I recently attended a production of the American Touring Cast’s revival of A Chorus Line at the Cannon Theatre here in Toronto. The most striking moment of the evening for me occurred after the Curtain Call when members of the cast addressed the audience and spoke about a tradition they have in New York that I am familiar with but had never had the opportunity to experience first hand until that night. It’s called Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS (BCEFA) and it is a charity initiative that began in May, 1992 when Broadway Cares and Equity Fights AIDS merged to form one organization dedicated to “mobilize the unique abilities within the entertainment industries to mitigate the suffering of individuals affected by HIV/AIDS.” It also seeks to “increase national and public awareness and understanding of HIV/AIDS through the creation and dissemination of educational materials and to promote and encourage public support for programs and services which benefit people living with HIV/AIDS.” Therefore, the companies of dozens of Broadway, Off-Broadway and national touring shows- actors, dancers, singers, stage managers, ushers and box office personnel all contribute every year to their fundraising initiatives.
At A Chorus Line, members of the cast lined the lobby in costume, with their signature sparkly hats overturned, encouraging audience members to donate their spare change, as well as selling A Chorus Line eco-friendly bags and posters autographed by the entire cast, with all proceeds going to BC/EFA. Audience members were reminded that if every person donated as little as a Twoonie they could raise as much as $3,000 dollars in a single night.
Here are some examples of BCEFA’s fundraising extravaganzas!
The Easter Bonnet Competition is the culmination of six weeks of intensive fundraising efforts by Broadway and Off-Broadway companies, including shows on National Tour. They give curtain speeches, sell autographed posters and programmes, hold auctions, and do cabaret performances- often using famous Broadway stars to encourage the giving. The winner (the company that has raised the most money for BCEFA) is announced at a star-studded gala evening, which includes more performances by the companies of Broadway shows. “Seasons of Love” and “Love Heals” was performed by a group of past and present stars of Rent in April, 2008, while the cast of Spring Awakening presented a more vulgar adaptation of the entire score of Grease. A second prize is given to the cast that makes the best Easter bonnet (a Ziegfeld Follies-esque headdress that epitomizes an element of their show (or sense of humor)). The 22nd Annual Easter Bonnet Competition raised a staggering $3,734, 129.
These fundraising initiatives save lives and change lives. They root the Broadway performers in New York’s community and establish themselves as people who care and love and who are determined to use their art to make the world a better place all year round. At the same time, these fundraisers also strengthen the Broadway community as they all come together to work for a common goal. They come together in person, in a mob of talent in giant theatres and on Schubert Alley, not just on Facebook, which creates a bond between them all, and a pride in themselves. It also gives the “Broadway community” a face, and an identity that has been captured. It is an identity of selfless love and generosity. They also show support for one another and each other’s talents and their shows, as well as a healthy dose of satire (poking fun at their shows and other people’s shows) and competition. The stars of these fundraisers are also usually members of the Broadway ensembles, which provides an amazing opportunity for up and coming talented performers to perform in front of Broadway stars, directors, producers and audiences and to create a name for themselves outside of their show and the chorus line.
It is a month until Christmas and Hanukkah is upon us, a time for goodwill towards man, woman and child, and for us to lead with our hearts a little more than we usually do. It is my wish this Christmas season, that the Toronto theatre community could and would band together in the same way as the Broadway community does with BCEFA. How wonderful would it be for Tarragon and Soulpepper and Canstage and Stratford and Shaw and everyone to work together, to come together, to celebrate how wonderful it is to work as artists in this city, and the fabulous work that we do here. Work that we should be so proud of. How wonderful would it be to have a charity that we all believed in, so that we could save lives, and change lives and so that we could draw attention to ourselves as artists in the national consciousness. So that we could be seen doing something entirely selfless, that we believed in wholeheartedly, that was not an artist’s gala. Something that was the antithesis of pretentious and entirely of the community we serve, for the community that we serve, to prove that we belong here among the people and that theatre is made for the people and that we urge the people to come, and to come in droves because we think that they’ll find that the stories we have to tell are not too intellectual, too otherworldly or too pretentious for them to understand or love or be touched by. I think we could get a greater sense of ourselves if we band together, so that we’re not dozens of vagrant theatre companies struggling alone to survive, or hundreds of vagrant artists struggling alone to be noticed by the right person, to make this month’s rent and to keep the theatre critics at bay. We should be partners in this fight for a truly great Canadian theatre. We are colleagues. We are peers. We are friends.
