All of us connected to Cyclodrama have years and years (and years) of experience with theatre. And over those years, we've become disheartened by our experiences. Community theatre is never about community, it's always been about continued existence "raise money for the next show!"
Don't get us on our soapbox about how theatre should not qualify for public charity status, because, other than the
art of "making theatre," typical theatre companies don't give anything else to the community. We know that we exist only because of the community - whether it be our performers or our audiences. And while we see a place for the typical companies in the area, we are not a typical company. We are doing this for our love of performing, but not to better the craft. We give chances, we make unique casting decisions. And one final thing - being entertained is selfish. Humanity should be about helping others, about better-ing the world, but the powers that be have decided that we should be entertained so that we don't think about the starving children in ethipoia, or about the homeless wandering the streets of our hometown. No - they want us entertained so that we will be the happy little slaves that we are. Since we are those little slaves, we can't change the whole world at once, so we're going to use that knowledge to a least change our community. Instead of hoarding the dollars spent on tickets to our shows, we will be sharing them with another organization with a real-life mission. By real-life we mean, feeding the poor, sheltering the homeless, reducing bullying to our LGBT community, etc. Putting on another show is not a real-life mission, in our opinion. So do your part to help our community by purchasing a ticket to one of our unique productions and then feel good that you have done a small part in helping make our community better. Every dollar you spend with us will make its way back out into the community.
