The costs of producing a musical are growing every year. SME works hard to keep the ticket prices of the productions low enough to be affordable to everyone in the New River Valley. We typically raise about $25,000 in advertising and ticket sales. In contrast, cost of producing each musical has risen to over $35,000 for a two-week run of eight shows. This cost has risen over $10,000 per production in twelve years. Since SME is a not-for-profit organization, all of our time is donated. Our costs include only direct costs of the summer production and the administrative costs of the organization. Below is a general breakdown of many of these costs with approximations of a typical production:
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Ongoing Administrative Costs:
$5,000 - Operating Expenses - Set & costume storage; Web site; P.O. Box; Insurance; Corporation & other administrative costs;
Production Specific Costs:
$7,000 - Royalties - Musical score rental, script rental, etc.;
$9,000 - Venue - Theatre rental, rehearsal space, shop space, lights rental, sound rental, truck rental, etc.;
$5,000 - Sets -Scenery rental, lumber, paints, construction hardware, rigging hardware;
$2,000 - Properties - Properties rental, properties construction, properties purchase;
$5,000 - Costumes - Specialty costume rental, fabric, zippers, buttons, etc.;
$1,000 - Makeup & Hair - face & body makeup, hair styling, wigs,
$6,000 - Publicity & Playbill - Posters, fliers, advertisements, Playbill printing, mailings, etc.;
$1,000 - Misc. Costs - Ticket printing, house expenses, photos, other administrative costs. |
