The HUGE Theater Blog!

HUGE Improv Theater is moving to a new location at 2728 Lyndale Ave, slated to open in September 2023. Construction costs are at an all-time high, and the lost income is rough on a small nonprofit! One of the ways we’re raising funds for that big move is by asking people and businesses to sponsor a chair in the new HUGE Theater. For a donation of $500, a little placard with your name or business is affixed to one of the seats, and you get to be a little part of the joyous HUGE experience for countless patrons, students, and performers.

For individuals, this is a great way to make your mark; celebrate your improv journey or the journey of someone you love, commemorate a beloved improv group, or honor someone no longer with us.

For businesses, this is a fantastic way to show your support of the arts and the LynLake neighborhood, and maybe even inspire some of the tens of thousands of people who come to HUGE each year to patronize your establishment!

We need your help! Click here to sponsor a chair and be a part of HUGE.

For anyone feeling more ambitious, we do have larger sponsorship opportunities… everything from a “brick” plaque in the lobby, all the way up to the stage itself!

We’re going to create the audition schedule for Creature Feature soon! Sign up if you want in:

https://docs.google.com/forms/...

Step ONE: Our official statement

As everyone else learned the news, we at HUGE Theater were made aware that our landlord made a $500 donation to David Duke in 2016.

HUGE is a nonprofit theater dedicated to building a healthy and diverse improv community. We are in year 3 of a 10-year lease on our building, which has housed our theater from the time we opened in December 2010 – in the middle of a snowstorm and during a recession.

What held HUGE Theater together then, and now, is our incredibly supportive and expansive community.From our first days we have worked to build an inclusive community and to illuminate the path from student to stage so we could share this art form we love. Improv is a deeply personal art form and a multitude of voices are needed to tell new and interesting stories.

We are proud to host and give our ongoing support to the Tiny Funny Women Fest, the Black & Funny Festival, monthly POC jams, monthly Queer jams, monthly 40+ jams, and two Women-Trans-Femme classes. We have worked thoughtfully with other theaters nationally to form a Student Bill of Rights and Boundaries guidelines to make sure our classes and stage are inclusive and free of threat or intimidation of any kind.

For these reasons and more, we would like to formally tell Nazis and the KKK that they can fuck straight off.

[ unanimously approved by the full Board of Directors – Aug 29, 2017 ]

Here’s the short version:

This summer, HUGE Improv Theater moved from its original home at 3037 Lyndale Avenue, to a new, larger space at 2728 Lyndale Ave. This has the potential to be amazing, but transforming that facility into a theater and education space is cost upwards of $750,000! We vitally need financial support right now to reach that goal. If you can help, please do!

HOW YOU CAN HELP:

SPONSOR A CHAIR! Individually or as a team, group, or family, make a $500 donation, and you can get your name or preferred dedication on one of the 125 seats in our new theater! We also have other sponsorship opportunities.

DONATE IN ANY AMOUNT! If a sponsorship isn’t in the cards right now, every bit helps! We’re thrilled to welcome donations in any amount you care to give.

HELP RECRUIT A MAJOR DONOR/SPONSOR! Might you, someone close to you, or the company you work for be in a position to make a major gift or sponsorship? We would LOVE to discuss the difference that gift could make, and the recognition we are able to provide. Email Managing Director Sean Dillon.

Here’s the longer version:

When HUGE opened its doors in 2011, it hosted around 50 performances and a handful of classes. The growth in the Twin Cities improv community since that time has been explosive, and in 2019 HUGE had over 700 class enrollments with long waitlists, and over 450 performances for over 17,000 ticketholders with numerous sell-out performances. It became clear that our current space could not meet the needs of the people — students, performers, and audiences — that we’re dedicated to serving. While the pandemic put a dent in those stats, we are already seeing steady progress back to that level of activity. We need room to grow.

In 2017 it also came to light that our current landlord financially supports extremist causes that are incompatible with HUGE’s values. At that time, we committed to ending our business relationship with that landlord as quickly as possible. While it was not feasible to break our lease, that lease expires in August 2023, just months from now.

So it is time for us to move. And luckily, we were able to secure a lease on a new space at 2728 Lyndale, a building that we had previously tried to purchase in 2019. While the financing for that purchase fell through, we are thrilled to be able to move forward with many of the plans we developed at that time, as renters. And the possibility of eventually purchasing the building outright still exists.

Because of pandemic supply chain problems, construction costs have skyrocketed since our last build-out in 2011, and it may cost as much as $750,000 to complete construction on our new space. And because we don’t own the building, many lenders have been hesitant to approve a construction loan to get the work done. And so we are depending on our own cash on hand, grants, major gifts and sponsorships, and lot of individual donations.

What happens if we don’t have the funds? We have to build out in phases. And the new space will look unfinished and only be semi-usable perhaps for years. In the long run, it will cost more to complete and will force HUGE to tighten its belt in ways that worsen our service to our community (higher ticket prices, fewer scholarships, less taking risks and funding programs that don’t pay for themselves). So we need help. And quickly — construction begins in May.

Thank you for anything and everything you can do! There will be further opportunities — to help us move, paint, etc. — coming down the line. But for now, unfortunately it is all about those funds friends.

GIVE HERE!

P.S. - To all of you who gave to HUGE’s building campaign in 2019, thank you and we have not forgotten you! Those funds are sustaining the building effort RIGHT NOW. Those that gave $1000 or more to that effort will be getting a “brick” plaque on the walls of the new space as promised to commemorate your amazing gifts!

Hi everybody!

We’re pleased to let you all know that Carin Bratlie Wethern (she/her), Artistic Director of Theatre Pro Rata, has agreed to step into the position of Whistleblower Representative/Compliance Officer for HUGE. This role was previously filled by Jack Reuler of Mixed Blood Theater, and we thank him for his long service!

What does this mean? HUGE maintains an open-door policy for reports of unethical behavior by anyone involved at HUGE (including harassment and abuse of position). We welcome anyone to report to any member of our leadership, board, or faculty, who will work to see such concerns addressed fully and appropriately. We also have an anonymous feedback form on our website and a working relationship with the group Fair Play MN, that can help women, trans, femme, and non-binary folx with reports of harassment or abuse within the comedy communities.

But we know there might be instances where a reporter may not feel comfortable bringing their concern to someone at HUGE or within the improv community, or may feel their concern not been appropriately addressed. The Whistleblower Representative/Compliance Officer role provides an alternative path; a person who is not employed or beholden to HUGE, nor a part of the improv community, who is empowered to investigate and act on concerns about HUGE that is brought to them. While we hope it is never needed, we always want that option to be available, for the sake of community safety.

In her role as Artistic Director of Theatre Pro Rata, Carin has a stalwart reputation for straight dealing, thoroughness, and an abiding concern for the importance of safety and equity in the Arts. For these reasons, we’re grateful to her for accepting this role, even as we at HUGE continue to commit to making it as superfluous as possible. Should you ever need it, Carin’s contact email is carin@theatreprorata.org.

A link to our Whistleblower policy is always available on the Performers page of our website: https://www.hugetheater.com/pe...