Stolen Sound Equipment Fund

Hi I'm Heidi, the founder and artistic director of Torchsong Entertainment. We are community theater in Portland, OR and we write and perform original rock musicals. Many of them are comedic or parody musicals that include a large cast of hilarious characters and a live band.  We produce shows written by local writers and musicians and cast all local actors. We are a bunch of passionate, hard working volunteer theater lovers, who find an incredible sense of community and artistic fulfillment performing and developing musicals together! 

Because of the kinds of shows we produce we have had to accumulate a TON of sound equipment. We have speakers, monitors, mixers, lots of cords, and other equipment we use to make the music in each show sound the best it can. Every show is a never-ending struggle trying to maintain a good volume and sound balance between the band and singers so that our audience has the best possible experience listening to our original songs.

One of the hardest pieces of the puzzle to manage has always be microphones for our singers. Because this is a musical, there is singing AND dancing, so our actors need wireless headset microphones so they can move around the stage freely while still being heard over the band.

Since 2015, I have been "collecting" microphones and sound equipment for our shows. I say "collecting" because decent sound equipment is EXPENSIVE, so we had to get a little bit at a time when we had gained enough funds to do so. Slowly, I started to purchase headset microphones one by one. I got 2 Shure wireless (the more expensive but MUCH better brand) at $300 per microphone. I started adding in the AKG wireless (an inferior but cheaper alternative) at $200 per microphone. Some were paid for by ticket sales from our productions. Many were paid for from my own pocket. Eventually, after 5 years of building the company, we owned 2 AKG handheld wireless, 3 Shure wireless, and 5 AKG wireless.  It was a PROCESS getting to the point where we had enough WORKING microphones to cover all the solo singers in the shows. 

Flash forward to January 26th of 2020 when I discovered that a bag containing our 5 AKG wireless headset microphones had been stolen. The microphones were being stored at one of our show venues in a spot that I thought was hidden and secure. Only a few people knew about the equipment and where it was hiding, including the man who I believe took them. 

The suspect is still at large and was a vocal teacher sharing my music teaching studio/ Torchsong rehearsal space.  After the microphones were discovered as missing, new information started surfacing as to this man's reputation as a con-artist who has stolen from many others in the music communities from Portland all the way to Montana. Through the clues and evidence already presented, the scenario seems likely that this man stole our microphones and possibly sold them for drugs. If you'd like to know the full story behind this, I will be happy to share it with you (it's outrageous). I just wanted to keep this fundraiser information brief and to the point. 

The discovery that these wireless headsets had been stolen was devastating. 5 years of blood, sweat, and tears that the company members and I put into raising the money for this equipment, gone in an instant. And to add insult to injury, they were most likely stolen by a person I trusted, a friend and colleague, who knew just how hard we all worked to build this theater company. I've learned my lesson, and more security measures have been added to protect the rest of the equipment.

So, we are asking for donations to help replace the microphones. The total cost of what was stolen was around $1000. We've set our goal at $1000 in hopes that we will exceed this goal and be able to "upgrade" some of the microphones to the higher quality brand (The $300 Shure headsets), which are more reliable and just plain work better. We are also in dire need of better "main" speakers. They were used speakers when I got them in 2015 and they are on their last legs. 

Thank you for helping our quirky little community theater company. With your ongoing support, we hope to continue to bring original, locally written musicals to the greater Portland area. www.TorchsongEntertainment.com 

Donation Tier:
$1-$25 - our eternal gratitude and lots of hugs

$50 + An exclusive "raw" MP3 of a world premiere song from "Guilds of Manzoa," our April production

$100 +
    - 1 "Guilds" raw MP3
    - 2 tickets to see "Guilds of Manzoa" 

$150 +
    - 2 "Guilds" raw MP3s
    - 2 tickets to see "Guilds of Manzoa" 

$200 +
    - 2 "Guilds" raw MP3s
    - 2 tickets to see "Guilds of Manzoa" 
    - An MP3 of one of the hit songs from "The Ripper"

$250 +
    - 2 "Guilds" raw MP3s
    - 2 tickets to see "Guilds of Manzoa" 
    - An MP3 of one of the hit songs from "The Ripper"
    - An MP3 of one of the hit songs from "Sanguine Academy"

$300 +
    - 2 "Guilds" raw MP3s
    - 2 tickets to see "Guilds of Manzoa" 
    - An MP3 of one of the hit songs from "The Ripper"
    - An MP3 of one of the hit songs from "Sanguine Academy"
    - Super secret Youtube link for our 2018 production of "Sanguine Academy"

$350 +
    - 2 "Guilds" raw MP3s
    - 2 tickets to see "Guilds of Manzoa" 
    - 2 MP3s of hit songs from "The Ripper"
    - 2 MP3 of hit songs from "Sanguine Academy"
    - Super secret Youtube link for our 2018 production of "Sanguine Academy"

$400 +
    - 2 "Guilds" raw MP3s
    - 2 tickets to see "Guilds of Manzoa" 
    - 2 MP3s of hit songs from "The Ripper"
    - 2 MP3 of hit songs from "Sanguine Academy"
    - Super secret Youtube link for our 2018 production of "Sanguine Academy"
    - 2 tickets to "Icons" cabaret in May 

$450 +
    - 2 "Guilds" raw MP3s
    - 2 tickets to see "Guilds of Manzoa" 
    - 2 MP3s of hit songs from "The Ripper"
    - 2 MP3 of hit songs from "Sanguine Academy"
    - Super secret Youtube link for our 2018 production of "Sanguine Academy"
    - 2 tickets to "Icons" cabaret in May
    - Super secret Youtube link for our 2019 production of "The Ripper"

$500 + 
    - 2 tickets for "Guilds of Manzoa"
    - 2 tickets for "Icons"
    - 2 tickets for "The Jolly Riot"
    - 2 tickets for "Villains & Vixens"
    - Super secret Youtube links for all of our productions from 2019 and 2018
    - All the MP3s your heart desires
    - Our first born child (just kidding)