We blew this popsicle stand away w/ $410!

For a first production, we did pretty well, if I do say so myself. It doesn't seem like much, but we raised $410 for the Sexaul Assault Center. Still, according Jennifer Cantrell, their education coordinator:

"Here is the impact that $410 can have on the work that we do:
$410 will provide four hours of therapy to a client who cannot pay for the services.
$410 will provide over 400 activity books to children participating in our in-school curricula (the equivalent of about 15 classes).
$410 will provide an elementary school with an entire kit of curriculum or a high school with two kits of curriculum.
Those donations will go a long way in helping us promote our programs and counseling services. Thank you, again."

We have found that much of our audience is mostly composed of people to whom our creative team is directly linked. So, whether you were friends or family or fans of our Facebook or even Martin's radio show, you probably knew us before we even opened our mouths or our keyboards. On the other hand, our familiar contacts did end up bringing some of their friends and family, like one woman who was visiting her sister from Arkansas. I believe she was our furthest visitor to date.
With that in mind, I think our marketing and advertising needs to take a radical shift to take advantage of direct networking and word of mouth tactics. So, if you see us in t-shirts or giving us business cards or talking up the show when it's not necessarily in season, well you'll know why. We want more people to know and enjoy the goodness that is Stand and Deliver.

This time around, we were told that the music was a good add and the quality seemed about the same as Read Our Lips . We've never claimed to be professionals, so to know that we were articulate and meaningful in our expression.
Here are some of our audience reviews:

" Thanks so much for inviting me! And for having it really. I got a lot out of it."

"I have always been aware of gender roles and their effects, but a few stereotypes got by me that this show brought to my attention. The idea that guys are supposed to be players for example. I never saw that as a stereotype, just as a way of life for some men, but I definitely see it now. It's all over the place. You can see them re-enforcing it among themselves constantly...."

"I am curious about a few things though...did/do Japanese men really knit? I am so telling people this to thwart their gender role thinking and prove how powerful culture is, but I want to be sure it's true (and I'm too lazy to do my own research that someone else has already done)....
Finally, how much of those monologues were based on truth? Some of them were just heartbreaking. I had tears in my eyes at one point. Even if it is all fictional, it got it's point across.
I suspected that there must have been some truth to the pieces, but I've been deceived before. It brings the show to a different level, and much more heartbreaking in some cases. ..."

And to answer the question. Yes, every piece was based on Truth, whether it was a personal testimony, like "3 Step Program" which discussed male sexual abuse or based on research, like "In the Kitchen With Stand and Deliver" which explained the formation of semen, or mixed items "like "Uncut Facts" which talked about circumcision. I guess we'll see what issues come up next year. See you in the autumn, when we begin preparing for Read Our Lips.