Your company party, with an entertaining and interactive show that includes a few of your own people in the cast, and everyone else who attends is part of the show.
Curtain & Cause writes and performs original interactive theater. Most nights we do it as a fundraiser for a nonprofit. We also bring the whole production to a company’s own event: the holiday party, the anniversary, the sales meeting, the banquet where somebody has to stand up and give a speech anyway.
Company shows start at $6,500
Our cast arrives with a show that has been rehearsed for weeks, and oftentimes has had multiple performances. Your people get small parts, written to make them look good. By dessert, your quietest manager has a moment the whole room is talking about, and nobody had to sing karaoke.
How this is different
It is not a murder mystery party game. Those send one or two hosts to run a game around your tables. We bring a full cast performing an original production, and the evening has a story, a script and an ending.
It is not a band or a DJ. Some of our shows are music-based, though, and include scenes where the audience is asked to come dance on the dance floor. A band fills the room with music that would sound the same at any company’s party. We fill it with a story that has your people in it.
The shows companies book
Under New Management is the obvious one: the annual company party at a business the same family has owned for three generations, on the night the founder steps down. It plays as a Christmas party or as a company banquet.
Sold Out is a retirement dinner for the quietest guy in the company, crashed by the fans of the 1980s hair-band frontman he used to be. Well Done: A Retirement Roast honors a character that everybody has waited a long time to say what they think of. Most Likely To is a class reunion where one RSVP changes the night.
Those four fit a company event best, but all our shows are available for booking by any company or organization.
What it costs
Every show is quoted, because every show and every company has its own specifics.
Starting at $6,500. That covers the show’s own cast, whichever show you pick, and every part written for your people.
Your employees take the smaller parts, rehearsed with them beforehand. If you would rather not ask your people to perform, we can bring actors for those parts instead, at $1,250 each.
Included: the script, the cast, the props and the run of the evening, plus travel within 50 miles of Nashville, Chattanooga or Huntsville. Beyond that we bill mileage, and lodging when the drive home is not safe the same night.
Mid-November through December Fridays and Saturdays carry a peak rate, and they go first. If your party is during these times, ask early.
Holding the date
Half the fee holds your date, and the balance is due a week before the show. Cancel more than 30 days out and you lose the deposit. Inside 30 days it is half the fee, and inside 7 days it is the full fee, because by then the cast has been paid for their time. One free reschedule if you tell us more than 30 days ahead, and if the new date is not already booked.
What your company provides
| The room | Anywhere you would hold a banquet, with space for the cast to work among the tables and a private spot to change. |
| The meal | Your caterer or your venue. We work around the service, and we can put the meal inside the story. |
| A few volunteers | People from your staff who want a small part. They are rehearsed, and nobody is put on the spot. |
| One contact | Somebody who can approve the script and answer questions about the company. |
Questions companies ask
Will our employees be embarrassed?
No. The professional cast carries the show. Employee parts are small, rehearsed, and written so the person looks good. Anyone can hand their part back, and the emcee never calls on someone who did not volunteer.
Who approves what gets said?
You do. Your contact reads the script before we rehearse it, and anything about your company goes in with your approval. The writing is workplace-appropriate as a rule.
How long does it take?
About two and a half hours, paced around your meal and anything your company needs to do from the podium. It can be shortened.
How far ahead should we book?
Three months is comfortable. December dates go months earlier. A date is held with a deposit.
Ask about a date
Tell us the date, the room, roughly how many people, and which show caught your eye. We’ll call to get all of the details needed to give you a firm quote.