In February, things did not look good for About Face Theatre and its new leaders, artistic director Bonnie Metzgar and managing director Rick Dildine. The organization was carrying $100,000 in debt when the bottom dropped out of the economy, leaving them with a shortfall of about another $100,000 in operating expenses for the 08/09 season.

Actually, it wasn’t so much the economy as the credit crunch.

“Because it was so difficult for small businesses and not-for-profits to get a line of credit, it was extremely difficult to run a business,” says Metzgar. Businesses and organizations will typically dip into their line of credit while they’re waiting for payments, or grant money, to arrive.

So not only did About Face need to service its $100,000 debt, but it needed another 100 grand just to continue to operate. And that predicament, says Metzgar, made them want another $100,000 as a cushion, so this wouldn’t happen again in the future.

It’s now September, and the $200,000 needed to retire the debt and operate in the black has been raised and spent. And About Face is $20,000 into their $100,000 cushion goal. Metzgar points out that this season, which is starting off in two weeks with a city-wide XYZ Festival, will also need operating income; but she estimates that the $100,000 reserve should be raised by the end of their current fiscal year next Aug. 31.

The debt was retired by a great deal of individual giving, with some corporate money, mostly from Motorola, thrown in. About Face’s board was responsible for $50,000. A few individuals donated $10,000 or more. But Metzgar says most of the individual donations came from over 600 people in 36 states, some of whom gave as little as $25.

“ About Face Theatre is an organization that people around the country feel very passionately about,” says Metzgar.

Over 50 percent of the individual donors were new to the company. Some of those people are contacts that Metzgar and Dildine brought with them, as new leaders. Many were from artists—especially, Metzgar points out, Chicago theatre artists. But many were from gay people around the country who felt About Face was important, or gay parents and PFLAG groups who value the voice About Face gives to LGBT youth.

“Not only did it help us financially, but it was an incredibly moving experience,” Metzgar says.

The support from Chicago theatre artists also moved them, and got the About Face staff to look at their mission with a more city-wide perspective, Metzgar says.

Not only is the theatre producing its XYZ Festival at various venues starting Sept. 21, but About Face is looking for ways to integrate both their work and their mission of telling LGBT stories into the fabric of the city. About Face artistic associates are conducting walking tours around their neighborhoods, telling their stories about places and things about their neighborhoods they love—stories which the theatre will upload as podcasts, along with neighborhood maps. And the theatre is setting up a storefront where people can walk in and tell their own neighborhood stories.

The theatre has also started partnerships with various businesses around Chicago—not just around their performance venue at the Center on Halsted. Out and About “is a way we can partner with gay friendly businesses in Chicago,” Metzgar says. The theatre will be distributing bright yellow stickers with the Out and About Logo that business owners can stick in their storefront.

“It’s a visibility campaign to show that the LGBT community is in every community,” says Metzgar.

Of course, the theatre is also doing…theatre. A full slate, in fact, which they were prevented from doing this past spring. They’re also touring youth-created shows and doing corporate diversity training. Oh, yes, and they’re looking for a replacement for Dildine, who is leaving for Shakespeare St. Louis. That, and the retirement of the debt, is allowing Metzgar and her staff to think of About Face in the long term.

“It’s great to spend the next current year dreaming big, not thinking of next week’s payroll,” Metzgar says.

“Ten years from now, I would like to have a center for About Face Theatre , especially our Youth Program,” says Metzgar. She also wants About Face to be an integral part of the national theatrical and LGBT discussion.

“We’re ambassadors for LGBT community,” she says. “We’re doing plays that ask questions about gender and sexuality for the whole society.”