“The Money” participants at the Sydney Opera House. Photo by Prudence Upton.
It sounds like the ultimate audience-participation theatrical event, with real-world consequences melded into a sociological experiment. “The Money” comes to Montpelier’s City Hall Theater Sept. 30 and Oct. 1, courtesy of The Flynn, in an event that requires participants be onstage, while audience members watch them decide how to spend the pot of money from that night’s ticket sales. The catch: the decision must be unanimous, and anyone can participate.
Produced by U.K.-based production studio Kaleider, part of “The Money” audience becomes the cast. Oh, and if participants can’t agree by the end of the event, they lose the money and it goes forward to the next event. It sounds simple, but Montpelier’s Oct. 1 event is the last in an eight-part series, which means the pressure’s on for a unanimous decision.
Participants pay $15 to be players, and the money collected from their tickets goes into a pot. The players then discuss what to do with the money — and that’s the meat of the show. No actors. No stagehands. Just anyone who wants to pitch in $15, on stage, deciding how to spend real money.
Meanwhile, other audience members pay $25 per ticket to be “silent observers,” who watch the players and listen to their discussion. At any point, those attendees can pay $15 more to turn themselves into players and join the discussion.
The group can choose to bankroll a participant’s private project, donate the money to a worthy cause, invest it in public services, or put on a party. They can decide that one of them should get it all, or all of them should get some. The only rule is that they all must agree on what to do with it. If they can’t, all the money moves forward to the next performance.
And here’s the other catch: Montpelier’s Oct. 1 could be lively, with the potential for a hefty chunk of change to spend at that final show.
Get tickets and more information at flynnvt.org/Events/2022/9/the-money.
