If I Won the Lottery

Contributed by Guest Blogger of the Week, Shay Gines.

I have spent so many millions of dollars in my mind. I know that we’ve all done it.  We’ve dreamt about everything we could do if we won the lottery.

Of course I’d do all the obligatory personal stuff; pay off the credit cards and my mortgage, go on a fabulous world tour, make some luxury purchases that I’ve always dreamed about and maybe have a visit with the plastic surgeon. Once all that nonsense was over, this is what I’d do if I suddenly found myself with millions of dollars:

1.  I’d hire a personal assistant.

2.  I’d set up a not-for-profit organization and donate enough seed money to it to buy and renovate a building in Manhattan and provide funds to maintain it for the first 5 years. It would include theatres, rehearsal rooms, meeting rooms, offices and a for-profit coffee shop/bar (similar to the Des Moines Social Club  that Zachary Mannheimer has set up).  The idea is that the coffee shop/bar would rent space from the non-profit organization and help offset costs. Plus it would provide employment for artists.

3. I’d set up an endowment that would annually provide grants to OOB companies.

4. I’d make lots of donations to OOB companies – and a few other non-profits that are close to my heart.

5. I’d set up a marketing fund that would, among many other things, purchase bulk advertising in local and national newspapers, magazines and websites which would be divvied up and used to market current OOB shows. It would also produce a monthly booklet of OOB show listings that would be placed in hotels and at tourist spots around the city.

6. I’d set up a show swap with cities around the country – and around the world for that matter. Whole productions would be sent to other cities so that we could share our work outside of NYC. Likewise we could provide a venue for independent theatre artists from across the country to perform here in the city.

7.  I’d get a large storage facility that OOB companies could share. It might also include a costume/props/set exchange.

8.  I’d set up a company that recorded and archived all of the OOB productions… I mean of course only those OOB productions that we are allowed to record.

9.  I’d fund an OOB Cheer Squad that would perform customized cheers for productions on opening night and more generalized OOB cheers at events and locations throughout the city.

10. I’d buy several vans that could be signed out, like library books, to companies during load-in and load-out.

11. I’d buy us all a subscription to American Theatre Magazine. Maybe I’d buy us all a Coke.

12. I’d host an ice-cream social and invite lots of big Fortune 500 companies and figure out how to get them to give OOB money. Maybe I’d also invite or William Shatner or Oprah or Johnny Depp. What am I saying? Or? And! William Shatner AND Oprah AND Johnny Depp. And Eddie Izzard and Michelle Pfeiffer …. and Giovanni Ribisi … oh, and Annie Lennox.

So here’s my question for you… If you won the lottery, what would you do with the money and who would you invite to your ice-cream social?

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