An original show for your fundraiser, with your own people on stage.
Curtain & Cause books stage plays and interactive dinner theater for organizations that need to raise money. We bring the script, our actors, a Production Playbook written for your show, and our help from the first board meeting to the wrap report. Your community fills the rest of the cast.
We make it easier for organizations who have never produced a stage play or dinner theater. Our shows are designed to be entertaining while still being easy to produce, and our Production Playbook plus our help will give your fundraiser the best chance for success.
The full package brings our team to your town. Groups that already produce their own shows can license the script instead.
The full package
The Curtain & Cause package
You get
The script and our actors, as many as each show says.
On stage
Your own people, cast from open auditions, alongside our actors.
We consult
From the first board conversation to the wrap report.
Best for
Organizations with no theater experience that want a big community fundraiser.
The Production Playbook
Written for this show: the step-by-step guide your volunteers follow from the first board meeting to the last thank-you letter. It covers the budget, sponsorships, tickets and marketing, with every form already drawn up and a one-page description of each volunteer job.
Start a conversation Talk with us, or download Chapter 1 first to see if it fits your organization.
Book your dates Pick your performance dates and put them on our calendar.
Plan with the Playbook Venue, team, your volunteers, budget, sponsors and tickets, each with its own chapter.
Cast your show Hold open auditions, or partner with your local community theater.
Rehearse Remote rehearsals and regular check-ins from our team.
Our team arrives Our team arrives two to three days before opening for the run-through and the tech and dress rehearsal, and stays through the run.
The performances Your cast and ours take the stage.
The wrap report What you raised, with notes on what worked and what to change next time.
The Production Playbook
Over 200 pages for your volunteer team
Every show comes with its own Playbook. This is Christmas on the Dial’s. It covers the whole production, from deciding whether to do it through the wrap report, and gives every volunteer role a page of its own.
Curtain & CauseTheChristmas on the DialProduction PlaybookOver 200 pages
Start with the Playbook’s first chapter. It downloads the moment you ask for it, so you can share it with your board tonight, before anyone commits to a date.
Fundraising calculator
What could your production raise?
Pick your kind of venue, enter its seats, then move the sliders.
Box office statement
Christmas on the Dial, based on the Production Playbook’s worked examples
200 seats × 2 performances, 400 tickets available
20%100%
0%150%
Assumptions: Tickets are $20. Concessions and the intermission donation drive bring an average of $2.50 per ticket sold. The Playbook plans on 70% of seats sold, or 60% in rooms of 600 seats or more. The plan for this venue is $4,000 in sponsorships and $600 in program ads.
Tickets sold280 of 400
Ticket sales at $20$5,600
Concessions and intermission donation drive$700
Sponsorship and program ads$4,600
Total revenue$10,900
Production costs−$4,850
Estimated net to your organization
$6,050
Your profit depends directly on the dedication and work of your volunteers: the tickets they sell and the sponsors they sign. The starting figures come from the Production Playbook’s worked examples for Christmas on the Dial, and the Playbook shows your team how to reach them.
Pricing
Introductory pricing: script and performance fees, plus a production fee that each show’s page states. Travel within our home range is covered. What it costs sets out all three.
Free guides
Planning a fundraiser?
Practical notes for any organization planning one, whether or not it books a show with us.
No. The Playbook and our team take you through every step. Your organization supplies the volunteers.
What does our organization provide?
A venue that suits the show. For a stage play: a school auditorium, a theater or a church, with 200 seats or more. For dinner theater: anywhere you would hold a banquet.
Sound and lighting, run by your venue’s own crew and quoted with the room
A Sound and Lighting Manager from your team, as your link to them
Box office and front-of-house volunteers
A stage manager
Your cast, from open auditions or your local community theater
For dinner theater, the meal, plated or buffet as each show says
Sound is required. Your venue needs a professional sound system and someone to run it.
Who keeps the ticket money?
Your organization keeps the money from sponsorships, program ads and concession revenue. We are paid 20% of the ticket revenue, or our guarantee, whichever is greater. What it costs sets out the whole arrangement.
How far do you travel?
Our home range is Nashville, Chattanooga, Huntsville and the towns between them. We go farther when travel is covered.
Start a conversation
Tell us about your fundraiser
The best time to talk is before your board decides anything. We consult from that first conversation to the wrap report.
