This is our rainy day. Be our umbrella.

If ever there was a metaphorical rainy day, this is it.

Amid the previously unimaginable circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing upheaval, we persist in our mission to give student theater-makers the foundations they need to move into the world as professionals and as fully-rounded, empathetic human beings. We also carry on as producers of theater. Whether we’re exploring narratives that reshape our society, or offering needed moments of light and hope, we know that what we do is vital right now.

Money is tight across campus, and that includes us.

Because we believe in what we do, we’re dipping into our rainy day money to make it happen. We’re using our gift fund to bring guest artists into our remote classes to put our students into direct conversation with the artists and thinkers imagining the theater of the future. We’ve upgraded our lighting console and software, which allows us to offer our lighting design courses to students even as they’re scattered around the country. We’ve started a subscription to sound design software that makes collaboration possible for our students. We’re buying and mailing model building supplies so that our scenic design students can continue their hands-on learning uninterrupted. We’re working with experts both locally and from around the country to help us create anti-racist theater practices that dismantle the obstacles BIPOC students face.

Funding these and a dozen other projects are crucial to our work this semester, and we are incredibly grateful to our past supporters whose contributions are making this work possible.

Now, however, more than ever, we need your help.

Can you make a gift to help us rebuild our fund? Every donation helps, even if it’s only a few dollars, as we strive to keep doing the work.

-From all of us at UMass Theater