A Word on the Theatre Summit
Posted on | October 8, 2009 | 2 Comments
I am not going to go head-to-head with Don Hall – this is a sparring match I would lose. I don’t chalk it up to any less passion in my beliefs – it probably has something to do with the sanguine, eat-up-and-laugh-it-out nature of my Italian and Polish Ohio upbringing – which doesn’t really serve me well in a cage match with a self-professed Angry White Guy who touts his rough-and-tumble Irish city-kid background as the source of his in-your-face demeanor. And I want to be clear – I actually like Don, quite a bit. The guy has a tremendous heart and if you can count yourself among one of his friends, the smile and support you get from the him when you run into him on the street can just make your day.
So it’s not so fun to inadvertently find yourself on the business end of the stick he usually reserves for the GOP.
But also because, at the end of the day, I actually agree with Don on a couple of fundamental points. I hope that my record as an actor and general theatre gadabout has proven me to be much more comfortable with rolling up my sleeves and doing something rather than endless discussion about what we should be doing or who is doing it wrong. Frankly, that’s why my blog tends to have long gaps between posts: I like to be sure I’m contributing something useful to the theatre folk I imagine are my audience. And I often get sidetracked with real work: I collected the mass of data that became the start of the Chicago Theater Database because I wanted to actually be able to present people with information, rather than sound off on what I – through anecdotal evidence – believe the city’s theatre is lacking or has too much of. I started Theatre That Works because rather than complain about the lack of coverage or the focus of coverage, I’d start my own source and get out some of the stories I wish I saw elsewhere. I joined the side project partly out of a desire to put my time and energy where my mouth is on matters of theatre management and marketing.
When Nick Keenan told me about the Storefront Summit a couple of weeks ago and asked me to go, I said I would because when Nick tells me I should be in a room for a certain conversation, he does so knowing that I will be able to make some connections that others might not and – perhaps most importantly – be looking for something I can actually do. I was very eager, going into that meeting, to meet some new folks and to hear about what they are struggling with. I wanted to figure out how, through the CTDB, the Chicago Artists Resource, the side project or through my own network of friends and artists, I could help them solve those problems over the long- (preferably) or short- (if necessary) term. I was looking to see what I could build to help folks out.
Looking back, I’m a little disheartened to find that I got drawn into a conversation with Don (who has this infectious energy that I’m sure is amazing in the rehearsal room) questioning why we were even there. I was ill-prepared to answer this question because I was expecting to talk with people who actually wanted my help. Instead, I felt kind of like I had personally forced Don to be there and was being taken to task for it.
And I’ll agree with Don on another fundamental point: most of the time artist/managers get together in rooms like we were in, they complain about the same things: marketing and lack of money. And that’s because those are the obvious things standing in the way of small companies. A fair amount of the people in that room were from nearly brand-new companies, represented by the Artistic Director – the people who probably started the company with a drive to put on shows, and the people whose money is at stake when the shows don’t sell well. So, yeah, they’re thinking about money and audience.
But there were others – folks from the Neos, from New Leaf, even Don himself from WNEP. These guys have found ways past that – unique, creative methods to get past the early problems that face all theatre producers – which would have been at least a little helpful to the newer companies. When I took the job at the side project, I started calling people I knew – Allison Cain of the Factory and now Lifeline, Lara Goetsch of TimeLine, friends who run a half dozen smaller companies – to ask how they get certain things done. And you’d be surprised the advice I never heard: “get more money” or “have your board do it.” There are smart, passionate, innovative folks all over town, and we don’t have nearly enough opportunity to talk to one another. If absolutely nothing else, I’m glad I attended for that reason – it opened doors (I finally met Rebecca Zellar, Benno Nelson and Whit Nelson), made some connections (I work with Claire at the DCA and introduced her to Nick to collaborate on the ‘theatre profile a day‘ project), and sparked some new thinking.
Maybe I’m unique in that I went into that room not wondering what I could get out of it, but what I could bring. Maybe it’s the hubris of an English major who’s taught himself Ruby on Rails in a matter of months that I think I can help find some new, creative solutions to perennial problems.
And though I sometimes get drawn into them, I don’t like getting into heated arguments about my beliefs. This isn’t to say I haven’t examined them – I’m about two ticks down from neurotic in the analysis department. It’s just that I would rather put my energy and passion into doing the thing. Because unlike, say, a universal health care system or a completely free market, I don’t need an act of Congress or worldwide consensus to try my ideas. I can just build it myself, or find people who want to achieve the same thing and give it a go, see what works, what doesn’t and keep going. So if you put me in a room with people who don’t quite know what they want or need, and I think I can help, I’m going to try and help them figure it out. (And I don’t really care if it’s an agenda, a PowerPoint slide or tarot cards that helps get us there.)
And now I’m going back to work.
Buy me a beer?Comments
2 Responses to “A Word on the Theatre Summit”
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October 9th, 2009 @ 5:30 pm
I’d love to hear what was brought to the different tables.
October 9th, 2009 @ 5:36 pm
Well, ultimately, that’s in Andy Hobgood’s court as they guy who organized the thing and collected all the info. I know he’s opening a show next week (a lot of that going around, eh?) so I did just ask him for the raw input from folks to see if I could help locate some common concerns. More to come, I’m sure!