Cobi Smith

I am hoping to break even for my first Melbourne Fringe show. I am hoping people will come to the show, even though I have neither the hometown network nor organizational clout that I've had for past performances.

Can I make it in the metropolis that is Melbourne? It's like the plot of Coyote Ugly, but with no singing nor stripping nor romance nor American places, rather Melbourne and Adelaide. Also pictures of brown corduroy pants, dark-robed figures, philosophers, Alice in Wonderland, libraries, petals and hackers. Also true stories, mostly.

Tickets are on sale here: 
http://www.melbournefringe.com.au/fringe-festival/show/delusions-of-slander/

The show is happening live in Melbourne at 6pm at Tuxedo Cat's The Urchin on:
Monday September 29th
Tuesday Sepember 30th
Thursday October 2nd
Friday October 3rd
Saturday October 4th
Sunday October 5th

if you're in Melbourne, or know anyone in Melbourne to share this with, please share and come along to the show!

A few rewards here include tickets to the show, but it's much less complicated for us both if you buy a ticket from the Melbourne Fringe Festival website or box office, as well as a Pozible reward. I'm thankful for whatever support you can give though! If giving money is a stretch, I'd appreciate any sharing you can do. Word of mouth is wonderful, plus you can ping me @cobismith on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or Google+.

Thank you so much for your support!

Thanks

I'm simply aiming to break even for this show. Which means:

$570 for Tuxedo Cat venue hire
$330 for Melbourne Fringe registration
$125 for public liability insurance
$50 Pozible fee
~$125+ for Pozible rewards

I've maybe underestimated the costs of Pozible rewards, including postcard printing and postage, drink buying and the myserious unknown extravagant reward (my financial planner would really not approve of that last reward. That's why I don't have one).

I'm flying back to Australia to do this show (as well as to see people I miss and some other gigs), but I'm not factoring the cost of flying and other life expenses, like eating or rent, into the costs for this show. Mostly because I feel guilty about the environmental impact of flying too much. If anyone wants me to offer a reward that involves carbon offsetting my flights for the next year, I'd be happy to create it. Let me know if you have other reward requests too. 

The biggest risk in this show, besides financial loss, is that noone will come to the show. This would be disastrous as the show involves me incorporating what the audience thinks the photos or headlines I share are about, before I reveal the real story. if there's noone there to guess anything, the surprise reveals will be as anticlimactic as tickling oneself. 

If the projector fails, this grand plan to show pictures before revealing stories will be thwarted. In that case we might huddle around a laptop screen like we're at a hackathon, and I'll buy everyone a drink to apologise the show is not as slick as planned. Knowing Tuxedo Cat as a venue, this is a risk, but one that could lead to a more unique and fun experience anyway. Since my show's in the last week of the festival, hopefully they'd have ironed out any tech dramas before my show opens. 

Another risk is that I've spent much of the last few months speaking French badly. It's been a long time since I was an ABC newsreader. I might be unintelligible in English now. If that happens, I'll trade storytelling for mime and clowning in gibberish for 40 minutes while people throw fruit at me.

If this Pozible campaign succeeds, I'm assuming the biggest risk is not going to eventuate. If it fails, this whole show might be a big epic failure, which you're witnessing. Luckily I've done enough improvisational theatre to deal with that!