Today the mailboxes here at TONY have been overflowing with appeals from Crystal Field, executive director of the East Village’s Theater for the New City. “This is an Emergency call for funds to help TNC through the summer months,” the letters begin. “As you know, we usually ask for help only once a year. However, our beloved and award-winning street theater program is currently in jeopardy.”

Appeals for donations are, of course, ubiquitous in these lean days. But in TNC’s case, the program in question is worth supporting if you can swing a few bucks. Every summer, TNC brings a new musical to the streets of New York neighborhoods where theater is a rarity: Bed-Stuy, East Harlem, the South Bronx and other far-flung locations in all five boroughs. This year, however, cuts in funding and a drop-off in theater rentals at the troupe’s First Avenue home have left it some $55,000 short of what it needs to mount its traveling summer show.

Field estimates that some 25,000 people see TNC’s street theater every summer, and notes that “many neighborhoods eagerly await us.” It may or may not be true that the shows are “the best event of their summer,” as Field claims, but this is a deserving program, and one that would be missed. To make a donation, click here.