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2022 Mamma Mia Squalicum Musical Theatre Institute

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Squalicum Musical Theatre Institute is a brand-new nonprofit!
Help us get off the ground!
 
Squalicum Musical Theatre Institute ("SMTI") is a three-week summer intensive program in Northwest Washington State, run by educators with expertise in the performing arts. We are just launching this project, but each summer we will work with high school students across the Bellingham Public School District to produce a full-length musical, resulting in a weekend run of four performances. Our goal is interscholastic collaboration, so students from any of the district's high schools can audition to be in the show. We also want to build relationships across the greater Bellingham performing arts community, so we invite a broad range of community members to participate in the offstage production. We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and we need your help to get off the ground! (Our Tax ID# (EIN) is: 84-4409467)

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Update from August 2022:
Thanks so much to everyone who donated to our Mamma Mia efforts, whether through this fund or by buying a ticket to the show. Check out the video above for some snippets from that show!

Our inaugural season was AMAZING and we have been able to create a small operating reserve to get started with our summer 2023 show, which we just confirmed: LEGALLY BLONDE!! See our website for details and SAVE THE DATES for July 2023!
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Summer 2022 Show!
Our 2022 inaugural show will be MAMMA MIA, the hilarious jukebox musical about a young woman who invites her three possible fathers to her wedding in the Greek Islands. If you've seen this show or the movie, you know how much fun it is! The pop songs of ABBA and the full ensemble dance numbers bring a ton of energy to the story. We are super excited to work with high schoolers across the district to perform this show in July!
 
Our Team:
We are four educators who are volunteering our time for this project!
  • Jason Parker is the Director of Choirs and Drama at Squalicum High School and serves as the Artistic Director for SMTI.
  • Connie Campbell is the Director of Choirs at Bellingham High School and serves as the Musical Director for SMTI.
  • Tim Reinholtz is a science teacher at Squalicum High School, the school’s Head Theater Technician, and serves as Technical Director for SMTI.
  • Jen Lois is a sociology professor at WWU and serves as SMTI’s Managing Director.
 
Our Funding Needs:
We chose MAMMA MIA because so many people love it, and because it's relatively budget-friendly to produce. But musical theatre is still expensive, even with the four of us donating our time and with other volunteers pitching in behind the scenes!
  • Our goal is to be self-sustaining. This is SMTI's first show, so we haven't had a chance to build a nest egg through ticket sales. We are currently paying expenses out of our own pockets, and the costs of production are many. We have to purchase script rights ($2000) and music tracks ($750), build a set ($2000--wood prices these days!), pay a choreographer ($500), rent three weeks of rehearsal and performance space ($1500), publicize the show ($250), procure props and costumes ($300)—the costs add up! We are hoping we have enough ticket sales in July to recoup our costs (at least) and bank some funds for future annual shows. Any help you can provide toward this goal would be greatly appreciated. Even a $10 donation will give us a boost in getting this nonprofit to be self-sustaining as soon as possible!
  • Production fees for cast members. Many theatre programs charge cast members tuition or a “production fee” (we've seen between $100-485) to partially cover these costs and hope to at least break even after ticket sales. We want to minimize the production fee for our cast members and provide scholarships to those for whom the fee would pose a hardship. We don't want finances to be a barrier for any students! Currently, we are planning to set our production fee at $150 per cast member (students in the performance program), and we anticipate casting about 25-30 roles for the show. (There is no charge for students or community members who want to participate in our behind-the-scenes production program.) A donation of $150 would allow one student to participate cost-free, or allow two students a 50% discount. This would be so helpful!
Visit our website for more information SMTI's mission and programs!
 
(If you would like your funds to contribute only to a particular expense, please let us know via email, which you can find at the bottom of this page because GoFundMe won't let me enter an email here!)
 
THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING THE ARTS IN OUR COMMUNITY!
 
Come see MAMMA MIA in July!!

Donations 

  • Sarah Marshall
    • $20 
    • 2 yrs
  • Lacey Young
    • $50 
    • 2 yrs
  • Mary Lippiatt
    • $50 
    • 2 yrs
  • Beth Tyne
    • $50 
    • 2 yrs
  • janet ott
    • $50 
    • 2 yrs

Organizer

Jen Lois
Organizer
Bellingham, WA

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