GIVE the GIFT of THEATER
If you enjoy seeing more and can afford to, consider your friends and neighbors that can't.
If you understand and know the importance of sharing stories, think of the students that have never seen a live one.
If you love Shakespeare and all the power his texts hold, remember all the people who haven't been given your gift.
We love Shakespeare and storytelling and sharing experiences with community.
Where there is a WILL there is a way, but we need your help.

This year has brought a lot of changes. As a company we are very lucky. We are all in good health, and we hope you are as well. As we are an itinerant company we are also very lucky that we did not lose a lot of money on expenses, but we missed an entire year of touring. We are now asking for your help, if you are able, to fund our 11th Season. We have a variety of events planned, some virtual and - fingers crossed - a very much in-person tour. We want to ensure we are still able to pay our artists, take care of them and provide you quality story-telling in "your backyard." A tax deductible donation from you will go a long way in making sure you and your neighbors are able to enjoy Shakespeare for years to come!
Thank you!

And remember as you shop for your holidays, shop local, but if you need to order that perfect gift from Amazon, consider us and shop using AmazonSmile. Any purchase made using that link will automatically send a small percentage of the total to us - no cost to you! So shop away. Buy presents for yourself this season and we'll thank you for it!

Donate

Support Season 11: Ebb and FLOW

If you are able to help with a donation, it means that we can keep visiting towns with small populations, schools with little or no arts budgets, neighborhoods where the community is hungry for art, but also hungry for food. This year it also means we will be able to add technology to our shows when they need to be remote, and add features that will allow for streaming to audience members who miss us when we are on the road. We want everyone to feast, on Shakespeare and soup. Please donate today so that we can all feast together.

Decide where you would like your money to go

• Virtual Adventures ($2,020): From hard expenses to artists fees to technology to help keep Shakespeare reaching your backyard, we are focusing our last month of 2020 fundraising on covering these fees. Any money over our hard costs will be added to a fund for all the artists helping us create work in our COUNTER EXPEDITION, REVERSE TOUR | RUOT ESREVER and the Community Rehearsals which will be split equally among them all.
• Staging Solo ($1,500): This year we are shifting our staged readings and focusing on solo shows that we can provide to you virtually. We have a new script from company member Molly Bunder that we are working on as well as the first round of our Tabletop Shakespeare series.
• ARTIST STIPENDS ($7,500): Yes, we pay our artists, they are working 40 hours a week and are working away from home, they rehearse, they practice on their own, they become an inspirational crew of costumers, prop-makers, van-packers, sound designers, musicians and even help with some administrative duties and that's not even the performances; our artists help teach when we visit schools, are ambassadors for us, for Shakespeare and for theater. While they love the work, they have bills as do we all, and we don't want them to go into debt because of the work they are doing.​
• Creating a World ($1,500): In order to create a world we need to find, rent, buy, create, and manipulate costumes and props and our traveling set pieces for the tour. If we reach $1,500 we can even pay a stipend to a designer and a costumer to help flesh out our world. That's huge! That's production costs and more artists that are collaborating with our ensemble to magically transform your "backyard."
• Let Them Eat Cake ($2,000): From vegetables to coffee to an inevitable fast food stop our artists need to eat, $2,000 feeds 7 adults for 5 weeks in residence and 5 more weeks on the road; help us take the starving out of starving artists
• Getting to your backyard ($3,500): Everyone has a great road trip story, and we have plenty of them. We have been traveling from one "backyard" to another for almost ten years. We have fun, we get tired, we love to see you wave us in and hate to wave good-bye, and we'll keep driving for another ten years with a little help from you. Help us rent a van and buy some gas so that we can drive all around the midwest and share Shakespeare with you and your friends when we visit your HOME towns during SEASON 11: Ebb and FLOW

Donate

​​If you prefer, send tax-deductible checks payable to *Stone Soup Shakespeare Theater to:

Stone Soup Shakespeare
attn: Julia Stemper
4879 N Ashland Ave, #1
Chicago, IL 60640

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Our total 2020-2021 budget is $25,000.

We want to make sure you know how we are spending the money we raise, so below is a list of exactly how we have budgeted this year. If you would like your contribution to go to something specifically let us know and we will make sure it does.  If you see that we need something below and you can help us in other ways (ex. you have a van to donate so we don't have to rent one), please e-mail us.

$7,500: Artists' Stipends (for tour and our mid-season virtual offerings)
$3,500: Van rental and gas
$3,500: Artists' Travel (flights and train tickets and the occasional hotel)
$2,000: Artists' Food
$1,500: Tour World (props, costumes, set and designer fees)
$1,500: Staged Readings
$1,500: Printing (posters, programs and scripts)
$1,500: Staging Solo
$1,000: Insurance
$500: Audition Tour
$500: Education Supplies
​$400: Space rentals
$100: THIS website

It's help from you that makes it possible for us to diversify the cultural opportunities available to our Tour region.

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other ways to help

Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and tell all your friends to do the same.  If you know of communities that might be interested in us visiting them during our next season, please e-mail us at community@stonesoupshakespeare.com.

Additionally we are looking for some volunteers to assist in capturing images, editing video and working on a very exciting poster project for our season.  If you have experience in any of these areas, or have a quality digital video camera we can borrow (or if you are upgrading and are looking for a home for you old one) we would love to talk to you.  We are working to maximize your donation dollars and match them with grant monies.  Your help in anyway helps us as we move forward.

Additionally this season we are in need of food, a guitar, earth friendly glitter, copying, a wooden crate and a wooden ladder...and a van (we're always on the hunt for a van). If you own any of this things and would be willing to let us borrow them for awhile, please e-mail info@stonesoupshakespeare.com.

Remember not only are your cash gifts tax deductible, but certain items can be tax deductible too. Cash gifts can easily be donated online,* and other gifts can be donated by first e-mailing us (one more time send all thoughts to info@stonesoupshakespeare.com).

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BIG THANKS to our supporters:

Antonio Casanova
​Connie Frazier, Law Office
Best Western/U.S. Inn
Curry & Associates Engineers
Shakespeare Reading Group
Lutz Agency
Meier Chevrolet-Buick
Little Nashville
Baldwin House Agency
Nascote Industries
Friends of the Nashville Public Library
Nashville Savings Bank
Roselie Vasquez-Yetter
Timothy Prestridge
Mark Cannon

Laura Klein
​Greg Lewis
Bonnie Goldstein
​Maren Curtis
Leigh Jameson
Kathleen Culler
Peter Bunder
Michael Jorgensen
Anika Morris
Rachael Baker
Tom Flaherty
Garth Ross
Ben and Shawna Murrie
Performics
​Ryan Nelson

Floyd McWilliams
​Kevin Purcell
Kelly Walden
Robert Price
Paul Sriberg
Frank and Nancy Stemper
​Angelia Cho
Tony Tsai
Linda Marder
Vogler Ford
Ken and Margie Collins
John Klemke
Marsha Ryan
Kathy Patton
Ann Garrett

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*Stone Soup Shakespeare Theater is a registered 501(c)3 non-profit., a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions in behalf of Stone Soup Shakespeare are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.