That’s what the Performance Network Theatre needs to raise to complete its seven-play season.

The theater was more than $450,000 in debt when it reopened under new management in August 2014. Executive director John Manfredi reports that it’s paid off almost $250,000 and cut annual operating expenses from $900,000 to $600,000.

Even on this bare-bones budget, the new Network has been offering top-notch productions as well as free readings, concerts, and films. But while audience and critical enthusiasm are up, donations are down. This summer, PNT did two major campaigns and a fundraiser, hoping to raise $100,000; they brought in less than $20,000.

Cultural institutions rarely survive on ticket revenue alone. The government support they once relied on has decreased significantly over the years, and if companies and individuals don’t pick up the slack arts organizations go under.

Manfredi says the $50,000 emergency appeal will just barely finance the rest of the season, which includes new plays by Joseph Zettelmaier and Annie Martin and a reimagining of Othello. “We’re cautiously optimistic,” he says. “We are still going forward on the assumption that all the shows are going.” PNT’s first-rate production of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? continues through November 1.

As the Observer went to press on day six of the forty-five-day emergency appeal, $11,665 had been contributed.