As a director, you can sometimes find yourself without resources. This can be equally true in a community or school setting. Here are a few simple things that can cut costs and help you keep your sanity.
All black: Put your kids in performance blacks or a solid colored shirt with black pants. If you are in a school that does uniforms, use uniform pants (think navy, kaikis, or again black,) with a coordinating color. This simple costume can be jazzed up with scarves, hats, ties, etc. The latter items can be found at thrift stores and garage sales.
Show t-shirts with jeans. You may even have a local printing company that will donate the shirt to you if you allow their logo to be printed on the shirt. Or you may have a sponsor that might get them for you in a trade for the ad space of the shirt.
Borrow! If you are in an area that is saturated with musical theatre programs or have a college in the area that will let you rent or borrow: Utilize that relationship. This works for set pieces, props, and a million other items as well!
Community education or home ec classes: If you have a community college or active senior home or a high school with home ec program ask if they will help you out. They may sew some costumes for you and they may even have kids that will volunteer as dressers or costume matrons.
Set pieces: We all scour antique stores and thrift stores (and if you don't, START!) but in this digital age you can find things on craigslist, ebay, amazon, overtstock.com, and other websites. Even MTISS has an area where you can communicate with other companies about renting costumes and sets.
Other ideas: Estate sales, garage sales, flea markets.
Performance spaces: Not everyone has a stage or in this delicate economic time, access to a stage. So think outside the box. Football fields, parks, restaurants, historic homes, playgrounds (Godspell in a playground in summer, Can you just picture it?!)
As you formulate your plan for the year really look around and make smart choices for your program and for your kids. If you are stressing about money and resources your staff, parents, and ultimately students feel that too.
