A complete holiday fundraiser for your organization
More than just a play
Christmas on the Dial can be booked as a complete holiday fundraiser. Your organization brings the community, the volunteers and the venue. We help with auditions so you can have community members on stage. Everything else comes from us, from the script to the sponsorship plan to the man playing the part of the radio host.
This program is built for organizations that want to produce something big but have never produced a play. Organizations that can use this fundraising program include fire departments, Habitat chapters, food banks, humane societies, Rotary and Kiwanis clubs, schools without a theater program, and churches. If you already run one large fundraising event a year, you have the experience and the people this needs: a donor base, sponsorship contacts, and a group of volunteers willing to help with promotion before the show and to staff the theater during performances.
If you are an established theater company, this program is overkill. License the show instead. If you would like to hire the author as your director, he is available.
What comes with the program
| The author on site | The author serves as your producer and director, and plays the radio host if you want him on stage. If you would rather he only direct, that is fine. He arrives two days before opening for the combined run-through and the tech and dress rehearsal, and stays through the final performance |
| Everything a licensee receives | The script with permission to print copies for your cast, professionally produced backing tracks, pre-recorded period-correct commercial music beds, a detailed production cue sheet, and a print-ready marketing PDF you can edit with your own dates |
| The Production Playbook | This is the heart of the program, and the part that makes it a fundraiser. A complete roadmap from booking to the final bow: a proven marketing plan, with consultation to fit your budget, sponsorship packages and how to sell them, ticket pricing and accounting for income and expenses, a month-by-month countdown starting nine months out, one-page descriptions for every volunteer role, a venue search checklist, a guide to running auditions, a press kit with a fill-in-the-blank press release, and a playbill template with the generic information already written, blanks for your own show details, and the ad slots laid out |
| Rehearsals handled remotely | The show is built to be easy to rehearse, using a modular model, so most rehearsals happen outside the theater without everyone in a room together. The author rehearses remotely with the radio co-host and consults regularly with your Youth Director, the person running the attic side, who holds their own separate rehearsals. He can sit in on other rehearsals by video call as needed, and can attend auditions the same way |
| An experienced stage manager, optional | Available to hire, and already familiar with the script and the show. With the lead and the stage manager both filled by people who know the production, two of the riskiest roles stop being risks |
| A free preview performance | With three or more paid performances you may add one free performance on the afternoon before your official opening. It is for invited local school teachers and students, and local media, and it is not promoted to the general public. It fills a room with the people most likely to talk about the show, the day before you need them to |
| Promotion | Your performances are promoted on this website and on the show’s Facebook page |
What your organization provides
These are the things a theater company already knows how to do. You do not need to know them yet. We will teach you.
| A venue | The Playbook covers what makes a venue work, what to ask for and what disqualifies a space, and we consult on selecting a venue and on pitching it |
| Sound, which is not optional | Theaters and church sanctuaries usually have good sound systems already, and the venue’s own people run them. That staffing is quoted with the room. A room whose sound cannot carry the show is the wrong room. Lighting can be simple and still work. Sound cannot. If the audience cannot hear the dialogue, or the music sounds bad, the show does not work. Treat this as a requirement |
| Volunteers | Promotion and marketing, securing sponsors, box office, front of house and ushers, plus a Sound and Lighting Manager who works with the venue’s own crew. The Playbook includes a one-page description for each role |
| A stage manager | Unless you hire ours. We are happy to consult with your stage manager to help them learn the show and understand their duties |
| The cast | Start with talented members of your organization, their partners and spouses, and their children and grandchildren. After that, cast by open audition from your own community, which is what makes this a true community event. Guest performers can change from night to night, and there is a school choir spot in each act |
Sponsorship, done differently
A 1950s broadcast had commercials, so this show has them too. The audience expects them and enjoys them, because they belong. That gives your sponsors something no other fundraiser can offer.
Your higher-tier sponsors get a period-correct advertisement written for their business, set to the show’s music, and read live on stage in front of the entire theater. It does not replace a name or an ad in the program. It sits alongside one, and sells for considerably more. We help script the announcements, and ad templates are provided so your team writes the copy and we approve it.
Where and when
The home range is Nashville, Chattanooga, Huntsville and the towns between them. Inquiries from anywhere in the United States are genuinely welcome, with travel costs covered as set out below.
The season is short and the calendar is the real constraint. Performances run between the weekend before Thanksgiving and Christmas, which is four or five usable weekends a year. The author is on site for roughly five days per production, so this is two or three bookings a season, and dates are reserved first come, first served. Six to nine months of lead time is preferred, though depending on availability you can book as late as three months before your performance dates.
Thanksgiving weekend is a good weekend for this show. Families are in the holiday spirit, their extended family is already in town, and it opens the season instead of competing with it.
What it costs
Introductory pricing, for the 2027 season. The fee below covers travel and meals. The intention at this stage is to get the show produced by motivated organizations, in front of real audiences, that will genuinely benefit from it.
| Fees: within the home range | The usual script and performance fees, below, plus the production fee: a guarantee of $2,500 or 20% of ticket sales, whichever is greater. Separately, budget roughly $30 per performance for music licensing, paid to the track provider, and a budget for social media advertising, which we will show you how to spend. That is everything. No surprises and no hidden fees |
| Fees: outside the home range | The same, plus actual travel expenses. Your organization books and pays directly for the flight, at the least expensive ticket level, and a mid-range hotel from the night of the first rehearsal through the night of the final performance, plus up to $40 a day for meals reimbursed against receipts. Booking travel directly is usually cheaper for you, and it is worth considering trading lodging for a sponsorship |
| Script and performance fees | The same as for any licensee. A $100 script fee including up to two hours of consulting, plus $195 per performance, with discounts for five or more performances. See the licensing page for full terms |
When you pay. A $500 non-refundable retainer holds your dates and is credited against the guarantee. Half the guarantee, the $100 script fee and 50 percent of your performance fees are due three months before opening night. The rest of the guarantee and the balance of the performance fees are due 30 days before opening night. Anything above the guarantee is settled within 14 days after your final performance, against the box office statement. What it costs sets all of this out.
Start a conversation
The first step is a short call about your organization, your community and what you are hoping to raise. We want to partner with strong, motivated nonprofit organizations that have a genuine need for fundraising. If it is a fit, we talk dates. If it is not, you will get an honest answer quickly.
Get started by email: booking@curtainandcause.com
The questions and answers page covers cast size, rehearsal time, set and wardrobe, technical requirements and licensing terms in detail.
