Casa 0101 says it has reached the halfway mark of a fundraising appeal launched in February and that it will be able to keep its main stage doors open at least through the end of the year.
“I am happy to announce that since we began our #CASA350 Fundraising Campaign to keep our theater’s doors open several months ago… we have crossed the halfway mark and now have 194 donors,” executive director Emmanuel Deleage said in a statement released last week. “[Founding artistic director Josefina López] and I are encouraged that we will attract the additional 156 financial donors we are still seeking by the end of this calendar year of 2018. With that said, we plan to keep CASA 0101 Theater’s doors open until the end of this year, in the hopes of reaching our goal.”
“It is our hope that we can continue to give back to our community of Boyle Heights and The City of Los Angeles by creating opportunities for actors, writers and artists here at CASA 0101 Theater, as we have been doing,” López added in the statement. “Mi casa, es su casa.”
The fundraising campaign sees to secure 350 financial donors giving $25 monthly on an ongoing basis annually.
The directors say they have been encouraged by brisk ticket sales of their current hit, the Disney musical “Beauty and the Beast,” which has now been extended through July 1. The bilingual production with a multicultural task has been hailed by critics.
But in an interview with LA Weekly, Deleage said that Casa 0101 financial woes may force the company to give up Little Casa, the 50-seat storefront stage at 2009 E. First St. that was the theater’s original location. He said that directors hope to hand over that space to another Latino company.
Because the theater will remain open at least through the end of the year, Delage said the company will go through with plans to produce the world premiere of Carmelo Álvarez “Free Los Tres,” a play set in early 1970’s in Los Angeles, about the arrest and movement to liberate three Chicano activists.
For information about supporting the #CASA350 campaign: http://www.casa0101.org/support-us
