Get involved at WOW Cafe Theatre

Welcome to WOW! A guide compiled circa December 2009 by Jen Abrams and Maria Bauman, with updates by Sir Real December 2010 Brief history of WOW WOW started in 1980 as an international festival of women performers. There was a second festival in 1981. In 1982, the founders—Peggy Shaw, Lois Weaver, Pamela Camhe, and Jordy Mark—decided to shift their focus to a local performance space. In the beginning we were in a storefront, and we actually had a cafÈ. We moved into this space in the mid 80s via the founding members’ hard work—clearing out four tons of equipment and building the space by hand. In 2000, we bought the space from the city (along with the other tenants here). We are raising money to bring the building up to code. WOW was founded as a women’s space. It has historically been a majority (but not exclusively) lesbian space, and in 2005 we became transgender-inclusive. How do I get involved? Any woman and/or transgender person is invited to come to our weekly meetings here (59-61 E. 4th Street, Manhattan) on Tuesdays at 6:30 pm. You are immediately a member of the collective! The best way to get involved is to volunteer to help; don’t be afraid! Get to know WOW members; go out for coffee or a drink after a meeting! The best way to learn is to do—if you are interested in learning a new skill, volunteer to do it. What are the benefits of being a collective member? o Community, friendships o Learning, gaining theater skills (lights, sound, acting, leadership, directing, working with others, handstands, arts administration, etc.) o Space to present your show or art o See free theater (when you work shows) o Making connections (theater networking) How do we make decisions here? Who’s in charge at WOW? We are a collective, so we make decisions by consensus. We make proposals and decide on issues at the Tuesday meetings. You are, we are; everyone is in charge. New members are welcome to participate in decision-making. Who should I ask if I have questions? Each meeting has a designated hostess, host and/or host/ess. Talk with this cordial and informative person! Also, you can talk with any collective member. See the listserv section, as well. How do I stay in the loop? How do I get on the listserv? Inquire about how to be included on the listserv once you've come to a meeting or three. Much of our business and news is exchanged there. How do I get a show at WOW? WOW works on a sweat equity system – that means that you work on other peoples’ shows and/or for the space as a whole, and you earn the right to produce your work here and to be supported by other members. We determine most of our season at an annual retreat (4th of July weekend), but we can also propose mid-year to use available time. On rare occasions, an existing WOW member, who already has sweat equity, will agree to take on a new person's project as their own production. However most of our works are self produced. Money matters There is no membership fee. We run almost entirely on box office proceeds.