There are many belated thank yous that need to happen....and I will be sending more but I wanted to let you know that with each of the donations we have been jumping for joy!!!!

Thank you thank you thank you!

You have no idea how wonderful this is to know that not only can the tour happen but it can expand a little. In fact, we are meeting today to discuss a possible way to bring the show back in March for more shows! And it is all thanks to each and everyone one of you.

Will be back with more soon. Especially to let you know how and when the gifts are coming :)

Hey - are we friends on Facebook and Twitter?

Facebook - Wandering Souls - (picture of foggy bridge) and Twitter we are @WanderinginDC

Let's be friends!

Wow! What a way to celebrate! As of yesterday we MADE our baseline goal!! WIth our latest backers and mulitple receivers of THANK YOUS going to..... Joey, Cynthia, Robb, Marianne, Mary C, Mizbp, Jon, Stephen, Dan, Courtney and Ken!

And it is only out of the humbling, overwhelming and generous gifts that each of our current 64 donors made that we will be able to make this tour happen!!!! FYI - Funds won't be withdrawn until the campaig closes and gifts will start then as well! And this means we still have a month to raise beyond our baseline and make the future of Wandering Souls that much more sustainable!

I think I have said it before....but in case you didn't know...
When we hired the artists a month ago - all involved generously signed on with a promise of nothing more than a great experience and a home cooked meal at the end and now I am able to tell them that we can give them a little something for their valuable time, energy and creative awesomeness. Which makes me so happy!

As an artist, it is incredibly important to me that we as a company are able to offer a decent paycheck and support the artists because without them - we CAN'T do this. It is our dream that one day we will be able to offer an artist a salary so that they won't need work a day job and can committ to tour shows to many many more places in the DC area. Currently we are limited to places who can host us in the evenings and on weekends which limits who can host us. Although we aren't quite there yet --- every donation we have received (and hopefully continue to receive) will bring us one step closer to making it easier for artists to give of their time.

Again, I say thank you to each of you and if I could I'd reach right through the page and give you a big hug!

And again...I say...if you think there are people who should know what we're doing please please tell them about us. We need the support of the community to make this happen in so many ways.
Thank you -
Becky

WOW!

I never thought we would be this far along and still have so much time....it's amazing. You guys must believe in the importance of the arts as much as we do! ;) And before I go one sentence further I have a bunch of new thank you's to send out for out latest backers who have joined the ranks of some of the most generous people I know...
Seth, Trish, Glenn, Carol, Niki, Al, Christine, Karl, Michael, Nora, Ellen, Melissa and Jeff!
Thank you!

I also want to share with everyone in case y ou haven't heard, that for every donation that was made from last Friday thru July 4th another donor (soon to join the thank you ranks) has pledged to match(up to $400)!! So, currently that's about $220 which means we will almost be at our goal.

Which means that we also have more time to continue to spread the word and hopefully go above and beyond! If we go above and beyond all that means is being able to take the tour to more people and pay the actors a better wage for their donated time.

So in addition to my multitude of thanks....I say if you have friends you want to tell about us...now is the time because their donation will be doubled if given before July 4th.

And extra special updates**** This week we also had the first read of the script in progress with the cast and I have to say that this cast is ROCKIN! They and their director are going to put on one fantastic show!
Also we started booking shows and beginning to get thigs in place and the number of locations who want us to bring the show to them is incredible. It's so nice to be invited into their space!

SO THANK YOU FOR MAKING THIS HAPPEN!

Can I just say you 40 people who have pledged to make this tour happen are making us all incredibly happy? Well, you are! We are only $730 away from our bottom line goal and with 43 days to go I think we might have a good chance of meeting it.....dare I say exceed it and be able to bring it more places? Whoa, now.

Before I share our latest and greatest news, let me give a shout out to our newest donors who were mentioned in the last shout out! Our newest believers are:
Mary, Frank & Sharon, Luci, Teresa, Jessica, Valerie and Karen!
"Thanks, thanks and ever thanks! " It's so nice to know that there are others who believe in the arts and their importance.

One more request before I share? Would you do us a big favor and share the link for this campaign on your Facebook or Twitter status? Or send it to 5 people you know believe in the arts too? We are so close and if every backer sent it to 4 people who each pledged $5 we'd exceed our goal. I'm just sayin'.... thank you all!

Now our latest news on donors of another kind...

We just learned that an area high school is going to donate rehearsal space for the month of August! This has been an unexpected issue that came up in the last month which we have been stressing about....originally we were offered space at another theatre in town but sadly they learned a few weeks ago that they were going to have to close their doors before our rehearsals. Breaks my heart that another theatre is now gone and I it makes me want to work all that much harder to get out there and prove why the ARTS ARE IMPORTANT!!!

So, we will perform with gusto for our friends at that theatre! And for our new friends at the area HS...I can never thank them enough.

We can only run on so little funds IF the community (who this is for) helps us along the way and this school is a fine addition to our Company Sponsors!

Thank you all! Be back with more soon.

B

Hello hello hello!

I skipped town to watch my brother get married and I came back to find that we have a tremendous number of new supporters to thank and a few updates....
Here goes nothing...
THANK YOU to: Charles, Becky, Hannah, Trace, Kate, Matthew, Joshua, Tricia, Curtis, Jennifer, Gabrielle, Gavin Starr, 2 Fat Farmers, Caitlin, Gerry, Clare, Melinda, Fiona, Krista, Ashley, Betsy, Larry and Ann, Aunt Re, Gregg, Sean and Roz!

I cannot tell you how full my heart feels with the outpouring of support to make this happen....we are 42% of the way there and we have 52 days to go! Can I just say how thrilled I am that we are *that* much closer to being able to PAY the artists who are donating their time to making this happen? Woo hoo! Thank you, thank you!

Not to ask more of you...but if you feel compelled to...it would help us meet our goal if you'd post the link on your Facebook page or send an email and tell folks why you donated. We'd love to meet and if at all possible exceed our goal (so we can do more!).

On tour fronts...we're lining up workshop leaders for the actors...including one with a leader in the field of performing for "non-traditional" audiences to help the actors just open their minds, ask questions and start talking about it all.

Also, we were just granted space to perform at Bloombars (www.bloombars.com) which is essentially a new company in DC providing free space for companies to perform who want to use arts to bridge gaps between community members...so very up our alley!

And it's possible that a school in DC will be donating rehearsal space.

We are so incredibly lucky on so many fronts and you are a HUGE part of making this happen.

Thank you.

A big big thank you goes out for our awesome Day 1 donors.....I am grinning ear to ear that we are already 8 % closer t o our and we couldn't have done it without your help!
Thank you, thank you, thank you to:
Sarah, Patricia, Mike, James, Helena, Amy and Kristen!

Here's to the awesomeness of Day 1 continuing throughout the campaign!

Also, Andy (our director) visited one of the places we are hoping to tour to today...St Elizabeth's in SE DC.

Saint Elizabeths Hospital is the District’s public psychiatric facility. It was transferred by the federal government to the District in 1987 to become part of its public mental health system. The Hospital provides intensive, inpatient care for individuals with serious and persistent mental illness who need the security and structure to assist in their recovery. Saint Elizabeths also provides mental health evaluations and care to patients committed by the courts. The Hospital develops a personalized treatment plan to help each patient achieve the highest quality mental health outcomes.

We are thrilled and honored that we have been invited into their home to perform and we are looking forward to adding them on the schedule!