New Line Theatre

NEW LINE THEATRE NEEDS YOUR HELP

For more than 30 years and 100 productions, New Line Theatre has served the St. Louis region, audiences, and local artists by creating exciting, relevant, meaningful musical theatre.

For more than 30 years, the taxpayer-funded Missouri Arts Council (MAC) has awarded New Line annual grants to do that important work.

But MAC has just cut off New Line's grant mid-season, cancelling their contract – with no explanation – and refusing to pay us $16,000 of the grant money promised. At this point, MAC has refused to return phone calls or emails!

For the whole demoralizing story of the last year and a half of MAC's relentless harassment of New Line Theatre, click here: https://newlinetheatre.blogspot.com/2023/09/a-funny-thing-happened-on-way-to.html

What’s my part in this? I’m an independent musical theatre critic making reviews and musical theatre-themed content on social media under the banner Jack Reviews Musicals. New Line Theatre is a company that I have supported for a long time before I even started making content. Their artistic philosophy, creative transparency, and consistently of quality have inspired me as an artist and a critic, not to mention shaping my taste in the kind of musicals I enjoy.

New Line’s war with the Missouri Arts Council has been going on since 2023, and it has recently culminated in New Line Theatre’s artistic director, Scott Miller, publicly announcing that he will end his own life if New Line fails to secure any more funding. Their loss is that substantial, and New Line Theatre really is that important to Miller. It is quite literally his life’s work.

To be perfectly frank, that was the final straw for me. I have had enough of this.

On behalf of the company, I started this fundraiser in the hopes that every penny will go to New Line in supporting their season, delivering high quality productions that fairly compensate everyone involved, and that New Line stays an important pillar of the musical theatre community in St. Louis.

If you cannot donate, please contact Michael Donovan, MAC's executive director, and the members of the MAC Board of Trustees. Tell them that New Line's funding should be restored immediately, ask them to explain why it was suddenly cut, and tell them how much New Line means to you and to the city of St. Louis. After all, this is where our tax dollars are going, folks.

This is a serious problem – there’s even reason to believe that Donovan plans to cancel the grant for New Line’s next season as well, with no idea why. This isn't right.

Please use your voice as a taxpayer and SHARE THIS PAGE!

Michael Donovan, executive director – [email redacted].gov [phone redacted]

Board of Trustees

Sharon Beshore, chair, Joplin – [email redacted]

Lois Brace, vice chair, Mexico – [email redacted]

Vicki Bean, Gideon – [email redacted]

Mark Coulter, Kansas City – [email redacted]

Consuelo Cruz, Kansas City – [email redacted]

Paul Felsch, St. Louis – [email redacted]

Patricia Macdonald, Kansas City – [email redacted]

Kaitlyn McConnell, Springfield – [email redacted]

Nathan Nickolaus, Jefferson City – [email redacted]

Chris Pieper, Columbia – [email redacted]

Nola Ruth, Columbia – [email redacted]

David Schlafly, St. Louis – [email redacted]

And also contact your state senator and representative about this as well: https://www.mo.gov/government/legislative-branch/