I was driving to work this morning and I passed a sign that said “Give the gift of live. Give blood.” I thought to myself “Yeahhhh, like that’s gonna happen.”

Well, technically, I can’t give blood. Or more accurately, they won’t take my blood. But most people, I think, if you asked them would state categorically that they would love to give blood. So why are there blood shortages? It takes all of 15 minutes, it’s a renewable resource, and it’s a good excuse to not be productive at work, right? So why don’t people do it?

Because we’re lazy, that’s why. We’re lazy people. We don’t even want to take 15 minutes to stop and do something good, because we could spend that 15 minutes making money, performing in theatre, being otherwise productive.

So what does this have to do with theatre? Think about what you ask of your coworkers and audience members and volunteers. How much time do they have? How likely are they to participate?

The answer is almost impossible to answer. You never really know. The trick is to make participation so painless and so quick that people barely have time to register that they participated.

Going back to the blood drive example, when offices have blood drives, people will participate. When the blood drive comes to YOU, you participate. But if you have to go five minutes out of your way… no deal. In high school, the only people who ever gave blood were the ones who wanted to skip class. Some people probably hate pure motives, but most didn’t.

Some people have a strong desire and passion to give blood even if they have to drive an hour out of their way. An old friend of mine used to give blood every 30 days, when the Red Cross would allow him. He did out of a sense of duty — not to mention his mother was sick and was going to someday need surgery and require someone’s donated blood.

Likewise, some people in theatre have a passion and desire and drive to participate in theatrical endeavors, from building sets to hanging lights, from directing to acting, from teaching to watching. Those people have the drive to do it regardless of obstacles.

But most people don’t.

How do we reach them? Simple. Go to them.