Pioneering theatre project crowdfunds more than £1,300

Standing on a Nail: A Queer Horror Story, was one of the first queer horror scripts written for theatre by PhD student, Noah Pantano.And, thanks to CLICK crowdfunding, Noah was able to raise a total of £1,365 - which included University match funding - to bring the play to life at the Lakeside Theatre. As a genre, queer horror was considered non-existent in theatre and Noah wrote this play to challenge that.

With an initial target of £1,000, this would allow Noah to cover the costs of the set, costumes, marketing, original background score and travel costs. With the additional funds he raised, he was able pay his crew and team of actors.

Standing on a Nail: A Queer Horror Story, written by Noah as part of his Masters dissertation, tells the story of five gay men struggling to survive against a paranormal creature that is locked in closet of a bar. They are unsure of what it is, but know it will escape. As the evening goes on, tensions increase as realisations about their complicated relationships and personal mortality reach a boiling point.

Noah said, “I chose to use Click to help raise money for my play because it was recommended to me by others who had used it to raise money for their productions. They provided a website and the University of Essex matched some of my funding. I already have plans to use it again in the future.” “My advice for anyone interested in setting up a click project is to have plenty of photos, make a nice video, and provide updates.” Noah’s play debuted on Thursday 23 February at the Lakeside Theatre, located on our Colchester Campus and ‘went amazing’. “We had a totally sold-out show, and it went spectacularly.”

For the last seven years, CLICK has been supporting students like Noah to raise money for their exciting projects whilst offering a percentage of match funding to projects that successfully reach their fundraising targets.

Since CLICK launched, it has:

• Helped over 1,500 students
• Raised over £500k from over 6,500 pledges
• Given more than £165k in match funding from the University

Want to know more? CLICK here.

This blog was written by Student Philanthropy Assistant, Jeswin Joseph.