Lobster Theater Project Inc

“The Board Chair, who is a nonprofit accounting and tax consultant, prepared the draft of Form 990 for 2017 without a fee to KML. The draft is reviewed by the staff and then reviewed and approved by Board of Directors prior to filing.”

“Killing My Lobster reviews for any potential conflicts on interest regularly at board meetings and requires Board Members, Officers and Key Employees to sign a formal conflict of interest disclosure form on an annual basis.”

“The Board of Directors determines the compensation for the Executive Director and Artistic Director by reviewing Form 990 of similar sized nonprofit arts organizations in San Francisco and the Bay Area and online searches.”

“The Board of Directors determines the compensation for the Executive Director and Artistic Director by reviewing Form 990 of similar sized nonprofit arts organizations in San Francisco and the Bay Area and online searches.”

“KML provides its governing documents, conflict of interest policy and financial statements to the general public upon request.”

“No documents available to the public.”

“OTHER PROGRAM SERVICES 4: There were 6 performances of 826 + KML = BFFs at no cost to 826 Valencia nor the students or their families.Artistic Vision & Impact:Killing My Lobsters vision is a world in which San Francisco is known worldwide as a center for comedy, and KML has influenced a generation of funny people whether they are comedians or not.We plan to establish ourselves as a nationally-known comedy institution, putting the Bay Area on the comedy map, the way Chicago is known for Second City, Los Angeles for The Groundlings, and New York City for The Upright Citizens Brigade. San Francisco is ready for a comedic center based in sketch comedy. As the Bay Area, and especially San Francisco, has become an example of widespread sociological change and upheaval, the arts are more important than ever, and harder to sustain. As KML grows, we widen our artistic reach and bring more artists every year into our programs, creating opportunities for growth for those who are interested in expanding their abilities in performance, writing, directing, and teaching comedy.Over the last two years Killing My Lobster made significant progress as an organization: more than tripling our annual income from $94,000 to over $300,000. By emphasizing quality over quantity, and focusing our efforts on thematically driven live sketch comedy shows, KML consistently produced sold out or near-capacity shows and classes, exciting audiences around the Bay Area. In 2017 KML produced a show in two weeks (Under Pressure @ SF Sketchfest), continued our partnership with 826 Valencia by creating another show entirely written by under-resourced youth (826+KML=BFFs), celebrated our 20th anniversary by going back in time to 1997 (1997), toured the Bay Area with shows in San Francisco, Berkeley and Redwood City (Camp KML) and put on a full fledged sketch comedy puppet show (Puppetry of the Lobster), emphatically pushing the boundaries of our field. The KML School of Comedy thrived after successful installation of new curriculums for both our writing and acting classes, developed in partnership with our dedicated team of teachers, to provide students with a consistent experience and to maintain high retention rates between course levels. KML has grown its School of Comedy by successfully offering a consistent and frequent schedule of courses, continuing to add and expand our class offerings so that students can continue to grow their artistic skills with us, and implementing post-class surveys for students and teachers to track student progress. KML sold out 10 of our 11 class offerings in 2017, allowing us to expand our offerings to 16 sessions of classes in 2018, an all-time high. We engage the community by teaching workshops to young writers, offering our Diversity in Comedy Fellowships to Bay Area writers and actors, and by opening our Thursday night performances to additional audiences through our $10 Thursday program. By adhering to a consistent schedule, and increasing our run lengths, we are building a community that can grow with us, engage with artists post-show, and with whom we can build lasting relationships.”