[SML] small show budgets

[Allison Koster]

Your numbers look similar to the budget I remember at Carleton College (I left there in 2011). 

While it can be frustrating at times to not be able to afford to buy fancy things, it also can be very satisfying to push your creativity in finding out-of-the-box solutions.  Abstracted or ‘suggestive’ sets are far cheaper (and often more elegant) than trying to do realism.   Many wonderful costumes have been made from thrift store finds (or pulled from storage)—again, go for suggestion and silhouette, not necessarily full realism.  

Seek out royalty-free shows—-Shakespeare, Charles Mee’s plays, find a local playwright, or create your own.  

I don’t know if you ever saw any shows by Theatre de la Jeune Lune in Minneapolis (while JL no longer exists, a number of its core group has formed The Moving Company); they always had a shoestring budget and did some of the most amazing and memorable shows I’ve ever seen.   

Very few of your students will ever go on to work someplace like the Guthrie—more likely they might get involved with a small community theater or help with their kid’s school production—places that rarely have huge budgets. 

Teaching your students how to do great shows on the cheap is the BEST educational experience you could provide, in my opinion.

Allison Koster 
Moorhead, MN