Buy Your Friend A Ticket
The BYFAT program
HELP KEEP RSMT ALIVE!
The one thing JJR took great pride in was the number of people involved and when a generation moved on, a new one took over. What he loved even more was when the older RSMT alumni came back to participate and now were bringing their children to be a part of a new generation of RSMT. RSMT in many ways was another child to him, whose only real purpose was to keep the GREAT entertainment coming. While giving anyone who wanted to be part of a Broadway caliber show a chance to do just that. In the early years, casts as big as 200 graced that stage. He did that and did it well. He trained his people so well that when he handed the rains over in 2011, the quality of productions never changed. They continued to look like JJR productions; he was still making sure of that. He did all this with money only raised at the box office, never having a fund raiser, and RSMT was and still is the cheapest community theatre ticket around. With the advent of 14 or more theatres in the area, audiences have many more choices now for their entertainment dollars causing RSMT’s attendance to dip. In 2010 RSMT posted a third consecutive loss and Jerry just couldn’t keep funding out of his pocket. Les Miserables and The Music Man reversed that trend a bit but still just breaking even. Last year and this year we are using RSMT profits to fund the Jerauld J. Reinhart Annual Scholarship fund.
So, we are doing a fundraiser of sorts, but doing it through the box office. Many people who are out of town and can never see a show have asked if they can donate to the fund and that is great, but what we are suggesting is instead of sending money, buy a ticket for a friend that may never see a show, or that can’t afford to see a show right now. This is like planting a seed; they may enjoy the show much they will come back to see another RSMT show. It is like building an audience for the future of RSMT. The really good part is that while tickets are $15.00 at the door or $10.00 in advance, RSMT Alumni can buy their friends a ticket for $9.00. To keep cost down, we will email you or your recipient a claim ticket they can take to the box office and get their ticket or we can mail them anywhere you want but that’s an extra $1.00 per address. They can technically use them any night but it would be fun to see all your guests there Alumni Night. Since people love acronyms lets call this the BYFAT program----Buy Your Friend A Ticket.