What a long, strange trip 2020 has been! We started the year like gangbusters on February 15, with a hugely successful Gala Benefit Performance of Edmund Bagnell’s HE PLAYS THE VIOLIN. A week later, four American First Ladies visited our newly re-christened Charles and Priscilla Patterson Mainstage in the person of actor Ginger Grace. Sadly, almost immediately afterwards, COVID-19 brought the curtain down on our 2020 Season.
But the cancellation of live performance didn’t stop us. During this enforced downtime, Bridge Street Theatre has been posting free archival performance videos (nearly 20 thus far, with more to come). We’ve inaugurated a series of free online Bedtime Story readings by actor and co-founder Steven Patterson. Two thrilling one-woman shows were taped live (without an audience) on our Mainstage, and then offered online as “Pay-Per-View” events. For Halloween, we hosted a streaming performance by the Orlando-based Victorian Horror Troupe Phantasmagoria. And we have several more ticketed online events planned before year’s end. Sculptor Marc Swanson has been using our Big Room to create works for his upcoming exhibition at MASS MoCA. Our building even served as a film location during October.
We’ve also been using this hiatus to make major, much-needed capital improvements to our physical plant. The ugly and potentially dangerous asphalt sidewalk in front of our theatre has been completely replaced by KZ Concrete. We’ve installed touchless fixtures in all our public restrooms and new air conditioning units in our actor housing, along with upgrading the filtration on all our heating and cooling systems. And we’re currently in talks to place solar panels on our roof in an effort to “go green” and lower our future electricity costs.
All of which requires money, of course. Arts organizations nationwide are suffering the effects of the shutdown, and Bridge Street Theatre is no exception. As the year draws to a close, we turn to you once again for a helping hand. If you’re able, we hope you’ll be willing to make a tax-deductible year-end contribution to help ensure our survival as a local cultural resource, jump-start our return to live production, and help defray the costs of our capital improvements. A $250 donation will buy a solar panel. A $150 donation will pay for a foot of our new sidewalk.
New rules are in place this year for charitable donations to “Not-For-Profit” organizations such as ours. For more on those, CLICK HERE.
For us theatre just isn’t “theatre” if we’re not able to experience it together. Your gift now will help us hang on until we’re finally able to open our doors to the public once again. Thanks so much for your support!
Here are our donation options for our 2020 Fall Fundraiser.
| Amount | Giving Level |
| $5,000 | Sponsor the 2021 Season |
| $2,500 | Sponsor a 2021 Production |
| $1,000 | Co-Sponsor a 2021 Production |
| $600 | Pay Royalties for One Show |
| $300 | Pay One Actor a Week’s Salary |
| $250 | Purchase One Solar Panel |
| $200 | Purchase One Touchless Faucet |
| $150 | Purchase One Foot of Sidewalk |
| $100 | Add Your Name to our Programs |
| $50 | We’ll Certainly Say Thank You |
| Another Amount |
Click on the FALL FUNDRAISER button to make a secure online donation to our 2020 Fall Fundraiser