Nonprofit theater companies across America are facing an existential financial crisis. Which is why Democratic lawmakers have proposed (likely doomed) legislation that would direct $1 billion annually to the struggling industry for the next five years.

On Friday, Denver Center Theatre Company Artistic Director Chris Coleman was in Washington, D.C. to advocate for the legislation. His message was straightforward:

“Increased federal funding would not only help our local performing arts organizations,” he said, “but also preserve the American theater for generations to come.”  

You’ve seen the critical data laid out on these pages before but, in short: Attendance is way down from pre-pandemic levels – generally reported at between 15 and 25 percent locally and much higher nationally. Add to that rising costs, materials and labor, combined with significant drops in subscriptions, ticket sales and donations.

As a result, nonprofit theater companies have reduced overall programming, laid off workers and delayed key infrastructure and building needs. 

In Denver, at least two companies – including the venerated Curious Theatre Company – have launched emergency, live-or-die fundraising campaigns. The Cherry Creek Theatre Company put out a $50,000 S.O.S. last summer, and will return in May with just a two-show 2024 season starting with the world premiere of a Colorado play called “Heartbeat of the Sun.”

Boulder’s 47-year-old BDT Stage dinner theater closed in January for many reasons. A big one was that, as a for-profit dinner theater, it was not eligible for public funding in the first place. (Which makes no sense, but that is a topic for another day.) Another big one is that taxes in Boulder are nearly twice as high as in neighboring cities. (For every $70 ticket BDT sold, up to $20 went to property, sales or city admissions taxes.)

While much of the American economy has left the pandemic in the dust, “it hasn’t been a recovery for nonprofit theaters,” Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont, one of the legislation’s sponsors, told the New York Times. “They’re really lagging compared to many other sectors in the economy, and for a lot of reasons. So they do need help.”

Some high-profile companies that have folded or gone into dormancy since 2020 include New Repertory Theater in suburban Boston, Southern Rep Theater in New Orleans and Book-It Repertory Theater in Seattle.

There are exceptions — the Denver Center, Coleman said, is actually “pretty solid,” although the company is in a state of internal contraction on several fronts.

“While the Denver Center is fortunate that audiences are returning and sales are strong, all theaters are struggling from the rising costs of labor, increase in the price of materials and cancellations due to illness,” he said. “The rise in expenses outpaces the rise in revenues, which places increasing pressure on nonprofit theaters as they continue to rebuild following the pandemic.”

The bill, named the STAGE Act (Supporting Theater and the Arts to Galvanize the Economy), would specifically provide funding for theater operations, employment and economic development. That includes payroll, rent, set-building and marketing.

It’s the kind of funding that could single-handedly save a company like Curious, which is drowning in the expense of owning and maintaining its own 100-year-old building.

Unlike the bipartisan Shuttered Venue Operators Grant program that made $16 billion available to a wide array of commercial and nonprofit performing-arts organizations, the STAGE Act would benefit only professional nonprofit theaters, and only those that have either seen a decline in revenues, or that primarily serve historically underserved communities. 

And while the proposal seems unlikely to pass through the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, Welch takes hope from the 2021 passage of the Shuttered Venues legislation.

“The expectation was this would die on the vine – but it didn’t,” Welch told the Times. “As this started getting momentum, there was excitement about being about to do something concrete.”

Coleman went to Washington as part of the Professional Non Profit Theatre Coalition. He was assigned to one of 10 teams made up of five national leaders each. Coleman’s team spoke separately to staff members from the offices of Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet and Rep. Diana DeGette; as well as Sens. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Ben Ray Lujan (New Mexico) and Martin Heinrich (New Mexico); along with Reps. Melanie Stansbury (N.M.) and Mary Sattler Peltola (Alaska). With the exception of Murkowski, they are all Democrats.

Naysayers will say business is business, and if a business can’t support itself it should fold. But nonprofit arts organizations do not exist to simply provide a paid service. They significantly enhance the quality of life in every community in America. And yet, they cannot pay for themselves. They need subsidization – not as a handout, but as an expression of its communities’ values and priorities. Simply put, subsidizing the arts is a statement – a public declaration of our societal values.

“Ticket sales alone cannot support live theater,” said Cherry Creek Theatre Artistic Producer Susie Snodgrass, speaking for essentially every other nonprofit theatermaker in the country. “The sheer economics of producing live theater simply doesn’t add up.”

Which does not mean the arts only exist as a handout. They are an incentive that pays its community back in emotional, intellectual and economic stimulation.

The Professional Non Profit Theatre Coalition says its member companies serve more than 75 million Americans with live theater every year. And in return, those companies generated $152 billion in economic activity in 2022 and supported 2.6 million jobs.

That is the very definition of an economic stimulus package.

Gaza, Israel and humanism at Su Teatro

Last month, we told you about a grassroots theater production that was traveling to a few select cities reading a short new play called “How to Be a Humanist After a Massacre in 17 Steps.” The 20-minute play opens in Israel on the morning of Oct. 7, then gently transforms into a “how-to” course on maintaining humanity in the aftermath of barbarism.

The program, organized by Boulder’s Ami Dayan and titled “Standing for Humanity,” has been stimulating smart, brave and heartbreaking dialogues from Denver to Fort Collins, and it seems to now be taking on a life of its own.

The latest added reading and community conversation will take place at 7:30 p.m. April 17 at the Su Teatro Performing Arts Center, 721 Santa Fe Drive. The cast includes Tamara Meneghini, Wendy Ishii, Mari Brown and Lisa Bornstein. Tickets ($15) and info at app.donorview.com.

Ben Platt is coming to Buell

Ben Platt, the original star of Broadway’s “Dear Evan Hansen,” has announced a concert tour in support of his new album “Honeymind” that will take him to the Buell Theatre on Monday, July 15. Platt will be joined by Grammy Award winner Brandy Clark, songwriter for the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical “Shucked.”

“Performing my music live is what I cherish most, and I can’t wait to sing and connect with fans all over the country in such beautiful theaters and outdoors spaces,” Platt said in a statement.

Fans can subscribe at benplattmusic.com to receive presale  access to tickets starting Tuesday, April 16. Public ticket sales open at 10 a.m. Thursday, April 18, at axs.com.

World premiere for Colorado playwright

Just before the world stopped in 2020, the Denver Center Theatre Company introduced a developing new play called “In Her Bones” at its annual Colorado New Play Summit. It’s written by Jessica Kahkoska, a native of Black Forest and a graduate of Rampart High School in Colorado Springs. The play is about a young woman from Denver who is driving through the San Luis Valley in a blizzard. She is forced to pull off the highway and wanders into a rural general store, where she has a mysterious encounter with a stranger that opens the door to a bigger conversation about a mysterious, clandestine heritage in Colorado’s San Luis Valley called Crypto-Judaism.

“Broadly defined, that’s anyone who practices or identifies as Jewish but does not outwardly profess that,” said Kahkoska. “And in the case of this play, it refers to the idea that some of the families who live in the San Luis Valley might be direct descendants of the Sephardic Jews who fled the Spanish Inquisition in the 1400s but have since kept their Jewish roots hidden.”

This week, a world-premiere staging of the play was announced as part of the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center’s 2024-25 season. It will be born from Feb. 15-March 3, 2025. Info at fac.coloradocollege.edu.

Briefly …

The Colorado Symphony is returning to McGregor Square, across from Coors Field, for two performances this summer. On July 10, Associate Conductor Wilbur Lin will lead an evening of Mozart under the stars. On Sept. 4, Resident Conductor Christopher Dragon will lead the full Colorado Symphony brass and percussion sections in a program of classical and pops favorites. Tickets $22 for kids and $49 for adults at coloradosymphony.org …

Denver’s Department of Arts & Venues is accepting applications for three-year terms on the Denver Commission on Cultural Affairs (which oversees the Denver Public Art program), as well as the SCFD’s Denver County Cultural Council (which manages the distribution of the SCFD’s tax revenue to the smallest qualifying metro organizations). Application details at artsandvenues.com/dcca.