Sun Lakes Community Theatre Needs a Permanent Home!
We have out-grown our shared spaces!
Sun Lakes Community Theatre (SLCT) is unique!
We are vital, active seniors who fill the void in live theatre by sharing our performances and lifelong love of theater with younger generations!
Since 1988, we have been a non-profit theater company that has not had a home of its own!Over all these years, we have been forced to compete with other organizations for shared rehearsal space and performance venues! This limits our rehearsal time and the number and type of performances we can do. In addition, we have outgrown all of the spaces that we have been borrowing!
For over 30 years, SLCT has filled the void in accessible, affordable, and convenient theatrical productions! If it wasn’t for SLCT, many in our audiences would not be able to experience the joy of live theatre! Some are unable to drive the distance to other venues. To others, tickets prices may be prohibitive.
Despite all the constraints of not having our own theatre facility,wehave persevered to delight and wow our audiences.
While we are thrilled that our typically sold-out main stage theatrical productions, children’s theatre, wildly funny improv comedy troupe, and theater education classes have become a vehicle for spanning generation gaps and building community. We are challenged to meet the ever-increasing demands of our growing audiences!
WE DESPERATELY NEED TO RAISE FUNDS TO FIND A PERMANENT HOME!
Talk about building community! Having our own space where we can rehearse, perform, build sets, and have safe storage for our technical equipment, props, costumes, and sets,would enable us to continue our mission! We would be able to perform MORE productions annually, involve MORE participants, and provide MORE out-reach to our neighboring communities!
The USA Today network has approved SLCT to compete in the grant, A Community Thrives, with awards of $100,000, $50,000, $25,000 or $10,000!
During the initial funding period March 18-April 12, 2019), we need to raise a minimum of $3,000 to compete in the ACT grant. However, we need to raise much more to demonstrate the support of our community! (Only donations $10 – $10,000 count! Four $25,000 grants will also be awarded to the campaigns that raise the most money through A Community Thrives on CrowdRise in 2019. ALL DONATIONS ARE TAX DEDUCTIBLE!
CAN YOU HELP US?
Gannett Company, publishers of USAToday, Arizona Republic, and AZ Central newspapers, the sponsor of this $100,000 grant will open the challenge and make the button to start donations go live for “The A Community Thrives” Program on Monday, March 18, 2019 at 9:00am (our local time).
You will have a choice of two ways to DONATE starting on MARCH 18TH:
Our CrowdRise webpage can be reached by pasting the following link into your web browser:
https://www.crowdrise.com/o/en/campaign/sun-lakes-community-theatre-arizona
OR
Just click on the button that says “DONATE” here on SLCT’s webpage!
The window for donations will end on Friday, April 12, 2019 at 9:59:59am
Sun Lakes Community Theatre is not defined by the fact that we are mostly retirees in our 60’s-90’s, including some who are veterans, disabled, or hearing or sight impaired! To the contrary, we are a dynamic and energetic group of former actors, directors, theatre technicians, and others who share a lifelong love of theater! We give back to younger generations by sharing our experience and expertise, and in turn, they inspire us to be innovative and keep us forever young!
Over the years, SLCT has broadened its scope beyond full main stage productions by bringing highly acclaimed children’s theatre productions to over 25 elementary schools annually in neighboring communities, and by helping and supporting students at five nearby high schools.Our improvisational comedy troupe, the ImproVables, is the only such group in the area comprised entirely of senior citizens. Through our theater education workshops and training programs, we mentor others within our senior communities to participate as first-time actors or theatre technicians. As lifelong learners, we offer our members and interested non-members classes in beginning acting, advanced acting, storytelling, and technical theater (lighting, sound) to continuously improve their skills.
Our children’s theater troupe has brought awe and wonder to kindergarten and first graderswho have never seen a live theater production. They “write” beautiful letters thanking us for the opportunity to see book characters suddenly come to life in front of them. Our Improv group, The ImproVables, performs at community colleges, senior recreation centers, and community centersin surrounding areas to the delight of our audiences, many of whom have never experiencedlive improv before.
As our audiences and outreach continue to rapidly grow, sharing our rehearsal and performance space with many other clubs and organizations no longer works! We no longer want to be vagabonds! We want to solidify our footprint in the community!
By combining the efforts of the greater community, SLCT would like to raise funds to obtain a nearby permanent venue that will accommodate rehearsals, performances, audience seating, and storage of essential materials and equipment needed to make live theater available and affordable for all populations including the elderly residents of Sun Lakes retirement communities and neighboring multi-generational communities.
PLEASE HELP US AND HELP OUR COMMUNITY!