Proposal for

Partnership with
Me Too Monologues 2013

Identity can seem so abstract. Me Too Monologues is about living it.

I.

SUMMARY ................................................................................................................................ 3

II.

INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................... 4

III.

GOALS ...................................................................................................................................... 5

IV.

PARTNERSHIP WITH ME TOO.................................................................................................. 5

V.

TIMETABLE ................................................................................................................................ 6

VI.

BUDGET .................................................................................................................................... 6

VII.

ENDORSEMENTS ...................................................................................................................... 6

VIII.

ADDITIONAL LINKS .................................................................................................................. 6

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I.

Summary
Me Too Monologues is an annual show about identity, written, performed, and produced
by members of the Duke community. Students and faculty submit stories of their
experiences, and we turn them into a documentary theatre performance. We began in
2009 as a show focused primarily on race, ethnicity, and culture, but over the years have
expanded to cover topics of sexuality, class, gender, religion, disability, and community.
And even these topics do not adequately define who we are.
This year we are looking for partnerships and sponsorships to help us continue providing
students with outlets for reflection, increased understanding, and personal discovery.
Hopefully, you will join us in spreading social awareness through documentary-theatre
performance.
Me Too is looking for potential donors; our anticipated budget is $2100, which will be
outlined in the coming pages.

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II.

Introduction
The purpose of the Me Too Monologues is to take audiences inside stories and
experiences that they might not otherwise have access to. These stories often feature
conflicting viewpoints that force the audience to reevaluate their perceptions. After
each performance, we invite audience members to engage in talk back dialogues
with the production team and members of the cast. Me Too Monologues invites
audiences to listen, talk and actively engage with complex moral and ethical issues of
identity.
Me Too Monologues takes issues of identity out of the multitude of centers on campus
The Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Culture, The Center for Multicultural Affairs, The
LGBT Center, The Freeman Center for Jewish Life, The Kenan Center for Ethics, etc.and
brings them to a new space and a new medium. While these centers serve a crucial
purpose on campus, not all students take full advantage of them. Some students may
not even know that the centers exist, while others may feel that they are not a part of the
centers target demographic.
There is no other venue on campus that allows students to explore such a wide range of
critical issues related to identity, while allowing the audience to absorb the content at
their own pace. At Duke, we often become passive observers of these issues in
particular, and Me Too Monologues encourages honest and sincere dialogue that is
otherwise hard to generate. While many may talk about identity with their closest friends,
genuine and provocative conversation that brings together so many varied and
sometimes conflicting viewpoints is rarely obtainable on a similar level.
Me Too Monologues has already collected submissions and will hold auditions from
October 22-24th. Rehearsals will begin in early November and will continue at the start of
next semester. Performances are scheduled for January 31st, February 1st and 2nd of
2013, and will take place in Nelson Music Room on East Campus.
We have a production team of five undergraduate students, one of whom helped direct
last years show, and we anticipate a cast of around 15 students. We also have a faculty
advisor, Jules Odendahl-James of the Theatre Studies department, and we function as a
subsidiary of the Center for Race Relations.
Me Too Monologues is targeted at the Duke community. Our audience is composed
primarily of students ages 18 to 24, but we anticipate faculty, staff, and members of the
administration will attend as well. We expect an attendance of roughly 1,000 over the
course of the three sold-out performances. After performances, videos are posted on
YouTube, where we have garnered over 7,250 hits on videos posted since February 2012.

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III.

Goals
I.

To entertain a diverse audience with performances of student, alumni, employee and

faculty submitted monologues, detailing their experiences in relation to formation of their
respective identities

II.

To actively engage the Duke community, and create a safe space for dialogue to
emerge regarding concepts of identity, be it race, nationality, cultural background,
class, and so on

III.

To bring a wider scope of monologues and actors, that we might better represent the
diversity of Duke University

IV.

To maintain sustained discussion via our Tumblr, in order to continue with our mission of
providing a safe and welcoming environment for the Duke community

IV. Partnership with Me Too

We are offering three tiers of partnership with our program. Standard benefits that are
provided are:

Mention in pre-show announcements, giving you placement of your

organizations name in front of 900-1100 students over the course of three days
Access to a wide and diverse demographic of college students ages 18-24

For a donation of $250, you will receive these, in addition to:

Placement of your organizations name in our program

Signed programs from our cast
Reserved Seating for 2 on Opening Night (Must RSVP)

For a donation of $500, you will receive these items in addition to:

Placement of your organizations name on our t-shirts, banner, and Plaza board
A Feature on our website, www.metoomonologues.com
Placement of your merchandise, your banner, and pamphlets for your
organization on our table outside of the Nelson Music Room, where the
audience will be able to receive more information about Me Too, buy t-shirts, as
well as sign up for newsletters.

For a donation of $1000, you will receive these items, in addition to:

Placement of your organizations name on our invitations, and our videos from
the 2013 performance
2 Additional Reserved Seats for a night of your choosing (Must RSVP)

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V. Timetable
Description of Work

Start and End Dates

Collect Submissions

3/1/2012 to 10/21/2012

Audition Actors

10/22/2012 to 10/24/2012

Actor Rehearsals

10/28/2012 to 1/29/2013

Performance

1/31/13 to 2/2/2013

VI. Budget
Item

Anticipated Cost

Website Registration Fee

$26.02

T-Shirts (200)

$1,500.00

Merchandising (Stickers, buttons, ticketing)

$160.00

Videographer

$100.00

Invitations

$75.00

Advertising (flyers, banners, plaza board(s))

$150.00
Total

$2,011.02

VII. Endorsements
Me Too Monologues functions as a subsidiary of the Center for Race Relations (CRR),
which operates out of the Center for Multicultural Affairs (CMA).
In the past, we have acquired funding from CRR, Kenan Institute for Ethics, the Womens
Center, and the LGBT Center, and our support base continues to grow.

VIII. Additional Links

http://metoomonologues.com/
http://metooblog.tumblr.com/
http://www.dukechronicle.com/article/me-too-monologues

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