a show is over by 9 PM for example, another short play, storytelling event, sketch comedy troupe, or an open mic might start up at 9:30 PM. There are all kinds of possibilities, and this is one way of using the space to instigate more community. We continue to search for creative ways of using the space during the daytime, as well.

Reach out to Ted & Producer AC for partnership, rentals, and making your work happen in our space!

BareBones Update

We are excited to let you know that our third BareBones project, Adopt A Sailor, will be having its first performances out in the community TODAY, Thursday 6/27, with another performance in the beginning of July. Both are local senior living establishments. We are also continuing to beat the bushes for performances not only in Portland in service to the local community, but also around the state. We are ready to bring our shows to "creative performance spaces” as well as legitimate theaters. Any tips on a partnership? 

These two arms of BareBones Theater (metro area outreach and statewide performances) have been a part of the plan from the start. Because our shows are light of foot and need little more than a space and a few prop pieces to produce, we are very transportable and can slip into a theater any time there's not a show running. 

We are also thrilled to let you know that a five person team of extremely capable and enthusiastic folks have come together to lead the BareBones wing. Carrie Brantley, Carla Grant, Lani Jo Leigh, Jane Ferguson and Rocco Weyer have stepped forward and are now working hard to get all the mechanics of BB up and running. That is four volunteers (Thank you volunteers!) and one part timer (Rocco). Which now puts it at four part time staff that 21ten is able to be paying. This is happening thanks to those of you who have donated, the recent grant from the Marie Lamfrom Foundation, and the generosity of our patron (saint), Ronni Lacroute. It is amazing to see Ted’s vision for outreach to the local community and state coming to fruition. And we are convinced that this wing of the theater will be what 21ten is most known for. Look for a couple new BareBones shows to be added to our quiver this fall and spring (Our first choice is a play by a local playwright which we hope to be telling you about soon!).

New Partnership with Cygnet Productions

Cygnet Productions just performed their first reading of The Madwoman of Chaillot to a full house on Monday evening at 21ten, the first of what will be monthly readings. Cygnet is partnering with 21ten to raise money for a different cause each month. For Chaillot, we were able to send $508 to OREGON RECOVERS.

Next up is An Evening of Steinbeck on July 22nd and Mother of the Maid on August 26th.

Ticket Reservations will be up on our site soon!

Funding

This September will be our three year anniversary of getting our nonprofit status from the US government. This is a threshold for us since many foundations and grants require three years of existence before eligibility. We’ve been hanging in there, but see a stronger future as we reach this threshold. Thanks for helping to get us this far!! 

As our vision continues to grow, Barry Carman, our grant writer, is doing a heck of a job getting our name out there and applying for funding wherever we can. And he truly understands the vision of 21ten. Still, we also have an eye out for creative fundraising options. If any of you know corporations that we should be checking in with, any individuals who may be interested in supporting our vision, or any alternative ways to raise support, please chime in! Point Ted in the right direction, and he is glad to knock on doors! 

Seeking More Volunteers at 21ten:

From the start, Ted has kept a list of chair positions open to overseeing activity that would round out his vision of a healthy community-driven theater. More and more of these “hats” are getting filled, but we have a few empty positions that we feel an urgent need to be taken on. Unfortunately, we don’t yet have the funds to offer payment for these positions and Ted himself is still volunteer staff at 21ten! This means, if you are willing, that this is your opportunity to create a new program at 21ten. You would be in charge. And you would be able to pick the time you put in. For now, even two hours a week moving a project forward is better than none. If you feel the tug to come be a part of the 21ten team, please ask for the full list of hats we hope to fill :-) 

But for now, these are 21ten's most urgent leadership needs: 

Publicity/Marketing.

Especially getting the word out there to folks outside of the theater community have still never heard of 21ten. Social media management as well as press relations are an area we need help with. This is a big one and none of us in the core leadership feel we have the know-how with this one. Help!?

Fundraising.

Event hosting, donor relations management, strategizing. Have a fundraising background and want to get involved? Let us know!

Adding Board Members.

We currently have a bare-bones board :-) We are hoping to bring on a couple folks with diverse background and experience and a passion for helping to guide 21ten into the future!

One Year at the Theater

 It’s incredible to view our wall of plays performed from June 2023 to the end of May 2024. It is hard to believe that in one year we produced seven shows. This was not a goal. Had someone suggested this, we might’ve told them they were out of their brain. Nonetheless, it happened, mostly due to things that fell in our lap rather than Ted making them happen. And this seems to be happening more and more. Which is as it should be - in a theater aspiring to create true community out of which good work will come. What transpires here at 21ten is due to many bringing their ideas and their abilities to the space and the leadership simply enabling them or or supporting them in their efforts. Ain’t that what community is all about? 

We at 21ten are continuing to brainstorm creating more community opportunities. The core staff and supporting leadership are projecting there to be more opportunities to come around 21ten simply to hang out with the people that are here. We aren't able to get that yearly liquor license yet to bring Ted’s vision for an afterhours place for theater folks where “everybody knows your name”. And we have yet to expand our classroom space beyond the theater itself in order to bring in more training opportunities. But this is all happening. And this space does sit empty a lot during the days. Any ideas?

Thanks for reading this far. We'd love to hear from you!

Please come and check out our Summer Residency of experimental theater in July. And please come see Stupid F**king Bird in August...and keep an eye out for our next season. We can’t wait!

All the best,

The 21ten Team

21ten's Mission

To cultivate community by producing intimate theatre, arts events, and educational opportunities that move and challenge artists and audiences.

21ten FINANCIAL FACTS

For those of you curious...

The cost of running 21ten with all of its programs in the past 12 months: Est. $165,000

Budget goal for the next year: $205,000

A FEW SELECT COSTS:

Hiring Actors Directors and Stage Managers for the last 12 months: $75,200

Part time staff payments for the last 12 months: $35,000

Rent payments for the last 12 months: $36,000

SELECT INCOMES:

From ticket sales for the last 12 months: $48,000

Rental income in the past 12 months: $25,000

Individual Donations received in the past 12 months: $6,500

Grants Received in the past 12 months: ~ $62,500

Consider A Donation

If you’d like to support our theatre and help us continue our mission of sharing theatre in the local community, we’d love if you would consider donating. All donations are tax deductible. This theatre thrives with your help.

 Questions about the Residency or Box Office? Reach out to ac.camp6311@gmail.com for more information.