Wayside Theatre Exceeds $90,000 Emergency Campaign Goal with a Week to Go

Wayside Theatre Artistic Director Warner Crocker announced today that the Emergency Campaign to raise $90,000 by October 10 to save Wayside Theatre has resulted in donations of $98,884.00 to date.

According to Crocker, "This weekend's activities put the campaign over the top in a thrilling fashion. Our volunteer guild, PROPS, raised little over $2000 at the Annual Classy Trash Sale which featured more donations of items to sell than at any time in the history of that event. The Gallery Psychic Reading by Michael Brooker brought in almost $4000 worth of ticket sales and was a thrilling success. To say we're humbled by the response to the weekend and the campaign would be an understatement."

Crocker continued, "We're thrilled that so many individuals and businesses stepped up to support Wayside Theatre and that we've raised over $98,800. We actually know that we have more donations scheduled to come in before the campaign officially concludes on October 10 and anticipate the final total being over $100,000. Those funds have been used to pay the bills we owed previously. Equally, if not more important than the amount of funds that were donated, is knowing that so many in our community believe strongly that Wayside Theatre is an important cultural, social, and economic resource to our region and. We asked our community to vote on Wayside Theatre's future and we have to say that vote is a resounding 'yes.' Over (enter official count) have donated to this campaign so far.

The Wayside Theatre Emergency Campaign to raise $90,000 in 45 days began on August 25th with a scheduled close of October 10. Wayside Theatre, like many not-for-profit arts institutions has been struggling to keep its doors open since 2008 and had reached a point, where its accumulated debt had created a cash flow crisis. The theatre had managed to stay open only through the generosity of many vendors and business partners who had allowed it to make late payments or partial payments through this difficult time, but as the crisis entered its third year; Wayside Theatre needed to repay the good intentions of those business partners.

According to Crocker, "While we've averted this crisis and will continue to go forward with our efforts for the remainder of Wayside Theatre's 50th Anniversary Season, we're not out of the woods yet. In fact, the work ahead of us will be even more crucial. The question remains as to whether or not we can convert this out pouring of support from our community into a sustained based of funding for the programs we offer. Concurrent with raising these funds, we've cut our staff by four positions and that will have an impact on our efforts going forward. We still have long term debt, secured by the property the theatre owns and those needs have to be addressed as well. The Wayside Theatre Board of Directors is studying quite a few options on how to change or adapt the theatre's business model, which depends on ticket sales and donations, going forward, and we plan to have an announcement in November about what those changes may bring."

For more information, visit www.waysidetheatre.org.