How Much Does it Cost to Produce a Show? “Scrappy” Local Venue

Putting on a pole dance or aerial showcase or creating a production (competitive or noncompetitive) in your own community at a local venue outside of your studio can be a daunting task full of potential expenses.

This post is specifically about producing a show in a local venue outside of a studio, at the lower end – presuming you are not spending a lot of money and potentially making the maximum amount of money.

Who is in your show?

This post will not include competitions and focuses solely on a noncompetitive showcase or production.

A major way to reduce costs is to require artists to bring their own apparatuses for auditions and for the show.

In the “maximalist” post, we assumed you purchased equipment for the auditions and performance which could cost up to $1,700.

If you are using your friends or students at your studio and this is more of a “hey, do you want to work with me on this project?!” kind of ask, then you may not need to host an audition at all.

If you don’t need to host auditions, or you can host auditions at a studio you own or teach at, your casting cost could be as low as $0.

Contracts and Rehearsals

Even if you are hiring your friends or students, you will still want to have contracts to your performers outlining expectations. These contracts protect both you and the performer and set expectations for the duration of the planning and presentation process.

Contracts could outline when and where rehearsals are, if there is specific studio time set aside for solo acts to rehearse and when group acts are rehearsing. Contracts should also stipulate who is providing the costume–you or the performer. If you provide the costume, is the performer keeping it?

If you own your own studio, have a work-trade deal in place with a local studio, or negotiate use of space for advertising in the show’s program, or some other crafty method you may be able to get rehearsal time for free!

• Venue rental for rehearsal time: $40-$50/hr X 4 hours per week X 12 weeks to put on a show = $1,920-$2,400
• Pay performers for rehearsal time: no paid rehearsals—outline this in the contract
• Costumes/wigs: provided by performer—outline this in the contract

Total cost: $0-$2,400

Advertising and Marketing

If you’re putting on a show large enough to rent a venue rather than performing in a studio, you’re likely going to need to advertise beyond the performers’ friends and family (the people most likely to make up a showcase audience).

• Ads on Meta: $1-$1000 per day, based how many profiles you want to reach
• Printed local news paper: $569-$21,335 per week, depending on ad size
• Online with local newspaper: $500-$600 per month
• Classifieds Ad with local newspaper: $50-$500 per run, depending on size

These numbers really run the gamut, and don’t even take into account things like advertising on podcasts, radio, or television nor do they include labor time to hire a public relations company (it relevant) and/or have a graphic designer create any visuals.

Tickets

Now that you’ve put in all that work, found your cast, practiced the show, spread the word, threw in all your blood, sweat, tears, and glitter, it’s time to price your tickets.

You’ll need to figure out how much renting your venue costs and what comes with that rental.

Some venues will require you to use their light and sound techs which may be included in the venue rental or may be a separate cost.

Theaters have different pricing structures. Some will charge a flat rate, others a flat rate plus a percentage of ticket sales, some just a percentage of ticket sales. Once you have this information you’ll price your tickets accordingly.

When picking a venue, consider the location and consider what it offers. If it has a built in truss structure, that could save some money!

Most venues also require you to have appropriate insurance. Some may even have requirements about security or other unexpected fees. Make sure to ask questions!

To be as “scrappy” as possible, consider going small with the venue such as black box theaters, bars/clubs, even breweries, or other spaces outside of theaters may be great options to control costs. These may also come with limited support like staff, lighting, or truss structures.

Night of the Show

With all that build-up, you’re going to have at least one show, potentially more.

Theater/venue rental is a huge variable.

Estimating a 2 hour show with intermission:

Performance: $100/hour X 2 hours X 8 performers = $1,600 per show

Theater rental + 3 staff from venue: $1,100 (numbers are from a community center, other venues will vary)

At least $2,700 per night, not including any additional insurance you may need to purchase.

Ticket sales: $40/ticket X 100 seats (smaller venues = smaller ticket sales) = $4,000 per sold out show, every night

You have an earning potential of $4,000,if the rental agreement with the venue states you keep all ticket revenue.

Adding it All Up

Almost done with the math. For this scrappy show we are going to say you spent $0 on casting; worked out a trade for studio time so you spent $0 on rehearsal, spent $250 on advertising, and $1,200 for incidentals, and $2,200 for renting the venue on 2 nights different nights for 4 hours for a tech rehearsal and dress rehearsal. This means on the lead up you’ve spent $3,650. That’s almost $20,000 less than the maximalist show.

This gives us $6,350 spent to put on one show with a potential ticket sales of $4,000, which gives us potential earnings of –$2,350 for just one show! You’d have to run 2 shows or be even more creative with your venue costs keeping the other estimates the same.

Putting on a show is a lot of work. In this scenario, everyone has done a lot of unpaid labor for their art, and spent their own money on costumes, wigs, makeup, potentially extra training times, all for something with razor thin margins, if the show ends up in the black at all—which it might not be if you aren’t savvy about picking a venue.

But don’t let this discourage you! This may be how it starts, but if you form a troupe and keep doing quality shows your audience will grow, the demand for your art will grow. Even though these numbers aren’t very inspirational, they are just the beginning.