After 25 years, Bishop Hendricken High School has made the difficult decision to externalize the summer arts program previously known as "Summer Stage at Bishop Hendricken" beginning in summer 2025. Given this news, it became clear that the Summer Stage program would pause or cease to exist altogether without an entity to take it over. So, we've worked over the past week to develop a plan to move forward.

Today, we're announcing a new non-profit corporation — Tape Ball Theatricals — to assume responsibility for the Summer Stage programs and continue to offer critical summer theatre programming to young artists across Rhode Island.

Over the next month, our team will be aggressively researching and pursuing all possible avenues to secure the future of the program and offer the same transformational experiences that have become a hallmark of Summer Stage at Bishop Hendricken.

In considering the costs associated with undertaking this venture, we've considered the following based on previous programming offered to students...

$32,000 for staffing, including theatre camp staff, filmmaking camp staff, and mainstage creative team
$5,000 for camp materials, including licensing, props, costumes, t-shirts, first aid supplies, and equipment
$24,000 for mainstage materials, including licensing, sets, costumes, props, sound, lighting, band, and tech week meals

While we firmly believe this program can sustain itself year-over-year, we need help to get it off the ground and cover the up-front costs associated with starting from scratch this summer.

If you're an alumnus, previous Summer Stage participant, or supporter of the arts, we need your help. Please consider chipping in whatever you can to this campaign. All donations will go directly toward the capital needed to get programming started this summer. No amount is too small and every penny counts!

In many ways, this venture is beautifully reminiscent of the program's inception back in 2000 when young, scrappy, theatre-loving alumni launched a program that has become a gift to so many. Our hope is that our efforts can fuel this iteration of that program into the next 25 years.

If you have any questions, or would prefer to give in another way, please don't hesitate to contact us at tapeballtheatricals@gmail.com. As always, don't miss the moment!

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Tape Ball Theatricals is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and Rhode Island domestic non-profit corporation. All donations to Tape Ball Theatricals are tax deductible dating back to its founding on February 7, 2025.

Tape Ball Theatricals Summer Stage Kickstarter

A new home for summer theatre

Team Members