Marion Civic Theatre’s Firecracker Masquerade fundraiser, held Saturday, did not bring in as much money as the organization had hoped, organizers said.
The nonprofit’s President Tabetha Nice said they haven’t calculated the final numbers, but she estimates the event brought in about 30 people and $500. After the organization paid for food, decorations and other expenses, they had about a $200 profit.
Nice said the number of attendees “wasn’t exactly” what they had hoped, and she said they may consider doing an additional fundraiser this year.
“It is a bit of a struggle, a bit of a challenge,” Nice said. “With anything that is nonprofit, there are ups and downs.”
Nice explained it is difficult to recruit donors to sponsor shows or place advertisements in play bills and organizers can feel as if they are repeatedly asking the same individuals or businesses for donations.
She has been on the board of directors for three years, but with the Civic Theatre for 10 years. In her decade of involvement, Nice said she has seen show attendance rates decline.
“It has weaned off,” she said. “I don’t know if it’s a financial thing or people aren’t interested anymore but it has decreased.”
On average, the shows are attracting smaller audiences, Nice said. The summer musicals used to consistently sell out, but they don’t anymore.
Although there are other theaters in the area, Nice said the Marion Civic Theatre offers something different. The others focus on student productions while “we focus on everyone,” she said.
The Marion Civic Theatre puts on six regular-season main stage shows as part of their series and hosts two additional experimental studio shows: a musical and a children’s production. The latter two are the best attended with over 100 spectators at every show, Nice said.
Not only the theater dealing with attendance issues, but the building where it is housed, called the James Dean Memorial Theater, is in need of repair and improvements. The board has completed some renovations, including new paint in the lobby but have additional repairs to complete.
“We are desperate for better lighting,” Kathy Daniels, a member of the Marion Civic Theatre board of directors, said. “We have to be really creative because we have so few lighting devices.”
She said the building also has roofing issues, an access hatch to the elevator keeps flying off, the heating system is “getting by” but is inefficient and the stage curtains need a professional cleaning.
Moreover, the building needs new flooring. The theater owns some lapel microphones but they are old and the actors would enjoy replacement microphones that are more reliable, Daniels said.
She said in order to save money, the theater has ceased printing posters, table tens, and placemats that act as advertisements – a decision that may come with a cost – lower attendance rates.
“We are not in front of peoples faces,” she said.
The Civic Theatre’s revenue was $71,269 in 2015, which was up from the organization’s $66,142, and $63,052 revenues in 2014 and 2013, respectively, but down from 2010.
In 2010 – its financial peak from 2006 to 2015 – it made $76,662.
Daniels said the Civic Theatre in five years will be different, but flourishing. She predicts the theater’s current children’s program will grow larger and can see the theater partnering more with local high schools.
“I think we’ve been through our hardest,” she said.