So if you are like me, your inbox and mailbox has been flooded with last minute requests to donate the pathetic remains of your fatigued post-holiday life-savings.  I caved last night and sent a sad little amount to the Anti-Cruelty Society of Chicago and the Chicago Greater Food Bank.  Worthy causes indeed.  But I also looked back and made sure I gave a little money over the year to the theaters in town whose art makes my life worth living.  It can be easy to overlook how important your charitable contribution to theater can be…we don’t have heart-breaking photos of abandoned animals with the sad eyes…we are not saving starving people.  We are a horror theatre company…which seems silly when compared with the big world issues.

But what WildClaw brings to the table does make a difference.  Entertainment.  Imagination.  Creation.  Metamorphosis.  All wrapped up in a spooky, possibly oozing package.

We bring you a thrill that you cannot get in a movie theatre.  We bring you talented artists joining together in a crazed zombie Voltron to deliver something unique:  Horror on the Stage.

Now here’s the ask….we desperately need you to make that happen.  Donate a little or a lot today.  It is easy.  I promise…an in return, WildClaw will bleed for you.  How many charities can make that promise?

In 2012, we will be doing monstrous things:  Kill Me opening February and a Spring Benefit Party. We plan to do some damage at C2E2 as well. Our Masque of the Red Death event will be back followed by  an epic world premiere in the Fall.  Then we start off the holidays with our Fifth Annual Deathscribe Event on the first monday of December.  Bigger. Badder.  Bloodier.  Bring it on.

So give a little or a lot.  $10 buys makeup for one actor.  $75 pays for some postcards.  $150 buys five gallons of stage blood.  $600 pays for a designer.  $1000 covers our rehearsal space for a month.  Every bit helps.

So shake your penny jar and check the couch cushions for your missing pocket change.  We will take it.  And thanks for making our 2011 an amazing year for Wildclaw.  

WildClaw Theatre.  Storytelling is in our Blood.

-Aly Amidei
Artistic Director…