The cost of Art is high. A "barebones" production in New York easily costs four to six thousand dollars! Where does that money go?

1. Performance Space- theater rental in Manhattan is typically $2000 per week and up. We work hard to negotiate with theaters we like and to perform in non-traditional locations, such as bars and parks.
2. Rehearsal Space- a rehearsal room is usually about $25 per hour, and a typical show requires at least 100 hours of rehearsal. We do most of our rehearsals in ad-hoc space-- such as apartments, offices and public places-- but we do our best work in a committed rehearsal space.
3. Printing- between programs for the audience, postcards for our publicity, scripts for our performers and everything else that needs to be done, printing quickly eats up a large portion of our expenses-- even in the digital age!
4. Design- the visual world of the show is crucial to theater, but even creative and minimialist costumes, props and set pieces quickly add up.

As a group, we have taken a great deal of time to identify what is most important to us as working artists, and we focus our financial resources accordingly. As a company, our goals are:

1. To create more "creative outlets" for theater artists in New York City-- not just through fully-staged productions, but also through workshops, public readings, intimate performances and other creative ventures that will increase our group artistry.
2. To increase our rehearsal time-- with rehearsal space starting at $25/ hr in New York, and a typical show requiring at least 100 hours of rehearsal, space gets very expensive very quickly. And, of course, due to the size of the average New York City apartment, it is very rare we can get an adequate space donated to us for free. There is nothing worse for an actor than to go onstage feeling underprepared, but unfortunately rehearsal time has long been a frequent sacrifice at Dalliance, one which we are working hard to overcome.
3. Marketing of our shows-- there's nothing worse than having a brilliant, well-rehearsed show and no one to watch it! While we are very successful at "guerilla" marketing within our networks of friends and family, a stronger marketing presence will give us larger audiences and, in turn, more income from ticket sales.
4. Compensation for artists--all our actors, writers, directors and designers work for close to nothing or less, and are forced to balance their creative work with other jobs in order to pay the bills. While we are a long way off from being able to offer full-time salaries to our artists, we are slowly increasing how much we can the wonderful individuals who share their time and talents with us.
5. Engage a general management team to take the brunt of the "busy work" off our shoulders and allow us to focus our time and energy on the artistic product.
6. To stage more fully-realized shows-- we currently produce two full shows a year, and we are in the process of expanding to a four-show season. This gives more artists more opportunities to do more theater.

Our goals are ambitious and our aims are far-sighted, but we have already experienced monumental growth in only a few short years, and we are eager for our continuted future growth as an artistic company.