Chemcially Imbalanced Comedy’s Blog

CIC is excited to announce we have gotten a $500 grant from the Bruin Family Fund for a Home Building Community Foundation project to help our expansion. You can read more about the Bruin Family Fund HERE.

We thank you for the support.

We had an Ebay auction to name our pony. The winner has decided the name of our pony will be….

Kyle Bethea

Thanks everyone who made a bid. The money will help toward our expansion.

You can still make a pledge to our expansion for as low as $10. We have 8 days left to reach our goal of $5,000 on our kickstarter. We are $2,000 away from our goal. Every little bit helps. Thanks CIC

Pledge here:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cicomedy/chemically-imbalanced-comedy

Here is what the new Goldstar.com reviews are about the show:

Loved it! Great writing, props, acting and storytelling. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a show in a nice intimate theater.- 4 starts gilli999

Great acting, funny script, good direction with large cast.
I would recommend going with friend for some good laughs. -3 stars Kevin Zematis

I had put a lot of thought into our recent “asking of monies” to expand our space. I wanted to share some facts with you as to why this is important for us.

1. We run, and have run, for the past 10 years on no debt. We have no loans, credit cards, or debt to speak of. We had decided in the start that if we couldn’t afford something we wouldn’t get it. Why is this a problem now? Well our current savings will most likely not cover all our costs, or leave us with very little to operate with. And because our buisness has no credit (and hasn’t had any for 10 years) we are finding it harder to get these kinds of small buisness loans now.

2. We don’t pay anyone. Well we do pay small amounts to designers for shows (mostly $100-$150 per project) for set designers, light desingers, sound designers, costumers, and stage managers. We have paid actors up to $10 per show depending on the project. We also have a daytime staff that works in the office and gets paid between them less than $1000 per month no matter the hours put in (split 2 ways)
The rest of our performers, box office, and staff do this out of the goodness of their hearts for the love of the company. It is our hope with the added income of more chairs and drink sales we will be able to start to pay more of our staff, and dare I say a living wage.

3. We keep our ticket prices low. We do this cause we want everyone to be able to see Theater and not break the bank. If we wanted to actually cover the costs of putting up productions, and paying folks we would have to charge much higher prices then $10-$20 tickets ($20 is the highest we have ever charged it it is very unusual for us to go that high)

So we ask you as artists who have performed with us, neighbors who have supported us, and audience members who have seen our work…do you feel we are worthy of your donation?

We have many programs we want to offer and don’t have the resources to do now (for instance we would like to offer classes for children and teens, free neighborhood appreciation nights, continued education workshops for our staff in audience development, pr, board building, grant writing, etc)

Don’t get me wrong, we are lucky to have such a wonderful space to perform in. And have been blessed that we have been able to save any money in this tough time. We know lots of hands are being held out these days asking for support for many worthy causes. We know times are tough and asking for support so we can create paying positions and free programs may not feel as worthy. (Am I talking you out of this now?)

We do appreciate all the support that has been given us through out these past 10 years. We could not survive without you. Please consider supporting our expansion effort.

Thanks Angie McMahon, founder CIC.

Chemically Imbalanced Comedy, a 10 year old Not For Profit Theater located in the heart of Chicago’s Wrigleyville Neighborhood, is auctioning off naming rights of our pony.

This hand crafted set piece designed by Nick Quinn graced our stage during our production of Texas Sheen in the fall of 2009. Currently we are doing an expansion project to gain the empty store front next to us and turn it into a bar/lobby space for our 50 seat Theater. This fantastic set piece will be on decorative display in our new lobby space.

You can name our pony whatever you like, and a plaque of the name you choose will be displayed with it.

All proceeds from the auction will benefit Chemically Imbalanced Comedy, a Not For Profit organization

The Bidding is through EBAY and only last 10 days

Bid here:
HERE

Here is a video tour of the new space CIC is currently raising funds for to expand into a bar lobby

Only 19 days left to pledge in our kickstarter, you can pledge as little as $10. Its all or nothing. Thanks for the support.

One of our newest sponsored Improv groups has some new video on the web. Take a peek and get to know A Dozen Red Roses:

We have 25 days left on our Kickstarter project to help raise funds for our expansion project. Maybe you can pledge right now cause times are tough…but maybe you could help spread the word. (Facebook and Twitter goes a long way!) Thanks for all the support to help us grow.