To tour or not to tour (Or screwed if you do, screwed if you don't)

Stewart and I have decided to bite the bullet, take the plunge, risk it all (or a portion hereof) and go on tour next year with 52 Pick-up (and possibly another TJ Dawe show in Ottawa and Saskatoon). We'll be applying for the CAFF lottery soon. It's a scary thing, doing the Fringes. We know the show has had success, but you can never really predict how it will be received in other cities, by other audiences. It can cost over 10,000$ (and that's pretty much just in fees, rights, production and travel expenses) to tour a six city Fringe circuit and, at approximately 8$ a ticket, you'd need to have 1250 people to come see your show to break even... an average of 34 people per show. By Fringe standards, especially if you're an unknown company, that's a lot of people! So essentially, we're screwed if we go on tour...but...

We're still waiting for our marriage certificate and, therefore, still haven't applied for immigration yet. Stewart will probably have to return to England on February 24th, as planned. He can return to Canada as a visitor pretty much right away, but he can't legally work... except as a performing artist! For some reason, performing artists do not require work visas to be employed in Canada. There are some restrictions when it comes to TV and other union type work, but Fringes definitely don't count. So, in an odd way, I'm trying to secure Stewart some Canadian income over the summer months that don't require a visa.

There's always the option of staying at home, Stewart being the househusband, and me the breadwinner over the summer. But come on! I'll have an Masters of Fine Arts in Directing!!! Who's going to hire me with that!?

Screwed if we don't