By Jackie Rivera, Project [theatre]

The last six months have been a whirlwind for The Project [theatre], we know with only two months out from the announcement of our incredible and challenging gift from Knight Foundation the four months prior should be moot. However, it is important for us to express our gratitude for the complete logistical transformation that took place within our organization at the onset of this matching grant challenge. In August of 2012, we successfully revamped our first full-length immersive theater experience, “Beer & Cigarettes: The Comeback of Constance Lingus,” in the Los Angeles market. It was our most adventurous and rewarding project to date (which is a statement we find ourselves continually making after our latest endeavors) and with that under our belt, and plenty of lessons in producing to reflect upon, not to mention company founder, Elaine Bryan, taking off on the cruise ship market to sharpen her skills, we decided to go dark for the next six months to, again, reassess and improve.

Not at all unfortunately, Knight Foundation woke us from our creative hibernation, Elaine washed up to shore via our message in a bottle, and we rolled up our sleeves, pulled up our big kid pants, put our hands together, and chanted… “You’re SO on!”

Timing couldn’t have been better, in light of the holiday season we found many of our proud supporters in the giving mood, and especially because it came on the cusp of our first anniversary as The Project [theatre] (we re-branded ourselves and went live with project-theatre.com on January 1^st, 2012) and we inherently always want to provide a product for our generous supporters, The Project [theatre] presented our First Annual [philanthro-party]! On January 3^rd, 2013 at PAX Miami. A “philanthro-party” is a hybrid fundraiser and birthday party; you can find the official term in use exclusively in Project [theatre] content…because we made it up. Our in-house comedienne and hostess with some-of-it, Constance Lingus, emceed the night. We aimed to produce a great party, an experience, if you will, while getting a jumpstart on the donation front and generating a new fan base. Check and CHECKer! The evening consisted of a few guest entertainers including Shira Abergel (local musician, actress, and performance artist) and Singer/Songwriter, Rachel Goodrich. We had DJ Lobo spinning throughout the night and Artist, Luis Barros exhibiting his painting process live before our very eyes! Other choice highlights were a “Your Mama’s so poor” joke-writing contest, and a Fancy Photo-booth, where guests could dress up like their favorite millionaire. We then posted the pictures to our Facebook page for our guests to tag away, and in turn brought traffic to our social media pages.

In fact, our biggest delight was our fan demographic grew in both directions and everyone seemed to have a jolly, good time.

Stay tuned for what the universe has in store for us in the very near future…it’s going to be a good year… LUCKY 13!

The Project [theatre]