Yippee

Chris Jones wrote this about a week or so ago and I’m just now getting around to responding to it. He says about a couple of theatres “there is no fall marquee show.” And “We are seeing some significant retrenchment among some Chicago theaters: fewer productions, smaller productions, more restagings." I don’t think I’m disagreeing with Chris – I think he’s just noticing the phenomenon, but I say Yippee. I also say Finally. I have many times wondered (sometimes aloud) why so many theatres stick to a model developed a long time ago for regional theatres. Why in the world would everyone open their seasons at the same time with their big blockbuster? I love that it creates so much buzz about theatre but it is very difficult to claim any space with so many blockbusters going on at the same time. Plus, sometimes, the critics can’t get to your show because there are so many opening at the same time.

I’m jumping for joy that ATC is touring Columbinus. It has long been my fervent wish that more Chicago theatres would tour their shows both here and abroad. It brings more recognition to Chicago, to the theatres themselves and I believe that a new business model can be developed around touring.

Re-mounting a show? – more whooping. A whole new generation of kids gets to see FROG AND TOAD. Awesome. Kids theatre is different. New audiences are coming along every year because kids get old enough to go. And, as a total aside, how come operas can remount shows all the time but not theatres?

And don’t get me started about chasing after subscribers. It takes so much time, energy and money to get a subscriber. I would much rather see those resources spent on developing a community around a theatres work. It sometimes feels like we aren’t in the business of creating theatre at all but we are making theatre in the service of this model that, in my opinion, is not going to work for a small company anymore. I think there is a place for subscribers but not for a small company in Chicago. Energy and resources are much better spent elsewhere.

Resources are scarce and we all need to find new ways to make it work and I applaud thinking that goes beyond we must do x number of shows and we must have subscribers and we must have a blockbuster Fall show and we can’t do a remount…why is that again? Yippee.

Deb

Hurry! Do it!

Innovate! Do it now! Why aren’t you more innovative!

I’m tired, that’s why. Why don’t you innovate?

It’s your job! Do it! Hurry!

I don’t know how – can you tell me how?

No.

Those kinds of conversations although completely imagined by me give an idea of the kind of pressure I’m feeling to do this thing. So that led me to think about a definition of innovation so I looked it up and you know what it said “something new or different introduced.” What? I do that every freaking day. Ben Cameron, in a recent speech, gave a definition that made sense to me “Innovation equals pathways to value delivery that are discontinuous. Innovation is not a new way to do an old thing, innovation is something that changes organizational assumptions.” But first you have to know what your organizational assumptions are.

I wish we could all put aside two things – that is a certain amount of time to spend each week on innovation and some money to put towards innovation – like a certain percentage of our budgets just so we could try something out if we had a good idea. How many times a month/week/day do you say – oh that’s a good idea…if only we had the dough. What if we put aside that dough for risk capital, built it into the budget and held onto it through all the cuts we have to make. What if we held onto that time every week to think and dream. Maybe we could figure out how to change our organizational assumptions and truly innovate. Just the doing of it would be innovative.

So, now go forth and innovate.

Deb

Breaking Down Walls

I was at a conference last week and had the great privilege of hearing Jane Golden, director of the City of Philadelphia’s Mural Arts Program speak. This woman has turned mural painting into a signature program for the City, the largest program of its kind in the nation and taken what was originally intended to be an anti-graffiti program into a model for community development and an important program for social justice. It is astonishing what she has been able to accomplish. There has been so much talk about innovation lately and there was at this conference as well. This woman has what it takes for real innovation – the willingness and the fortitude to keep breaking down walls (or painting them) until something happens.

There were three things she said that made an indelible impression on me. The first is that she believes that every citizen deserves art and anything less is unacceptable. The second was that in her work she found that in the same way that a broken window can lead to crime in a neighborhood that a work of art can lead to an increase in caring about a neighborhood.

And finally, she approaches the work with Rigor and Love – you can see it in the work and you can see it in the neighborhoods she has changed and you can see it when she speaks. She was absolutely inspiring, and I hope to approach my work with something approximating the rigor and love she brings.

Deb

Passion and Need

So, by now you have all seen this piece by Todd London which I think is fantastic and says many things that are true and right and will help the American theatre but there is one area that I want to emphasize because I think this could easily be taken as a piece that speaks against larger or more institutionalized theatres, although I don’t think he does, I think that impression could be had.

We need an ecology that supports all types of theatres. Some of that is happening here – larger institutions presenting or producing the work of smaller theatres, definitely we all see each other’s work – but, it’s really in the money isn’t it? Someone I once worked for said “Nobody aspires to be poor and obscure,” truer words were never spoken but how can we aspire to greater heights without thinking of greater money and if our only example is an institutional theatre then how can we not aspire to that. Theatre audiences are created across the spectrum of theatre making so I believe that theatres with big marketing budgets will bring audiences to theatres with small budgets. But, I also believe that there needs to be a place created for experimentation and learning and growth that doesn’t mean a constant struggle to survive. That becomes that and only that. I agree with Todd in that I am beginning to think that the model lies somewhere in the ensemble theatre movement, that it is not going to be a model built on economics as, in fact, the regional theatre movement was not built on economics. I think it will be built on passion and a need in our society for more and deeper human connection and I think the economics will come.

Deb

More Awesome

We had our annual World Theatre Day celebration yesterday. It was toned down from the usual blow-out, we did a panel discussion at lunch time. Four companies shared their experience working for the most part on European plays, mostly in translation and their experiences of touring and exchanges in Europe. It was a great and wide ranging discussion ranging from how artists are so much better supported in Europe to how sometimes a British translation just doesn’t work for an American audience. The companies represented were Bergen Anderson from Akvavit, Jackie Stone from TUTA, Patrizia Acerra from International Voices Project and Beata Pilch from Trap Door. All intelligent, funny and engaging women. The panel was moderated by Kris Vire from Time Out Chicago, who is also a pretty smart cookie and asked great questions.

I always get inspired when I listen to conversations like this and afterward I had a little extra spring in my step, thinking about not only what great work Chicago companies are doing but how perhaps this conversation might open up the door for more touring and collaboration with companies from around the world. The artistic directors were actually very forthcoming in how they raise the money (or not) and who they partner with to get the work done. There were lots of intense conversations going on afterward. So…just another example of how extraordinary Chicago is.

Deb

All Ways

I was talking to one of my smart smart friends the other day. She works for a regional theatre and she said that she is starting to see a dearth of new plays due to the recession. Huh? I said. She said yeah…we are seeing now the effects of the fact that people cut back on commissions and development of new plays in 2008-2010. So in the regionals, everyone is scrambling to try to get that 1-4 character play that everybody else wants. That play has had some development and some success, preferably in New York. Interesting. One of the best arguments I’ve heard yet for continuing to develop new plays. Because the people want them. Terry Teachout wrote an article in 2010 about how Americans actually like new plays and even edgy plays. As it turns out this is an issue for more than just me and her and especially in the Regional theatres. But what it really brought out for me in thinking about it is that in Chicago it is different. In Chicago you can go to that theatre and see that show that was in New York last year that you really wanted to see. You can also see that off-broadway play that you read about in the New Yorker. You can see some Shakespeare the likes of which are unparalleled in the world. You can see some classic straight plays and musicals done in new and unexpected ways. You can see devised work and ensemble pieces and shows about just about anything, done just about every way including naked, in drag, all male, all female, underwater, in a car. All ways. Lucky damnit, that’s what we are.

Deb

Inclusion or Exclusion

How do we define ourselves – by inclusion or exclusion? By what we have an affinity for or by what we have an aversion to. I have to admit that I am one of those people who can identify what I don’t like before I can identify what I do. As a result, I think I am overly enthusiastic about those things I do like because I’m trying to make up for being a hater most of the time. Good thing I like theatre.

Anyway, that got me thinking about how we define ourselves. The League is made up of so many theatres of different sizes and genres and ways of making theatre that it really does defy any coherent description except we all make some kind of theatre. I think its important that we all (including the League) move toward a more inclusive definition of who we are. I think many of us define ourselves as not a community theatre (not like WAITING FOR GUFFMAN) and not a commercial theatre (not like A CHORUS LINE). But lots of us are like community theatre in many ways and lots of us are like commercial theatre in many ways. Why don’t we embrace that?

The lines are falsely drawn, and like all lines they divide. But I think in the case of theatre these lines also prevent us from becoming fully ourselves by limiting us to what we are not, in both our artistic development and in our development as businesses.

Deb

An Absolute Joy

One of the highlights of my year is coming up on Monday, the August Wilson Monologue Competition Chicago Finals. More than 250 kids auditioned this year for the finals and on Monday 22 finalists will compete for cash prizes and the top three will go to New York to compete in the national finals. Watching them do their monologues is an absolute joy to me. They have clearly worked so hard to figure out these characters and the monologues mean so much to them. And, a new generation learning the works of this great American playwright – doesn’t get any better than that.

It really is a fun event, lots of students and parents cheering on their friends and families. I hope to see you there.

Deb

Nudity and the Theatre

So, on WBEZ yesterday there was an entertaining piece on sex in the theatre. I know, I wish people would talk about serious stuff too, but we take what we get. And it was funny and engaging, so there’s that. And then it did get serious, at least for me. Because the most interesting part was when Kelly Kleiman said that maybe we are uncomfortable with sex on stage because we are uncomfortable with men in the nude. She said that we are used to looking at naked women but naked men make us uncomfortable. The three men involved in the conversation remained silent. I was cheering. I have noticed this for a very long time. So many naked women on stage, but hardly any naked men. Why? But, here’s what I didn’t think about until yesterday – why is everyone so uncomfortable with naked men? Up until TAKE ME OUT, I didn’t, but I probably could have, counted the number of naked men I’d seen on stage on one hand, so naturally, it is more shocking when you see it – like a rare bird. And speaking of TAKE ME OUT, those men were entirely comfortable being naked in a way we almost never see when men are naked on stage. Maybe because there is safety in numbers. Some people don’t like nudity at all, and that kind of energy can be present if the nudity is gratuitous no matter the sex of the actor. But I think Kelly is right on – when a male actor is naked on stage we feel entirely different about it than if it’s a woman and we are not entirely comfortable with it and I get the sense that neither are the actors. I don’t really have a point here – I’m just so happy to have a new intractable issue – I thought I’d share.

Anyway, I feel like I should slip in something about advocacy – you know, because I have your attention.

Deb

A Great Night

Well, I have been lucky lately, on Monday night I experienced another great night in Chicago theatre. Our panel on inclusion and casting of Asians, put together in collaboration with Lifeline Theatre, Silk Road Rising, Victory Gardens Theater and a number of individuals was a smashing success. It was held at Silk Road and there was a capacity crowd, in fact people had to be turned away at the door. Chicago theatre was represented in all its messy glory. I was very proud to be a part of it.

It seems that our community is more than ready to have these conversations. So, we are going to continue working to bring more issues on race to light. I would love to hear from people what they think might make a good lecture/panel/conversation. What ways would you like to see this issue addressed?

You can look at the video here. I would like to make clear that Silk Road Rising was kind enough to do the recording so the recording has their branding; however, all the theatres listed above as well as a number of other individuals (listed at the end of the recording) were involved in making this conversation happen.

 Deb

A Poem

Back in olden times I did my first two years of college at a place called Hartford College for Women, there was a professor there named Oliver Butterworth who wrote the children’s book The Enormous Egg. Anyway every year he would compose a rhyming valentine to the college and place it in the valentines section of the newspaper (what happened to those, I loved reading them, are they on line somewhere?). Anyway, I wrote you a poem.

You are thrilling
Sometimes you are chilling
And sometimes you rhyme
But not all the time
I like drama
And we got Obama
I could name ALL the names
Of the ones I like best
They are here on the plains
And not in the West
I do not need a heater
When I see Chicago Theatre
I’m all warm and fuzzy
Not cause I drank sudsies
But because I love you
You wonderful crew
I couldn’t have it better
Except for the weather
You guys rock!

-Deb

I know, I know...

Well, I know you all hate advocacy but listen up people, this is important. Most of you are non profit arts organizations, supported by our federal government in two ways, through paying no or minimal taxes and through charitable giving tax deductions whereby private citizens reduce their tax burden by making donations to non profit organizations recognized by the government as such. I know you all know all of this but I point it out to point out that grants are not the only thing that comes from the government and they are thinking about taking away the charitable giving tax deduction.

Earlier this year as a part of the fiscal cliff deal – households with high incomes ($300,000 for a couple, $250,000 for an individual) were already hit with a reduction in the amount of deductions that they can take. It’s a little complicated, the best explanation I found was here. So already, we don’t even know how this will affect us at the end of the year. There are various proposals under consideration to further reduce the deductions that taxpayers can take for charitable giving. So, write or call your congresspeople and let them know that you are having none of that. There is an easy way to do that here.

Deb

Collaborating!

Earlier this week I attended auditions for the August Wilson Monologue Competition at Court Theatre. I love this program. I feel like it does so many things for so many of Chicago’s young people and has the potential to do much more. The competition is open to Sophomores, Juniors and Seniors throughout Chicagoland (competitors have come from as far away as St. Louis and Detroit, who could possibly turn away a high school student who wants to do a monologue). Each student prepares a 2-3 minute monologue from the August Wilson Century Cycle and performs it in front of a panel of judges made up of Chicago theatre professionals. From the preliminary auditions (one held at Court and the other held at Victory Gardens) and the second round auditions held at University of Illinois/Chicago, 20 finalists are chosen from the more than 250(!) students. Those finalists then compete at the Goodman and the top 3 go on to compete in New York against national competition from New York, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Boston, Pittsburgh and Seattle. Last year our winner placed second in the National competition and Chicago has placed in the top three every year, the only city to do so.

Here’s why I love it. 250 (!) students are exposed to one of the greatest playwrights of the 20th Century. 250 (!) students are exposed to the joy of performing on one of Chicago’s great stages. 250(!) students get to meet at least five Chicago theatre professionals, and understand that theatre is a legitimate career path. 20 students are given all of that plus their schools are presented with August Wilson’s century cycle of plays, ensuring that more students will learn about August. These 20 are given additional coaching for their monologues from Chicago theatre professionals, deepening their understanding of the craft and their understanding of what a career in theatre means. The friends and family of these 20 students are also exposed to the work of August Wilson and to the extraordinary talent of Chicago’s young people. The final 3 are given the opportunity to travel to New York, all expenses paid. They receive additional coaching, see a Broadway show, meet with August Wilson’s collaborators, and the competition is judged by a panel of well-known theatre, film and tv professionals who the students have the opportunity to meet. They also receive cash scholarships and copies of the century cycle for themselves.

Another reason why I love it is that it involves so many collaborators – Court, Goodman, Victory Gardens, University of Illinois/Chicago, American Theatre Company, Kenny Leon’s True Colors Theatre in Atlanta, all the judges and of course all the students. It is a true community happening and that makes me happy.

Finals this year will be at the Goodman on March 11 at 6:00 PM. Please come if you can, I am always completely amazed by these kids.

Deb

What Will the Future Look Like?

What does the future of the American theatre look like? It’s a question we should be constantly thinking about but I know I’m not and sometimes I wonder if anybody is. We spend so much time in survival mode that it’s difficult to look around and say “what’s looking like it’s here to stay?” I was at a meeting this past weekend and people were asking that question and also what is our role. I heard a conversation about the difference between art that is activism/social justice and art for arts sake. I hate that term art for arts sake, I think it’s prejudicial and requires the art or the artist to explain it or herself. If you don’t like it or it doesn’t move you, move on but don’t diminish it by calling it art for arts sake. Anyway…More important to me is what is going to be relevant to audiences. Not just to future audiences but to current audiences as well. Guess what??? I don’t think the answer is in allowing audiences to tweet or giving them opportunities to “talk” to us or any number of so-called engagement activities. I absolutely without a single doubt believe that the reason people don’t go to the theatre is NOT because they can’t tweet there.

I think the future is going to be in the idea of bringing people together for a deeper shared experience. Something that is, from the get, as important to them as it is to the artist. I don’t think it’s going to be about hey – come see my show – it’s going to be about hey – I think we have something in common, want to help me explore that – or hey – I made this thing about your life or hey – want to help me make this thing or maybe most important hey – want to have a spiritual experience? We are afraid to talk about ourselves like that – at our best we are a spiritual experience – we lift and inspire souls, spirits, and intellect. I don’t know that the idea of a curated experience is going to work anymore and I think that’s one of the reasons we are seeing subscription audiences erode.

As I’ve said before, theatre, this ancient art form reflecting our humanity, is not going away, but what will the storytelling of the future look like?

Deb 

Who Decides?

We are in the process of organizing a panel on Race in the American Theatre (see below for more info) and I find myself in the position (with our partners, who are not all white) of deciding who speaks. Which is interesting because it brings up the question of who decides in general – who decides who speaks on issues of race but also who decides which stories get told. As a white person where in the world do I get off putting myself in a position of deciding but if the League doesn’t step up and say hey this is an important issue then we are not doing our job.

And it brings up a very difficult question that I hope we might discuss perhaps at a later discussion. Who decides? Who decides whose stories get told and are we deciding (even if we are not white) on those stories that are most palatable to us. Do we veer away from truth and authenticity when we do that, even when we are sincere in our attempts to be culturally sensitive, even when our mission is to tell those little told stories. Most of us running theatres and Leagues of theatres are white and if we don’t choose then who will – how will ANY other voices be heard? Even if we “diversify,” we have a small number of people of color on our staff then deciding for all people of color.

I don’t know if there’s an answer but I am honored that the League has been asked to be a part of these discussions and I would love to hear your thoughts.

Deb

PLAYING RACE: A TOWN HALL DISCUSSION 
Victory Gardens Biograph Theater 
2433 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago
Thursday, Jan. 31, 2013 * Postshow
Alarms went off in a recent La Jolla Playhouse production of Nightingale when white actors played Asian characters. In Chicago, the issue was raised with Oak Park's Circle Theatre's Bollywood treatment of Pippin. Where do we stand on nontraditional casting? Is this a form of minstrelsy or is this harmless cultural appropriation? Panelists include Erica Daniels, Associate Artistic Director of Steppenwolf Theatre, Sharon Jensen of Alliance for Inclusion in the Arts, E. Faye Butler and Kamal Hans of Rasaka Theatre. Join us for an important town hall conversation on playing race in American theatre. The panel discussion is free. Tickets are $15 for the 7:30 p.m. show. Call 773.871.3000 for reservations.

BUILDING A THEATRE OF INCLUSION: PERSPECTIVES ON ASIAN-AMERICAN CASTING AND PRODUCING 
Silk Road Rising in the Historic Chicago Temple Building 
77 West Washington St., Chicago
On February 18, 2013, at 7 PM Silk Road Rising, the League of Chicago Theatres and Lifeline Theatre will host a panel discussion and community conversation that will address challenges faced by Asian American actors, particularly as regards casting, questions that theatres face in producing plays with Asian American content, as well as broader community concerns with productions that are not perceived as culturally authentic. Panelists will include: David Henry Hwang, Playwright; Jamil Khoury, Artistic Director of Silk Road Rising; Mia Park, Actor; and Chay Yew, Artistic Director of Victory Gardens Theatre. The panel will be moderated by Danny Bernardo, actor and resident playwright at Bailiwick Chicago. This panel discussion is free. RSVP to ben@chicagoplays.com to attend.

Resolutions!

I have been reading a lot of predictions and resolutions and such for the new year and while Polly Carl’s piece on Howl Round was excellent I am struck by how little imagination many of us are showing in our thoughts on theatre in 2013. I have been seeing the same old questions how are we going to sell more tickets and how are we going to raise more money.

Naturally those questions need to be asked but it’s like making that New Year’s Resolution to lose weight – it’s always there and it’s not going to change unless you actually change your life and your thinking around what you do and why. I think the same applies to our work. I think at the League we need to start asking questions that have different answers. Maybe we need to look at the answers we want and formulate the question. Is that crazy? Maybe we need to look at ourselves through a more aspirational lens and say we are…and chart our course through the year that way.

We get so bogged down in getting through the day to day and asking those same old questions – where are we going to get more money or why aren’t we getting more money. That certainly isn’t why I signed up and I’m sure not you either. What is the question we want to answer this year, or maybe what are the answers. Even better, what are the answers we want to question! A couple of years ago TCG did that What if… project. Besides the money what if we all had one what if question or answer or aspiration that guided us through the year (even if we come up with it on January 10).

Deb

Winding Down

As we wind down the year I want to say how grateful I am for all of you and for everything you do. All the “top” lists are funny – aren’t they – if you are like me, every time you see one you are like – oh yeah – that person or that production totally deserves to be on that list. But there are so many more who didn’t make the list, so they are in fact meaningless but they mean so much and are so well deserved. I wish we had more ways to recognize more people for their tireless contributions to this field and this artform.

On another note – meeting our playwrights working on the Storefront playwright project has been a joy. The project comes to an end this weekend and I will very much miss having them there. So many mentioned that they were getting so much work done, I thought they wouldn’t get anything done there, but it’s just the opposite. And people are learning more about the process and that just makes my heart all glad. I have to shout out to Lynn Baber, who is the best of many things, and who saw the article about this project in New York and said “hey, we should do this.” And so we did.

Deb

Buzz

We've been thrilled with all of the buzz generated from the Storefront Playwright Project this last week. There have been so many great articles, tweets, posts and comments, but this blog post from someone who stumbled upon the project is my favorite. The playwrights have been having a good time with it as well and many of them have commented on how productive they've been during their time in the window.  I hope that you'll all stop by 72 E. Randolph before December 22 and check out these talented writers at work. It's an amazing line-up. You can also follow the project and get updates on our Tumblr page.

Super Cool

We are doing this Storefront Playwright Project and it is so cool. I love it – every day at Hot Tix there is a playwright in the window writing, in real time, so to speak, a new play. There is a screen that faces out to the street that shows what is on the playwright’s monitor. We copied it directly from the same sort of project in New York. We conceived it as a way for the random person walking down Randolph Street to be introduced to a playwright and to the playwriting process. We have signage in the window announcing the project and additional information about the project, the playwrights, etc. inside Hot Tix.

What makes it so cool – well first of all, people are stopping and looking and reading. The more people that are standing there the more stop and look. I guess I’m so in love with it because it is a way into the process for the average guy who might not be a theatre goer and because it’s more information for a regular theatre goer who’s going into Hot Tix and its fun for the playwrights and its super fun for the Hot Tix staff. Also, there are connections being made all the way around.

I wrote in my notes in a meeting earlier this week – Playwright in a Window – more like that. I’d be interested to hear what other people think of the project and if anyone has ideas for other things like it.

Deb

Transformation and Change

I have been reading some articles about transformation and how the arts just can’t seem to transform themselves. Interesting since most of us transform ourselves every time we do a new show but never mind, that’s not what people are talking about – they are talking about real change – they are talking about changing everything we do and how we do it and I just think that is crazy. Here we all are…still…even though I keep hearing about how it’s the end for all of us if we don’t do everything differently right now! When I was a younger administrator I asked my boss at the time what he thought about the death of the subscription model and he got very loud and said he was sick and tired of hearing about the death of the subscription model, that he had been hearing about it his entire career. That was at least 10 years ago. So, it’s not dead yet and we haven’t changed yet and we carry on. But we do change. We change all the time, and we are not all the same. I cannot think of two theatre companies that are run exactly the same way and yet we are all lumped into this category of moribund institutions with bloated staffs and we need to be more flexible and more diverse and on and on. Have I ever written here about my vision of the field – its got an inner circle of people doing the work and an outer circle of people shouting negative things at the inner circle doing the work. Sometimes that’s how it feels (and by the way, I count myself in the outer circle, but hope that I am a positive force). I think we need criticism and I think as artists and arts organizations we need to constantly think about what we are doing and whether its relevant and who its relevant to and what path we are on. Nobody likes change but change we must as humans and as organizations. I think we do change and I think we achieve great things when we change but we can’t change everything all at once. In Chicago I think we are incredibly lucky to be able to learn from each other and in some cases dodge bullets and in other cases reap the benefits of the risks others take. I might argue that we don’t pay enough attention to what others in the field are doing and that we don’t pay enough attention to our communities, interacting and engaging in real ways. But, I would also argue that change is in our DNA, so unless you have a real suggestion about positive change in a real way that doesn’t risk the life of a company or an artistic process take it down the road.

 Deb