Board of Directors

Your excruciating journey begins with your fellow artists. These collaborators have shared your viewpoints, and they are dedicated to making a profound change in theater.

Create a board of directors with a great mix of talents and minds. Of course this means including people like playwrights, technicians, designers. But this can also mean including people with other backgrounds and expertise. Law and business people are excellent! I repeat, excellent.

Above all, choose leaders. Collectively, the board of directors control the entire organization.

EIN - Employer Identification Number

Go to the IRS Website, search EIN, apply for it.

At this stage of the game you don't need much information about how you're going to run your company. You just need to volunteer some basic information to the IRS.

With these 2 things,
NOW YOU CAN:
File your Articles of Incorporation
with your Secretary of State.

Your first big step as a company!!! The stress begins here...

Most theaters are 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations.
A nonprofit organization needs a document that will state that it is a legal entity! Thus, you have the Articles of Incorporation, an application that will certify that you have a board of directors, a principal office, and a beginning plan for your organization.

If you have a lawyer friend, it's time to call in a favor. The requirements vary from state to state. In Texas, it's online. Go to your secretary of state's website and check! If it's online, just answer the questions (see below because it's not that simple...big surprise.)

Nonprofit Provisions: You're going to be asked whether you want to add any provisions to the document. You do. You want to create provision that states that your theater will not illegally inure (unfairly privilage yourself with money or gifts), and that you have a legal plan in case you need to close your theater company. This last point just means: If you close down, who gets your stuff? The IRS likes hearing: another nonprofit company.

*** you should still get a lawyer to help you out! Legalzoom.com has affordable rates or you can ask some lawyers if they'll do it pro bono!***

At the end of this step, you will be a legal organization. You're taxable...I know, scary...but you are also more legitimate.

NOW YOU CAN:
Open up a bank account
Start accepting money for shows & ad sales
Apply for your 501(c)(3) status
Start accepting some donations***

***At this point, you must let all donors know that you don't have your 501(c)(3) status. Essentially, once you receive approval you can give them retroactive tax deductions.***

This is a huge application that will help the IRS determine whether you can be tax exempt and carry the coveted title of being a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

This is the last step in establishing your organization. Unfortunately, the document's structure doesn't allow me to give you much help. The IRS continues to improve itself as a user-friendly organization. They have provided very detailed instructions to the application. Follow those. Also, Mr. Lawyer is always ready to help you give the IRS the right answers.

***If you want to get cheap advice, go to Amazon.com and buy used books on Form 1023! It's much more work, but you save bucks***

Also, other theaters are required by law to show you their 1023 Forms. Give other local theaters a call to request a time to view their document. Use this as an opportunity to start fostering a relationship with the theater and artistic community.

NOW YOU CAN:
Stop paying most state and federal taxes
Accept tax deductible donations
Be a fully legitimate nonprofit orgnization

If you're in a competitive market, it's going to be hard to stick out. Dallas has several unique theaters that cater to all tastes...experimental, classic, musical, etc. etc. But it's not impossible to be remarkable.

It helps to be interested in something that's missing from your community:
- Blacklight Puppet Theaters
- A Repertory Theater of an Obscure Playwright
- Seasons of Original Works based on Paintings, Novels, and Poems
- Media Collage (an integration of Film and Live Performance.)
- Street Performance/Happenings
- Environmental Theater Plays that take place in unusual settings (A local theater has a play that takes place in someone's car...small theater capacity, hm?)

Of course, you still want to be the best in those fields. And remember, great shows are still great shows. If you're extremely talented at producing excellent shows in a market of similar styles, you're going to kick some butt.

Executive Director
The person responsible for creating a solid artistic vision that matches smart business principals. Some companies choose to only have an artistic director and Managing Director. The executive director job is a great place to combine both disciplines into one person.

Artistic Director
The person that selects a season of plays that represent the community's interests and needs. Traditionally, the artistic director has been in the driver's seat, setting the agenda (with permission from the board of directors.) This duty can be shared with the Executive Director. The artistic director is also responsible for hiring the creative teams for shows: directors, stage managers, actors, designers.

Managing Director
This person leads the business side of the organization. The managing director is responsible for developing a marketing strategy, writing contracts, maintaining relations with business partners, securing season sponsors, and creating advertising opportunities to generate revenue. Again, some of these jobs can be shared with an executive director.

General Manager
If you're lucky enough to start with a theater space, someone needs to run it. The General Manger leads the box office staff, establishes great front-of-house operations, hires a technical crew to maintain the stage equipment and facilities, and is responsible for hiring those respective people.

Beyond producing plays, we're an experiment in helping others create better theatre companies across the country.

We exist in the real world in plays and events, but we also exist in Web 2.0 We love sharing our expertise with other professionals out there.

Our blog has excellent advice for actors, directors, playwrights, etc!

Our Facebook Page is growing with fans across the country, and we're happy to give them a place to connect with each other and learn more about theatre.

We also don't believe in mailing lists. Instead we believe in online chats and RSS. Visit our website to RSVP for an upcoming chat on theatre!

Hey, we've been doing theatre for many years! We're pros on a range of topics. Check out some other blog posts and Squidoo lenses.

Creating a Website to Promote Your Acting

Audition Help

Tips from Ignite fans around the country

Motivation for your acting career

Story Structure for Playwrights

How to develop your script

The relation or competition between Theatre and Film