Producing «As It Is»
Our newest play, «As It Is», is a bitter satire about both the world we live in and worlds we don’t. It’s our first full-length piece as a company, and by far our most ambitious.
Considering we’re an English-speaking company in a German-speaking area, we’ve been extremely fortunate to end up with the mix of real talent and personalities that we have. We know we have the capacity to put on shows that will make people sit up and notice, but we can only do so if we’re given time. Our rehearsal schedule alone for this show is full-time for a month, which is less than we’d like. But for the actors to be able to invest that much time and energy into the show, they need to not be working on anything else. This means they need to get paid. Applause won’t pay their rent, unfortunately.
English-language theater in Zurich is on the rise...
But there are still no professional companies here. We see quality professional theatres, such as Theater Neumarkt, occasionally staging high-quality shows in English, and attracting solid audiences. There are established amateur groups, such as ZCC, that regularly fill large venues. The demand is there. But we still don’t see daring, original plays in English by professional groups. We want to change that.
We need funding to pay for...
The whole production! Putting on a play is not something that makes economic sense, which is why arts funding exists. Without external funding, the vast majority of quality theater could never survive.
In addition to making sure our actors can pay their rent, we need to pay for staging and costumes, set design, filming, as well as the marketing budget for the production. If there is anything left over, it will be ploughed into the next production, which will take place at some point in 2020.
