Are you looking at an informal club that is not incorporated or a non profit theater company?

We got started because I could not get a production slot at the theater so we started our group and rented the theater. We have come a long way since then. In our first 18 months we have generated $17,000 in revenue and made $7,000 in "profits", put $5,000 into lighting and sound equipment and have $2,000 in the bank.

There are a lot of ways to start - anyone will tell you to start small - but you need to be willing to do everything it takes to be a success yourself.

We have four major types of projects that we do. Full productions, Readers Theaters, Training and Dinner Mystery Theaters. Training brings in about 1/4 of our revenue but very little in profits. Readers Theaters are most of our productions (over a dozen) while most of the money comes from our full productions (four).

Find yourself a script and do a readers theater. We do them at resturaunts (we get $5.00 a head). There are a lot of good plays out there that work for Readers Theater and it does not take the big committment that a full production takes. We do each show three times on consecutive nights. The plays cost us about $250 to do (royalties, scripts, advertising, etc.) and we make about $100 to $150 a night.

There are several old threads on this bulletin board and www.aact.org that talk about getting started.

There are articles of incorporation and bylaws on this site and I have a 501(c)(3) application I can send you.

Let me know how I can help.