Acorn Productions

Help  Acorn Productions pay our rent and staff and move forward while we wait out the disruption of COVID-19. #SmallBusinessRelief 

Like many small non-profits, Acorn Productions has lost substantial revenue due to the State of Maine's emergency mandates to limit gatherings and events to fight the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our March/April Acorn Acting Academy classes have been cancelled, as has a scheduled Naked Shakespeare ensemble spring performance. The 2020 Maine Playwrights Festival, Acorn's  biggest  public  event of the year, has been postponed with hopes of holding it later this year.

These cancellations and postponements have cut-off Acorn's revenue, leaving us short of cash on hand to pay the rent for our South Portland studio space and to continue paying our part-time administrator, who manages our day-to-day operations.  We're asking for your help, as part of the local community, to raise a small fund that will "keep the lights on" at our small non-profit until the public health situation stabilizes enough for public gatherings like our classes and performances to be safely held again in Southern Maine.

Any amount you  can donate will be a boost to our efforts to keep Acorn going during the pandemic. If we reach our fundraising goal, it will also make Acorn eligible for a grant from GoFundMe's COVID-19 Small Business Relief Fund. We know there are a lot of businesses hurting right now, and a lot of uncertainty. Thanks in advance for anything you can donate to keep this small non-profit afloat, and to look forward hopefully to a time when we can gather together again to create theater. 
#SmallBusinessRelief 

More information about Acorn Productions: Acorn engages and educates the Greater Portland community in the performing arts by operating a dynamic and fun hub of theatrical activity.  We create a network of local theater artists of all levels of experience through performances, classes, and training programs that nurture each individual’s unique talents.  All our programs are open and inclusive, focusing on developing new work by emerging playwrights or presenting innovative and accessible performances of Shakespeare. 

Acorn runs three signature programs: the Maine Playwrights Festival, Acorn Acting Academy, and the Naked Shakespeare performance series.  The Maine Playwrights Festival is an annual showcase of new plays by Maine writers that includes full productions performed in Portland and elsewhere, no-cost playwriting intensives for area high school students, staged-readings, and professional playwriting workshops.  The Acting Academy is a year-round training program for teen and adult acting students of all ability levels, offering a range of courses from “Acting for Ordinary People,” to Improv, to Advanced Scene Study. The Naked Shakespeare series presents free performances from Shakespeare's work in non-traditional venues in a stripped-down, accessible style, as well as occasional full productions of Shakespeare plays by the ensemble.  All three programs are fully accessible to anyone in Maine wishing to enroll, audition, or submit a script, regardless of their experience level as a playwright or actor.