An Update or Two!
Welcome to Aequitas's blog! We've realized that we haven't posted anything in a while so we figured you were all due an update. Here goes: Aequitas has been super busy in the past few months. Firstly we put on a fantastic show: our Shakespearean Double Bill, which has set a precedent for future years. Basically we've decided that we are going to continue doing some Shakespeare every March in line with Shakespeare week and Shakespeare day. The rest of the time, we will create new work and continue our work with young people (more on that later). Our show was an overwhelming success: we had positive feedback from our audiences, a couple decent reviews (which can be found here and here), and we made some money, though money is never really an indicator of just how successful a show is in my own opinion. We paid our actors on the National Minimum Wage through the Equity Fringe Agreement and we began to forge relationships that will start to see our little company grow. Obviously we consider ourselves an ethical company. One of the ways we do this is to pay wages, which a lot of new fringe companies do not. It can be difficult—it's hard for us sometimes...you have to find much more money to do your show than companies that don't pay actors. £3,000 suddenly becomes £10,000 because you've included wages and ticket sales are often bringing in less than this. So it becomes about finding a way to sustain yourselves while getting started and learning how to ensure that the options are financially viable on a more long term basis. That's our goal! Another update, and continuing in that vein of being not for profit, Aequitas has incorporated! After our show, we got our paperwork together and set up as a company. We need to do quite a bit of work before we can turn that company into a charity, but we aim to get charity status this year, and then we will start to be a larger player in this field. So make sure you keep your eyes peeled for those updates! We've been pretty much buried under the paperwork for the last several weeks and we've even spent time working with the Brit School, taking on a student for work experience, to help us! She has been working with us to develop workshops that teach both acting and theatre production and we will be further developing these to begin work with young people and start to get them involved in this industry. We believe that if there is going to be real change in this industry in terms of equal rights (be that wages, casting policies, or otherwise), it needs to start at the beginning of careers and this is why we have a commitment to help young people learn what it takes in this business.
Finally, we are gearing up for a few things: We have some fundraisers coming up: another gaming tournament June 28 and an Improv Comedy night July 11. These fundraisers are all for our next show, Conversations From the Web, so keep your eyes peeled and come on out to support us! That brings me to the show: Conversations From the Web will be performed in the Camden Fringe festival from August 3-12. Tickets will be available in June and the venue is the Moors Theatre in Crouch End. This show is a big deal for us. It's new writing and it's been written by one of our own. It has important relevance to our world. And it is something that if successful, we will take on towards a London run and then to Edinburgh next year (2016). But what's it all about? Here's one of our blurbs:
Have you ever noticed that everyone is constantly on their phone? Is everyone really as happy as they pretend to be online? Aequitas Theatre Company presents a production all about our social lives on the internet. Conversations from the Web explores just how social we are on Social Media and how much information we actually share in the “Information Age” and what the consequences are in real life. Mia, Jason, Tom, and Kitty are four friends who think they truly know each other--but what they find out will change their relationships forever.
It's going to be a great show. So make sure you get a seat! There are only 40 per night!
