Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studio in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for Atlanta Business Radio, brought to you by My Global Presence, the award winning Atlanta public relations agency that elevates brands and non-profits through authentic storytelling and national media campaigns. Find them at myglobalpresence.com. Now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor. Hear another episode of Atlanta Business Radio. And this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor, My Global Presence. If you want global visibility and meaningful impact, go to myglobalpresence.com. Today on the show, we have the founder and owner of PRETTY AS A PENNY PRODUCTIONS , Charlotte Banks. Welcome.

Charlotte Banks: Hello. Thank you for having me. This is so exciting.

Lee Kantor: Well, I am so excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us about PRETTY AS A PENNY. How you serving folks?

Charlotte Banks: Yeah. Um, it’s an idea that I came up with about a year ago. A little over a year ago. I’m an actor. I’ve I’ve trained in acting in LA, in New York, and I moved to Atlanta for acting. And it’s, it’s a very unstable business. And you never know when your next job is coming and you’re kind of always waiting around for somebody to hand you something. And so I got to a point where I was like, I’m kind of sick of doing that. I want to make things happen for myself. And my degree is in musical theater. Even though I did straight acting and film acting for a long time. And I was just like, what if I make my own production company and put on my favorite musical? And that turned into, well, if I’m gonna start a company, I want it to have meaning and mission. And so that’s how the idea of having a nonprofit theater company came about. So yeah, it’s been it’s been a year in the works, and we’re gearing up to put on our first production in about a month here.

Lee Kantor: So as a nonprofit theater company, do you have an actual physical theater or you rent space at other theaters?

Charlotte Banks: We don’t yet. That’s part of the big dream is to have our own space. But just starting out, we are renting a theater out.

Lee Kantor: And then. Do you have to rent a space to, you know, rehearse and all that stuff?

Charlotte Banks: Yes. Correct. So it’s a lot of a lot of organizing, a lot of logistics, of finding places that will house us for long periods of time. But yes, we have had to find all those, all those places ourselves.

Lee Kantor: So you went from having an idea this would be a fun adventure. And then did you have to fundraise in order to do this, or are you just funding it yourself? Like, how do you even go about, you know, building something like this.

Charlotte Banks: It’s scary. I went into it completely self-funded. It has been pretty much self-funded up until this point. You know, early on I had the intention of like, I’m gonna get sponsors and donors, but with things getting so busy, I mean, it’s so hard to, to kind of foster those relationships and meet people, especially when you don’t have any work to show for it, especially when you’re starting up and you’re like, hey, guys, trust me, this is going to be an amazing company putting on quality productions, people who are looking to donate to you and haven’t really been able to see an example of not only your quality of production, but also the type of work that you’re doing to help help the community out when those things haven’t gotten started yet. Finding people who are willing to give money, especially in this economy state that we’re in, um, isn’t easy. So I have, I have self-funded completely up to this point. And it’s, it’s very scary because it’s all your money that you, you have to your name, but when you believe in something, it’s, it’s, it’s easy to, to be like, it’s going to work out when you have this feeling and, you know, um, that it’s something that’s kind of meant to be.

Lee Kantor: And it’s so, um, I mean, I interview, I’ve interviewed probably 10,000 people over the years. And a lot of those people are startup founders and a startup founder, uh, like a technology startup in Atlanta has a big startup scene here. I don’t know if you know that, but they do. And when they have a hard time raising money, um, in a lot of cases and a lot of cases, they’re promising their investors, oh, this could be, you know, $1 billion idea. Like, so there’s this big pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. If they pull this off in your for your mission. I mean, I think it’s probably unlikely that it’ll be $1 billion unicorn at the end of the day. But I mean, you’re you’re trying to build something that’s serving the community, supporting the arts, you know, inspiring people to get involved in acting in theater. Um, how, how do you kind of even go about the process of putting your idea in front of people who might have the funds and would want to support this? Like what? How do you like, what’s your pitch?

Charlotte Banks: You know, it’s all connections based. I mean, Atlanta is so about that and the networking. And if I didn’t have the friends that I have and people that I’ve met through, um, film. Honestly, that’s how and this is completely different because it’s theater, but there’s always someone who knows someone. If they, if they don’t know someone they know someone who knows someone. So that’s really having that in, of having someone to create that handshake is the easiest way, because otherwise you’re just sending emails out into the void to people who get ten emails a day asking for money. And why are you special? Especially again, mentioning that you don’t have anything to show for it. And you’re like, trust me. So having people back you up, people who know you well, people who have worked with you and they’re able to, um, create that introduction and say, this is something that’s really great and you’re going to want to be a part of it. And, you know, you also want to let people know, you know, we’re helping each other. This is a partnership. I really like that aspect of it because I want to be able to help people out too.

Charlotte Banks: Like everyone, you know, has a business to run and, and the money that they make is precious. And if they’re willing to, to give that money, you want to give them something in return and, and show them like, well, this is how we can help you. And it’s, it’s not, you know, always necessarily with money in return or saying like you were saying like, oh, I’m sure one day we’ll have so much money that we’ll be able to pay you back. But really realizing what you have to offer, I know like having a nonprofit and feeling like in this state of almost feeling desperate, like, oh, I need to get money and need these things. You forget your value of what you have to bring and that you’re, you know, in, in our case, we’re having 10,000 audience members, people who are into theater who maybe places like credit unions and banks wouldn’t have outreach to normally. So it is creating opportunities for each other. And I just love that two way street that you can create now.

Lee Kantor: Um, how do you kind of sell the, the why it’s important to support the arts to somebody like you’ve been involved in the arts your whole life.

Charlotte Banks: Um, yeah.

Lee Kantor: And I’m sure, um, before you made it as an actor, you’ve been able to, you volunteered and did stuff to help other people probably when you were younger, and there were a lot of people that were patrons that that wanted to help and be part of the whole, uh, the movement of whatever it is you were producing. How do you kind of, um, get people involved at that emotional level? So it isn’t about a transaction like, oh, if I pay money, I’m going to get this. You’re going to do it because you’re going to feel good. Like this morning I volunteered. So this morning I did some volunteering and there was obviously I didn’t get paid anything. I did it because I want to help the community. I felt I’m making an impact. That was enough compensation for me to be excited to get up early and do this volunteering.

Charlotte Banks: Yeah, yeah. I think that just creating that personal aspect of it, and when I explain to people my experience and why I had the idea, you know, it’s a separate thing why I had the idea to create the theater company. But it’s another thing why I decided to make it a nonprofit and have the mission that we have, which is providing accessible performing arts education to kids. And that was something that came from my personal experience of being I’m an acting in a dance teacher with another company. That’s what I was doing this time last year, and I had students that would drop out of the class and I would go to my boss and I would say, what happened? Where’s so and so? And they would say, well, their card got declined. And so they had to drop the course. They couldn’t pay for it. And that’s something that really just led me to be like, wow, like, you know, you can sit here and think like, oh yeah, there probably are kids that can’t afford it. But then when you’re actually seeing these kids who are coming to class and they’re so excited and they’re so talented and they’re, they just are all about it, and then they can’t come anymore because their parents car got declined. Like that is something that I like to share with people. My own personal experience with having children, having education taken away from them because of money. So I think that that for, you know, up until the the point where we start offering these classes and being able to show people, look, look what your money is going towards. Um, just sharing those personal stories of how you’ve been affected by it, I think can touch people.

Lee Kantor: So that’s at the heart of the mission is to make, uh, kind of the opportunity to be involved at this higher level of theater because what you’re producing are kind of Broadway type theater. Um, productions not, you know, kind of, uh, less Broadway style, I would say.

Charlotte Banks: Um, so it’s actually a, it’s an even, um, a different level of education that, you know, Atlanta has no shortage of acting classes for kids. What we do is we’re going to be offering, um, not only classes to be completely free, but we have talent who are flying in from New York City, New York City trained actors who these students are going to get to learn directly from, you know, these actors who are out there doing it in New York in the biggest business. And they like, this is their life. So that’s something that maybe even kids who have paid for classes haven’t had access to, to teachers like that before.

Lee Kantor: So those people will be coming in for special classes throughout the year.

Charlotte Banks: Well, we’ll have the classes around those type of classes. Those more specialty workshops will be during our performances. So for example, our show that we have coming up in October, we have actors who are flying in for perform to perform in the show, and they’ll be teaching the workshops around that time. And then throughout the year, um, it’ll be probably more local people, but when we have our performances and we have those great actors coming in from New York City, they’ll be taking the lead on, on the workshops.

Lee Kantor: So the actors that are a part of the productions are professional actors, or are they the local people. Oh, so you’re bringing in professional locals?

Charlotte Banks: We have a good mix. We have a good mix of of Atlanta locals representing the city in our productions. And then people flying in, not just from New York. We have people from all over, um, coming in for, for this. So it’s really exciting to have.

Lee Kantor: And then they’ll be part of the run for the whole run, or they’re coming in for like one performance or.

Charlotte Banks: They’ll be here for the full run. We’re running for three and a half weeks for our first show.

Lee Kantor: So wow.

Charlotte Banks: Yeah, we start rehearsals in five days. So they’ll be here from September 13th until October 25th.

Lee Kantor: So now as the, um, kind of in charge, being in charge of the whole theater, are you also involved in the production of the show?

Charlotte Banks: I am, I am involved in so many aspects. I just love doing things myself and I like being busy. So aside from producing it and having the idea, I helped with casting and costumes and props and pretty much any element you can think of. I’m also in the production myself, so it’s a lot to juggle. But you know, when you have a vision, you want to be hands on on it, even if it’s a lot of work.

Lee Kantor: And then so you have the idea, did you even had to do a nonprofit? Like isn’t the setting up a nonprofit is a job by itself, I would imagine.

Charlotte Banks: Oh yeah.

Charlotte Banks: Full time job. I had no idea. And I think that like, I was talking to a friend the other day and I was saying, you know, a big part of starting something like this kind of is the delusion of it and being like, it won’t be that hard and being a little bit delusional because if you really knew going into it how hard it was gonna be, like I would have been scared, but I wasn’t because I was like, this is gonna work out and it’s gonna be so much fun. And I just had the, my eye on the prize of like, I want to produce this musical and I want to teach these kids and these things that my bigger goals that I’m like forming a nonprofit, that’s not what I’m scared of. Even though once I actually got doing it and was in the middle of it, and I’m like trying to like make a budget for the IRS, that stuff is super hard and time consuming and you’re like constantly questioning, am I doing this right? Am I gonna get, is it gonna get rejected? Is it gonna get done in time? It’s, it’s a lot of work, but it is something that you will figure it out as you go. And there’s, you know, there’s the internet to search things up and, um, a lot of resources too. There’s companies who will actually help you. I had a company, um, who helped me form the nonprofit. I hired them and they kind of held my hand through it a little bit. So I just was sure that I wasn’t missing steps. And so yeah, there’s, there’s all sorts of, of resources out there to make it easier on you, but definitely does not make it less time consuming. That was, it was a lot of work.

Lee Kantor: Now when you had the idea, like, I’m sure you’re talking to friends or you’re talking about, wow, wouldn’t it be great if we had this? And then you’re like, okay, I’m going to be I’m going to be the change I want in the world. I’m going to be the one that is going to do this. When did you start getting kind of traction where you’re like, okay, I think now we’re going to be able to pull this off. Like, this isn’t just somebody, something we’re just chatting about at brunch. This is something that I think I can make really happen. Like, did you get, you know, because when you’re building something, it’s fragile at the beginning. So when did you get kind of that realization that, okay, I think I can really do this.

Charlotte Banks: I think once I started dreaming bigger, when I first saw this idea, it was not again, it was not forming a nonprofit. That was my original idea. It was me. I was in New York City performing with some friends that I graduated from college with. Um, and we were doing like a cabaret, like an alumni cabaret. And me and a couple of my friends sang a song from Hairspray, which is the show that we’re doing. And I just said as a joke, how much fun would it be if I just put on a production of Hairspray? And then my friend looked at me and she was like, why don’t you? And I was like, yeah, I could. And it kind of started as, I’ll just rent out a high school auditorium and we’ll, we’ll just put it on for fun to. Well, if you’re gonna do that, we might as well, you know, run for two weeks. Well, if we’re going to do that, we might as well rent out a real theater. Well, if we’re going to do that. And then it just kind of snowballed into a bigger thing. And I think just I don’t think there was a point where I was like, something happened where I thought, this is going to work out. It was just kind of a feeling that I had. And, and just once I started dreaming that big and actually seeing the vision of what it could be, that’s what kept me going. And that’s what, what excited me enough to go through all these difficult things and put the effort in and, you know, work unpaid for a year straight.

Lee Kantor: Now, did you were those original people, are they part of the team?

Charlotte Banks: Um, no they’re not. They, um, they live far away. They have their own lives. We were coming together kind of for this one off thing in New York. Um, so they’re, they’re, they’ve been supportive all along the way and they’re people that I definitely turned to and I’m like, help me. Um, and they’re all going to come see the show and everything. Um, but it’s really cool for them to see, like, remember when.

Lee Kantor: Remember we had this.

Charlotte Banks: In that hotel.

Lee Kantor: Room.

Charlotte Banks: We just had this idea. It’s like, what is going on?

Lee Kantor: So how did you build the team? Like, are they local people here? You, you build the team locally or do you have a team?

Charlotte Banks: Yeah, I’ve gotten I mean, I just started with with me and I had a good friend who’s a casting director who was on board from day one. And then he’s like, well, I know this person. And it’s just again, it’s that like just creating those, those connections from people that, you know, and I ended up going to a it’s kind of like a recruiting opportunity where local actors come to this event. It’s called Unified’s. It’s run by Georgia Theater Conference, and they basically all these actors get up in like 30s. They audition for a whole room full of theater companies. So then theater companies can kind of, um, scout and recruit them. And I went to try to find people to be in the show. And then I met the, the guy who runs it, his name is John O’davis, and he let me know that he was interested in directing the show and directing Hairspray. And I was like, yeah, let’s get coffee. And from there, like, I mean, he knows everybody in the theater industry. That’s, that’s a connection that I didn’t have.

Charlotte Banks: I know everyone in film in Atlanta, but no one in theater. And so just from that one thing of going to this one event and meeting this one person, I got my whole creative team through him. And he actually ended up. He was really great friends with the people who run the venue that were going to be at, and everybody all knows each other, and he was able to find us actors that we couldn’t find actors for certain roles. And it all just kind of fell into place from that one. And I sit here sometimes and I’m like, oh my gosh, what if I had never gone to that one day event? What if I didn’t go? Where would I be right now? So I think it’s just really important to just continue networking and, and just go and do things. Even though sometimes it feels like a drag to be like, oh, I have to go be social or go do this thing. It’s worth it. Even if you meet one person that that’s really great, it’s worth it.

Lee Kantor: Now, how did you decide on Hairspray and isn’t there like, do you have you have to pay for rights and stuff, right? Like you can’t just say, I’ll do hairspray and then you just do hairspray, right? Like there’s a, there’s a bunch of rules and probably money has to change hands at some point.

Charlotte Banks: Yeah. That is a journey on its own as securing rights for a show. It was always going to be Hairspray. Like I said, we were. That was the. The first thing before even having a theater company was. I was saying, I really want to do Hairspray. It’s always been my favorite musical. It kind of was something that when I sort of retired from musical theater after I graduated and turned over to film something that I was like, you know what? I’m at peace with not returning to musicals, but I never got to do Hairspray. That was like my one thing. I was like, I just wish I got to do Hairspray. And that’s when I was just like, I’m gonna make it happen for myself. And, um, my dog, who my company is named after, um, she is named after a character in Hairspray, so it’s very intertwined. The dog is named after Hairspray. And then the company that was founded to produce Hairspray is named after her. So it all, it all like intertwined nicely. But yes, you have to apply for the rights. And at one point we had them and then we lost them and then we got them again. It was very stressful process, and there’s a lot that goes into their decision on whether or not they’re going to give you the rights, things like, is there another production in the area that’s doing the same show as you? Like that’s a conflict. Is the show in talks to go back to Broadway anytime soon? That’s a conflict. Is the show going to go on tour soon? That’s a conflict. So there’s a lot, you know, just because you apply for the rights for a show does not mean you’re going to get them and does not mean you’re going to get them for the time period that you want them.

Lee Kantor: Now, when you’re doing a production like that, that seems like there’s a lot of production value involved in that show. Specifically, how do you kind of go around pulling that off? Um, I mean, you must be just constantly needing money and resources to pull something at this level off. I mean, this is amazing, uh, story.

Charlotte Banks: You know, and people say to me, they’re like, why did you pick such a big show for your first show? And I’m like, sometimes I think that too. I’m like, I should have gone smaller. But I’m like, also like, you know, I want to introduce my company in a big way and this is a way to do it. It is very like, there’s nothing like minimalistic about hairspray. It is all set props, costumes, just there’s 28 cast members. It is a lot, but it’s just, you know, I’ve been very fortunate to have the past year to dedicate to this. So, I mean, the week that I got this idea, I was out at vintage store, antique stores, thrifting stuff, um, working on the props and the costumes immediately because I knew what an undertaking it was going to be. And I’ve kind of curated, I’ve had a storage unit for a year and I’ve kind of just curated things over time. And I’ve, I’ve been lucky enough to have the time to dedicate to it. So I think that if it was something where it was a normal turnover of like, okay, we know what show we’re doing in two months, it would have been way harder to create those things. And, you know, most production companies have a costume shop and a prop shop. They just keep all their stuff from previous shows. When you’re starting out and you have nothing. Yeah, you got to find every single, every single piece. And so I think, yeah, I think just having the time to be able to go and not have to buy everything brand new from Amazon, being able to go thrifting and, and find that’s also something that I’ve really enjoyed is finding actual vintage pieces to be able to use in the show. So it feels a little more, a little more realistic, a little more genuine for taking place in the 60s.

Lee Kantor: Now, when you were, um, deciding on, like you mentioned, there’s, what did you say 28 people involved in the cast. Um, what’s the Atlanta like? What’s the quality of talent you find here in Atlanta? I mean, you’ve been around the country, you’ve seen a lot of things. What how do you kind of what do you what’s your kind of take on the Atlanta, uh, quality of talent here.

Charlotte Banks: Oh, it’s absolutely comparable to anywhere I’ve been. I mean, Atlanta, there are so many people who are from so many places who have now landed here. But there’s also just just as many people that were born and raised here that are incredibly talented, but you kind of have that melting pot of a little bit of everything. And, you know, you meet someone and they’re like, yeah, I was on tour with this, with this musical for three years. And I did that like incredibly accomplished people who, you know, could absolutely be in LA making a career, but, but have sort of landed in Atlanta somewhere, which is similar to me, you know, after living in New York and LA, you just want to live a normal life and have your car and be able to just go to the grocery store and have a normal experience. And people here are so much kinder, um, than, than places like LA. And so I find that it’s incredibly balanced. And also, you know, getting a peek into the theater talent around here because I already was aware that there are incredible actors here. But but finding people who are like, oh, wow, you’re amazing dancers and singers too. I was incredibly impressed by the just the variety of people.

Lee Kantor: Now the show is obviously a big moment in, in your growth of the of the company. But after the show’s over, what’s kind of going to be the day to day? Do you just immediately go to the next show and now you’re working on the next show, or is there going to be like ongoing classes and then, you know, kind of developing the next kind of group of talent for the future productions, like what’s kind of going on, um, beyond the show.

Charlotte Banks: You know, it’s so hard to think past this at this point, but I, you know, in my dream world, it would kind of just be going right into the next thing and, and planning out, yes, continuing to have classes throughout the year and, you know, working towards that goal of we mentioned it earlier of having a, a venue of our own so that we’re not renting out and we can make workshops and shows and whatever happen whenever we would like them to. Um, but yeah, I think, I think I haven’t decided what, what the next big production would be, but I would really love to do even one a year of a, of a smaller youth, um, focused production, something that’s more kid friendly. That’s, um, that can be something that kids can take a field trip for school to go see. Um, something that’s a smaller scale, maybe like in a black box like that, that’s more of an educational youth production. So my goal would be to do one of those, um, maybe like in the spring time and then have the big production in the fall and have that be the schedule each year.

Lee Kantor: So that would be the rhythm of the year

Charlotte Banks: through the getting through the current one.

Lee Kantor: Right. So now you’re, it’s everybody, it’s all hands on deck to get this show out the door. And, but throughout the year, you plan on doing things for young talent, right? Like that’s part of the mission of the nonprofit is to educate and inspire, uh, future artists. Right?

Charlotte Banks: Yeah. And also, I mean, having consistency throughout the year where, where kids have a place to go and they’re not, um, you know, that’s something that’s very important that I’ve found in teaching kids is that they, they, they want consistency and they, um, that’s something that they really crave. And so I don’t want it to be something where it’s like, okay, we have one workshop in the fall. See you guys next year. I want it to feel like something where, where kids can have familiarity and and come and look, have something to look forward to. At multiple points throughout the year.

Lee Kantor: And then will it be primarily like kind of teaching musical theater? Or is it going to be like, okay, maybe there’s an opportunity to learn about all the things that go into a production. Like you mentioned, casting costume, like there’s so many creative outlets for this whole thing. It doesn’t have to all be okay. If you can’t sing, then there’s nothing for you here, right?

Charlotte Banks: Yeah, I think there’s opportunity for all of that. Like, I love that idea. We’re starting out. The ones we’re offering for, for Hairspray specifically are dance focused. Um, just because that goes with the theme of the show and we’re like, oh, we’re gonna let the, let the cast members teach kids a dance from the show and thought that would be fun, but I would love to expand to those other things. And, and I think, I think it’ll kind of reveal itself once you start working with kids and, and you hear their interest in things that they. That’s that’s more. It’s it’s less about, oh, what would I like to offer? And more like, what are they, what are they wanting? What are they interested in? And yeah, that’s a really good point of what about the kids who are interested in the arts? But they’re not they’re not performers themselves. And that’s not really their interest. Yeah. Like teaching them about, about these other things.

Lee Kantor: Yeah. I mean, just costume design is, is an important element. And I’m sure you’ll find a lot of folks here in town that have a fashion interest.

Charlotte Banks: Yeah, definitely.

Lee Kantor: So what do you need more of? How can we help you?

Charlotte Banks: Oh, I think that the, I think the scariest part now is just are people gonna come see the show? Because it’s like, you know, we’re a brand new company and, and word of mouth has done well for us. And we’ve got great marketing people. But you still wonder people, people in Atlanta don’t don’t love to plan super far in advance. So so you look at the ticket sales and you’re like, is anyone gonna come? And it’s, it’s scary for, for a while. And, um, you know, just letting people know about the show and what’s going on.

Lee Kantor: So where is it at? And what are the dates? And, and, you know, if people, is there a website like what’s the, if somebody wants to kind of, and I’m sure you’re open to having people, if there’s businesses out there that want to buy a block of tickets, you’re probably open to that, I would imagine, and bring a whole bunch of people or schools that want to bring a whole bunch of people.

Charlotte Banks: Yeah. Um, we have, um, there’s group ticket discounts and special rates for that ten groups of ten plus. I think. Um, we’re at Lawrenceville Arts Center in downtown Lawrenceville. A opening night is October 2nd, and we run all the way through October 24th. So pretty much the whole month. Um, I believe there’s 18 or 19 performances throughout those weeks, and tickets are at Ellaville Arts center.com. And everything is also linked on our Instagram, which is at PRETTY AS A PENNY PROD, PROD. Um, and yeah, that’s, that’s where all the info is.

Lee Kantor: And what’s the website if people want to connect with you or somebody on your team and learn more about the production company and the theater.

Charlotte Banks: It’s prettyasapennyproductions.com

Lee Kantor: Well, Charlotte, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.

Charlotte Banks: Thank you. So lovely talking with you. All right. I hope you come see the show.

Lee Kantor: Absolutely. Um, yeah, I’ve been to that theater. It’s wonderful.

Charlotte Banks: It’s great.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on Atlanta Business Radio.