Support Our "Big Idea" Through Santa Cruz Gives This Year!

Actors’ Theatre is very excited to be participating in Santa Cruz Gives for the first time this year. Santa Cruz Gives is a countywide holiday fundraising campaign that began in 2015 with a simple goal: to make it easier and inspiring for people to give back locally. By bringing dozens of nonprofits together on one online platform, Santa Cruz Gives helps donors discover new causes, support multiple organizations with a single transaction, and see the collective impact of community generosity in real time.

Each participating nonprofit features a special project on its profile page. You can find our Actors’ Theatre page at https://santacruzgives.org/nonprofit/santacruzactorstheatre/

For our “Big Idea 2026,” Actors’ Theatre is shining a spotlight on our Young Directors’ Endowment Project. Here’s how it began…

One of our Board members saw a performance up at UCSC that really impressed him. He suggested inviting the talented student director to direct a piece in our annual 8 Tens @ 8 Short Play Festival, which we did, and they said yes! We were excited to bring in a fresh new voice to the Festival. They were excited to be part of a production in the community. And then a harsh reality hit and they had to pull out, writing: “Due to my financial situation, I have less time outside of work to contribute to artistic endeavors.”

This situation inspired us to start a special donation drive so we could offer some kind of compensation to remove the financial barrier to younger directors participating in our productions. We are a volunteer-based, community theater, so many of the theater artists who work with us are older, with established incomes, or even retired. They can do it purely for love of the arts. Theis isn’t true for younger people trying to survive in Santa Cruz. They often have to choose between feeding and housing their bodies and feeding and finding a home for their theater-loving souls.

In my 35 years of teaching theatre arts, I have seen first-hand how difficult it is for passionate, talented young people to pursue their art after graduating. Sadly, until you are an established artist, the arts don’t pay a living wage – in fact, it is common experience to be asked to work in all aspects of production as an unpaid intern. The choice is stark: starve or gain experience for your portfolio. Many of my former students would’ve easily been theatre professionals in Europe where there are national subsidized theaters. Here, they give up their dreams to “get a real job.” – Cathy Warner, Actors' Theatre Board Member

Our goal is to support two young directors and at least one young designer in our next 8 Tens @ 8 Short Play Festival in 2027. Including their work will bring fresh eyes and perspectives to this annual Festival, which has been going strong since 1995! Inspiring and supporting young theater artists also helps them stay in Santa Cruz where they can bring their passion and talents to our community for years to come.

Theater creates bonds and builds bridges, and our era is in dire need of this. We plan for a future in which Actors’ Theatre will continue to represent the finest in live theater, provide opportunities for our artists to thrive and grow, and showcase work that will both inspire and delight our audiences for years to come. Please be part of it with a donation to us through this year’s Santa Cruz Gives campaign. https://santacruzgives.org/nonprofit/santacruzactorstheatre/

I see a lot of young people now who are impassioned theater performers and theater artists, but once they leave the safe confines of an educational institution it’s very difficult for them to get any kind of experience. We saw the need and wanted to fill the gap and see if we could possibly help young theater artists get experience in their art without having to sacrifice eating.      – Denise Keplinger, Actors' Theatre Board Member

Santa Cruz Gives is presented by Good Times in partnership with the Volunteer Center of Santa Cruz County, with major support from Community Foundation Santa Cruz County, Monterey Peninsula Foundation, The Applewood Fund, The Joe Collins Fund, Driscoll’s, Inc., 1440 Foundation, West Coast Community Bank, Wynn Capital Management, Bay Federal Credit Union, The Pajaronian, and The Press Banner.