According to The Hopeful Theatre Project Co-Founder/President Jessica Cope,
“The Hopeful Theatre Project began as a dream in the fall of 2018 when a group of actors decided they wanted to use their talents to give back to the community. We opened our first production, ‘Two Acts of Love’ on February 16, 2019, to benefit The Ronald McDonald House Charities, expecting it to be the first and only show we would produce. Instead, we were amazed by the amount of support we received from the actors and audiences saying how much they enjoyed it and asking about the next one. That’s when we realized that there was a hunger in the theatre community for something like this. And thus, The Hopeful Theatre Project was born!
“The Hopeful Theatre Project is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in the state of Texas founded on April 11, 2019.
“We’re a little different than most non-profit theatres in Texas. We produce each show with one goal in mind: to raise funds for a local charity or a local chapter of a national charity. 100% of our ticket proceeds from EVERY show go directly to the charity we are supporting.
“In the past two years, The Hopeful Theatre Project has been able to raise over $15,000 for our beneficiaries, which include Ronald McDonald House Charities of Fort Worth, Make-A-Wish Foundation of North Texas, The Salvation Army, The Actors Fund, The American Red Cross, Operation Christmas Child and more.
“Last year was our first year to participate in North Texas Giving Day. Unfortunately, it was also a year the arts needed it the most. It’s no secret that COVID-19 impacted the arts community and The Hopeful Theatre Project was no exception. North Texas Giving Day came at the perfect time to help us continue our mission even through a worldwide pandemic. We were able to re envision all the shows in our season, allowing us to continue producing shows that support our beneficiaries in a way that kept our actors and audiences safe.
“If there was one thing we took away from our first year of North Texas Giving Day, it was how much people do believe in our mission – to bring hope, love, and aid to the community by utilizing local talent through the performing arts to benefit various charity organizations. When we laid out our plans last year, we set modest goals for the day, hoping we would reach them. We quickly found that we had underestimated our community’s desire to give to our cause because we ended up doubling our goal. After that experience, we’re now much more confident in our fundraising efforts, believing that our people and our communities are beside us. We are ‘hopeful” that this year will continue to help us grow, for although we are small, our hearts are big.’”
* Graphic and photo provided by The Hopeful Theatre Project
In 12 years, Communities Foundation of Texas’ North Texas Giving Day has pumped more than $375 million into the North Texas community. In 2020, more than $58.8 million was raised through more than 106,000 donors benefiting over 3,200 area nonprofits.
On Thursday, September 23, support The Hopeful Theatre Project by linking here and spreading the word. #NTxGivingDay