The Theater For All Initiative is part of FNT’s mission to make both seeing and learning the performing arts more financially accessible in the St. Louis region.
Fly North Theatricals’ Theater For All Initiative aims to…
narrowing the gap between access and expense by offsetting the cost of production so we can pay actors and keep show quality high
allow students to begin their careers in the arts by funding up to $10K/year in scholarships
give children access to on-stage opportunities without “performance fees” via our fee-free children’s theater wing, The Starling Company.
Our mission, explained
Fly North Theatricals was founded on one principle: Theatre is a fundamental right. That’s because it’s not just entertainment: Theater is a community building machine.
Fly North Theatricals' Theatre For All Initiative is our imperfect, yet constantly evolving way to help close the gap between the expense of theatre and access to it both in the audience and on stage by way of a two-part approach that aims to solve two problems:
Problem #1:
Theatre used to be more affordable; now it's not.
A good local theatre is one of the best engines of a thriving community only if it's accessible to the entire community. Access to theater has long been correlated with other civic and economic activity like shopping locally, attending sporting events and even voting. Here in St. Louis, neighborhoods with established local professional theaters tend to have elevated property values.
Up until the early 20th century, all the pillars of entertainment that would coalesce to form modern musical theatre like the opera and symphony and vaudeville, though certainly not the paragon of equity, diversity, and inclusion we strive for today-- were actually fairly affordable events to attend. The working class might've been relegated to the balcony but at least the "cheap seats" were, in fact, cheap... not just "less expensive."
In 1910, theatre was marketed to the working class and tickets were inexpensive. (10 cents then is equal to about $3 today.)
This changed within one generation largely during and after World War I, as the western world entered a period of unprecedented immigration, migration, and revolution. Eastern Europe moved west. The American South moved north. And in America, the dominant class began to distance itself physically from the working class. They left the cities but held on to institutions: the politics, the companies... and of course, the theatre.
By 1950, ticket prices had ballooned to an average of $6 (about $80 in 2025).
The average price for an American non-profit theatre is $25. A single ticket for a Broadway show is just under $130. To put that in context, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics the average single person can spend between $238.46 and $434.33 per month on groceries. That, combined with the fact that over one fifth of St. Louisans live below the poverty line, the issue is clear:
Theater is no longer accessible to the average American.
Problem #2:
Performers who “make it” often had a head start.
Young performers often perceive auditions are a great equalizer: “show up and anything can happen”; "if you’re good— you’ll make it.” However, at every audition at every children’s theatre— there is a gap. Some know all the right things to say, all the posturing, the politics, the rhythm of the audition process. Some come in with nothing more than a proverbial tune in a bucket.
What causes this gap? Most of the time, it’s access to instruction. And that gap doesn’t just go away with age. Access to one-on-one instruction in any field is an invaluable head start— so much so that, especially in the theatre, it’s an advantage that is hard to go without.
While it is undeniable that a fair degree of luck plays a role in whether or not one makes a career in the theatre, the odds are certainly made better by being able to take private lessons, having awareness of opportunities, and generally being a part of the local theatre community— all of which come at a financial cost, some more obvious than others.
Private lessons are expensive. That’s the obvious one. Awareness of opportunities often requires access to the internet, organizations actually marketing to your demographic, some sort of arts-centric education, and countless other factors. And being a part of the community often comes at a financial sacrifice, at least at first. Often, one’s first roles in the theatre are unpaid — whether that’s an internship or on stage in a community theatre — which is just not feasible for many.
Case in point: Working in the theatre, in more ways than one, is truly a privilege.