A Good Cause Proves a Good Deal for the Actors’ Company

A novel arrangement between an acting company and a charitable cause, both in Burbank, has provided dividends all around.

Performers in “Death Defying Acts” agreed when the play opened in July that, throughout its run, they would donate $2 from the sale of every full-price ticket to the hospice program at St. Joseph Medical Center. When the show closed last weekend at the Gypsy Playhouse, the hospice program had received $332 from ticket sales.

The money represented a sizable donation, considering it came from a production at a 48-seat, Equity-waiver theater where the top ticket costs $10. But members of the Actors’ Company say the arrangement increased demand for the show, resulting in a four-week extension of its six-week run.

“That we were able to do a play about cancer and dying and have it extended at a new, small theater, I think it means that the donation idea had something to do with the success,” said Doug Haverty of Burbank, the play’s author. “Nobody got paid, but that was OK.”

St. Joseph helped sell tickets by displaying posters about the play throughout the hospital and running advertisements in local papers.

Longtime members of the Los Angeles theater community said they were not aware of previous share-the-gate arrangements between a production and a charity. Groups of theaters have, on a designated night, given a dollar or two from each ticket to a cause. The method has been used in fund-raisers for AIDS work and peace efforts, sources said.

And benefit performances are common. Besides sharing ongoing ticket revenue, the cast of “Death Defying Acts” gave three benefit shows where the staff of the hospice program sold out the house and raised $1,400.

“They’re being very generous,” Karen Rushfield, executive director of Theatre LA, an alliance of 60 theaters, said of the Actors’ Company. “I’m sure the audience would view it as a very positive, community-spirited arrangement.”

“Death Defying Acts” is about a 35-year-old woman who quits her job to become a volunteer in a hospice. In preparation for their roles, cast members met with volunteers in St. Joseph’s program, which visits dying patients in their homes.

“We answered their questions on what it’s like to be a hospice volunteer, then we went to a dress rehearsal and gave them feedback on accuracy,” said Winnifred Danner, director of hospice volunteers.

The play made its debut last year at the Long Island Stage in New York. Author Haverty said one of the 21 performances there was a benefit for a hospice program, but that the idea for sharing ongoing ticket sales came out of a discussion among the Burbank cast.

Members said the arrangement may be used again if an appropriate play comes along.

“I think it’s a good idea, particularly when you’re trying to reach out to a community, when you’re trying to develop a theater company,” said Nancy Evans, managing director of the Actors’ Company. “The pay-back is word of mouth and more people wanting to come and support the theater.”

Wyma writes regularly for Valley Calendar.