Theo Wilson in Jeff Campbell’s “Honorable Dishorder”
From Jeff Campbell on Fb, 3/05/18: If you want to do art on your own terms, independently, to create from your soul, your voice and your heart, there are many things you have to overcome. You have to overcome your fear of judgement, and be willing to allow the opinions of others to be accepted, and appreciated, without them defining or restricting you. You have to overcome the notion that you cannot do it without outside financial help. You have to overcome the perception of others that if you are not “famous” or “Hollywood” that your work cannot be any good. You have to overcome your desire to focus on creativity only and take on your short comings of logistical business organization and simply do what needs to be done. You have to overcome the idea of who you think will support you and embrace who shows up to support you. You have to overcome the fact that many people do not want you to succeed, and understand that it has nothing to do with you, but it is actually something to do with them. Most of all, you cannot be afraid of failure, and be willing to ask for help.
I need your help, family. I underestimated the budget of this project, and the gaps in my own understanding of what it means to be a theatre producer. It is much harder than I thought. A lot of you have purchased tickets, and some folks have bought ad space for the program to support me, and I sincerely appreciate it. If you know of anyone else who has a small business and would be able to purchase ad space please tag them in the comments, and ask them to reach out. I will stand by my core values of not taking foundation dollars, or corporate dollars in order to make this production happen. I believe that small business sponsors, and community member ticket buyers are vital if we want to create change in our community. We must support projects by the community and for the community.
I greatly appreciate the support of Allison Parks and her company Conscious Real Estate, Barb Dye and COMBO, Millete Birhanemaskel and Whittier Cafe. They are awesome examples of small business owners who believe in the power of collaborative support of the local economy.
I also want to express gratitude for my community partners KGNU Radio, Twist and Shout Records, The Art of War Project, and of course Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Theater, without whom this production would not be possible.
I’m a couple thousand dollars short of paying all the bills so please, if you know of another small business, let them know, and if you haven’t bought a ticket yet please do. Thanks so much for all your support, I really appreciate it.
~ Jeff Campbell