Everything we do at Barksdale is connected to our Mission. The Mission Statement that follows was adopted unanimously by Barksdale's Board of Trustees in 2002. It is built upon practices and principles established and sustained by Pete and Nancy Kilgore and Muriel McAuley during the first four decades of Barksdale's life.It's important to put our Mission Statement out there from time to time so that everyone, including those of us who work here every day, can remember and reflect upon what we're all about. Mission Statements are designed to guide a theatre over the long haul--decades, not months or years. They are, by design, somewhat broad, allowing for each succeeding artistic and managing director team, and each succeeding Board of Trustees, to interpret and flesh out the mission as they see fit. They are designed to allow the theatre to adjust to changing times while maintaining it's core values.
Our particular Mission Statement includes three guiding principles that our Board felt so strongly about that they chose to include them in the Mission. Over the next few days, I'm going to add comments to this blog entry, attempting to identify and lend my interpretation to the eight commitments that the Board of Barksdale Theatre has made in our Mission Statement, commitments that I believe chart a course for Barksdale that is both unique and vital to the cultural life of our community, the Commonwealth and the nation. As always, your additional thoughts and comments are most appreciated.
Mission Statement of Barksdale Theatre
Founded in 1953, Barksdale Theatre presents in Central Virginia national caliber productions of the great dramas, comedies and musicals—past, present and future. With equal enthusiasm, we explore the classics, contemporary works and world premieres, always seeking to demonstrate the unique power of theatre to engage, enthrall, educate and inspire.
Barksdale is committed to artistic excellence and professionalism. We nurture and support outstanding local, regional and national artists, and pay them at professional standards.
Barksdale is committed to community. We connect with and continually seek to expand our audience through a wide array of innovative programs and initiatives that promote both access and inclusion.
Barksdale is committed to sound management. While remaining focused on the cherished ideals of our past, we seek to maintain the responsible and sustainable balance between artistic excellence and fiscal accountability that will enable our future.
Executive Summary
Barksdale Theatre presents in Central Virginia national caliber productions of the great dramas, comedies and musicals—past, present and future—with a special emphasis on establishing and maintaining close community connections.
Barksdale is committed to artistic excellence and professionalism. We nurture and support outstanding local, regional and national artists, and pay them at professional standards.
Barksdale is committed to community. We connect with and continually seek to expand our audience through a wide array of innovative programs and initiatives that promote both access and inclusion.
Barksdale is committed to sound management. While remaining focused on the cherished ideals of our past, we seek to maintain the responsible and sustainable balance between artistic excellence and fiscal accountability that will enable our future.
Executive Summary
Barksdale Theatre presents in Central Virginia national caliber productions of the great dramas, comedies and musicals—past, present and future—with a special emphasis on establishing and maintaining close community connections.
12 comments:
Hi Bruce!
Enjoy the blog! On your recommendation, I went to see This Is Our Youth, which I thoroughly enjoyed. It ranked right up there with the best shows I've seen recently. I like to see theatre all over Richmond, but since I can't get to all of them, recommendations are always appreciated!! And your enthusiasm made it sound so hard to miss!!
I had to comment on one of your recent posts which attempted to categorize most of the professional theatres in Richmond. While Barksdale does an admirable job of choosing a very diverse season, other theatres in town are more diverse than you appear to believe. Specifically, I don't think it's fair to lump CAT, Swift Creek, and Hanover Tavern together as doing only "modern, commercial plays and musicals with small casts." While there's nothing wrong with this as a focus, I don't think it fits any of the theatres you've identified (with the possible exception of Hanover Tavern -- because after all, who is more qualified than you to describe their seasons?).
I think each of these theatres has their own distinctly individual mission. And frankly, if each of these theatres produced only "modern, commerical plays and musicals with small casts" you would expect their seasons to be much more similar to each other than they are.
I would say that Hanover Tavern picks "commercial" shows which are either instantly recognizable or easy sells to the targeted audience. But this focus allows it to do shows as diverse as Smoke on the Mountain (a gospel blue-grass musical from 1989), The Mousetrap (the Agatha Christie classic mystery from 1952), and Over the River and Through the Woods (a fairly recent sitcom-type comedy).
Swift Creek seems to specialize in small cast musicals and revues, but it is also known for producing farces and well-known dramas. Again though, Swift Creek's seasons are more diverse than you give them credit for. Recently, they've done shows like Lost Highway and Caught in the Net just a year or two after their debuts. In addition, they've done memorable standards like Steel Magnolias, The Miracle Worker, Joseph, and Forever Plaid.
Likewise CAT is not so easily pigeonholed and is, perhaps by design, the most diverse of the three. In the last two years alone, CAT has produced Richmond premieres of new Broadway comedies and dramas (Epic Proportions, Enchanted April, Three Days of Rain); older, more "commercial" revivals (Something's Afoot, Greetings, Curious Savage); a Richmond premiere of a littler known Broadway play (The Runner Stumbles); and a classic (The Importance of Being Earnest).
I think your comments struck me because, as a Board member of CAT, I know we strive for a "diverse" season -- a little bit of everything at an affordable price. In fact, that's part of OUR mission statement. There's no doubt we could do a better job of branding CAT and clearly we must if you view CAT as limited to modern, commercial plays. (And again, not that there's anything wrong with that -- but it's not what we strive to do).
Anyway, thanks for the opportunity to vent! I'll go back to being a reader.
Amy Berlin has written a valuable comment, and I appreciate it. I value her thoughts so much that I've gone back and revised my previously posted comments in response to her wise counsel.
In order for everyone to be able to make sense of Amy's comment, I've included in the copy that follows the exact wording of the previously posted paragraph that Amy calls into question. I regret one aspect of the paragraph, as I'll discuss in a minute, but I have to own up to it.
Here's what I said:
"Other theatres may not identify themselves as niche theatres; nonetheless they are limited by financial constraints to producing mostly modern, commercial plays and musicals with small casts. There’s nothing wrong with that. Chamberlayne Actors Theatre (CAT) and Swift Creek Mill fall into this category, as does our own Country Playhouse Season at Hanover Tavern."
Any of us can debate the definition of the words "modern," "commercial" and "small." But such debates are irrelevant. I think Amy's ultimate point is that I have no right to comment in any way on what other theatres are or aren't trying to do. In my efforts to distinguish Barksdale, I should never try to define our operations in relation to anyone else's.
I see Amy's point of view. Despite the fact that I meant no harm, I now believe that I was wrong to write the paragraph as I did. Amy was right to call me to task. I'll try not to do it again.
Out of respect for Amy’s input, I’ve gone back and eliminated from my previous comments any and all references to other theatres. There weren't many such references, and they were all complimentary. (Even in the offending paragraph, please note that I compared CAT and Swift Creek to our own Barksdale at Hanover Tavern. And I LOVE our season at Hanover Tavern.)
Here's my opinion. Our community is blessed to have many thriving theatres in its midst. And I believe that the community, and the theatres themselves, are blest to have a theatre the size of Barksdale as a part of the mix.
Mission Statements are meant to be somewhat general to allow for programmatic flexibility over time. Mission Statements also anchor organizations to core values so that changes in programming and practices are always made in accordance with founding principles. Barksdale's Mission Statement defines our organization through eight key commitments.
In subsequent comments, I'll be discussing each of these eight commitments. They are:
* a commitment to Central Virginia
* a commitment to national caliber productions
* a commitment to the great dramas, comedies and musicals
* a commitment to the classics, contemporary works and world premieres
* a commitment to professional salaries and practices
* a commitment to local, regional and national artists
* a commitment to community
* a commitment to sound management.
As we try to honor these commitments, we look forward to your participation.
Barksdale Theatre presents its work in "Central Virginia"—that is the first commitment made by the Barksdale Board in our Mission Statement. Beyond the obvious, what does that mean?
First, it means that we are a regional theatre serving a significant section of Virginia. Box office records indicate that our audience comes from:
the cities of Richmond, Charlottesville, Colonial Heights, Emporia, Franklin, Fredericksburg, Hopewell, Petersburg, Waynesboro and Williamsburg; and
the counties of Hanover, Chesterfield, Goochland, Henrico, Amelia, Albemarle, Brunswick, Buckingham, Caroline, Charles City, Culpepper, Cumberland, Dinwiddie, Essex, Fluvanna, Gloucester, Greene, Greensville, Isle of Wight, James City, King and Queen, King George, King William, Louisa, Lunenburg, Madison, Matthews, Middlesex, New Kent, Nottoway, Orange, Powhatan, Prince Edward, Prince George, Richmond (Co), Southampton, Spotsylvania, Stafford, Surry, Sussex and Westmoreland.
More importantly, it means that we are a local organization, committed to serving local audiences and artists. All of the Central Virginia localities noted above are within a 90-minute drive of one of our home facilities. Unlike the ill-fated Broadway Under the Stars, which was a Baltimore-based for-profit company, Barksdale Theatre has a core nonprofit commitment to Central Virginia.
Broadway Under the Stars was designed to make money in Central Virginia, and then take that money away. The reckless and uncaring manner in which they have behaved following their recent collapse makes it obvious that Broadway Under the Stars cared about Central Virginia only as a profit center.
Barksdale Theatre is nothing like that. We live here, we're governed here, and we're committed to Central Virginia. Every decision we make, be it programmatic or financial, is based on the ongoing conversation we have with our Central Virginia audience. We respect and are dedicated to serving our local communities.
Our commitment is to Central Virginia and nowhere else. At the end of the day, that means everything.
Barksdale Theatre presents "national caliber productions"—that is the second commitment made by the Barksdale Board. Beyond commercial hype, do these words mean something substantive?
I believe they do. Let’s be honest. Any theatre of any size can produce a “national caliber” production every once in a while. Great art does not always require experienced artists, a skilled support staff, large and discerning audiences, and substantial production budgets. Some of the best plays I’ve ever seen have been done on a shoestring. However, I believe that producing great art on a consistent basis, show after show, season after season, requires all four of these resources.
You will never hear me say that Barksdale Theatre and/or Theatre IV have reached the level of artistic excellence to which we aspire. I'm never satisfied with the status quo. I’m fully aware of how much better our theatre can be in the future, and our entire staff works hard to achieve incremental growth in artistic quality year after year.
I love, value and respect the work of Metro Richmond’s and Central Virginia's many smaller theatres. Our community would be nothing without them. For a significant part of our careers, Phil Whiteway and I managed a smaller theatre (Theatre IV).
But I also see the value and the uniqueness of a major professional theatre, a theatre like the one that Barksdale has become. And I applaud the Barksdale Board for making the commitment in our Mission Statement to produce “national caliber productions.”
I see a lot of regional theatre in major cities throughout the U. S. I was a site reporter for three years for the National Endowment for the Arts, and I’m now in my third year as a Major Theatres Panelist for the Maryland Arts Council. After seeing hundreds of productions at our nation’s finest regional theatres, I believe that Barksdale produces at a level that is consistent with their work, consistent with national standards.
That’s not to say that we’re perfect. Far from it. We have our hits and flops and, believe me, so do the other regional theatres across our nation. But like each of these regional theatres, we are committed to meeting quantitative national criteria—and this is no small commitment.
When the Boards of Barksdale Theatre and Theatre IV made the commitment to present “national caliber productions,” they made the commitment to give and get $1,500,000 in contributions each and every year, and to sell $3,500,000 in tickets and touring performances. This adds up to a $5,000,000 annual commitment—a commitment that is objective, measurable and unique among Central Virginia's professional theatres.
Why is all this money needed to create “national caliber productions”?
It is needed to pay the professional staff of approximately 40 experienced theatre artists and administrators who carry out all the work that takes place behind-the-scenes. It is needed to fund our seasonal contract with Actors’ Equity Association, allowing us to hire Central Virginia’s finest actors and enable them to perform beside outstanding national artists brought in from out-of-town on a show-by-show basis.
It is needed to operate professional facilities (theatres, shops, offices, rehearsal halls), to pay for the professional marketing campaigns required to attract and nurture a large and discerning audience, to design and build the sets and costumes that make our shows come to life, and to operate extensive community outreach programs.
Producing “national caliber productions” actually means a lot. I’m proud that our Boards have made that commitment.
Barksdale Theatre produces “the great dramas, comedies and musicals—past, present and future”—that’s the third commitment to appear in the Barksdale Mission Statement. Isn’t that what every theatre tries to do?
No. Many if not most theatres are niche theatres, choosing to focus on only one subset of the theatrical canon. There’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, it’s a wise use of limited resources. Many other theatres may not identify themselves as niche theatres, nonetheless they are limited by financial constraints to producing mostly plays written since 1950 and musicals with smaller casts. There’s nothing wrong with that either. In fact, our own Country Playhouse Season at Hanover Tavern falls into this category.
But imagine if the Richmond Symphony no longer played the major works of Bach, Beethoven and Mozart, or the Richmond Ballet no longer did full-out productions of "Swan Lake," "Don Quixote" or "Carmina Burana." Our community would be poorer for it. We rely on these major performing arts institutions to keep the great classics alive, just as we rely on them to entertain and intrigue us with more recent and popular work.
As Central Virginia’s leading professional theatre, Barksdale has the responsibility and the commitment to produce the great works of the theatrical canon. Whether it’s full-scale, large cast musicals like "The Full Monty," "Mame," "Anything Goes" and "Annie Get Your Gun"; American masterworks like "The Crucible," "To Kill a Mockingbird" and "The Little Foxes;" world classics like Rostand’s "Cyrano de Bergerac," Anouilh’s "The Lark" and Ibsen’s "The Wild Duck;" or modern spellbinders like "Melissa Arctic," "The Syringa Tree" and "The Drawer Boy" — Central Virginia audiences can count on Barksdale to keep these theatrical treasures alive for future generations.
The fourth commitment made in Barksdale Theatre’s Mission Statement is this: “With equal enthusiasm, we explore the classics, contemporary works and world premieres.” In actual practice, does Barksdale really do that?
Well, yes. We certainly have equal enthusiasm for the classics, contemporary works and world premieres. All three programming opportunities excite us equally and we are not committed to one more than the other. But in actual practice over the last six years, Barksdale Theatre has produced 15 classics (and that’s using a fairly liberal definition of what is a classic), 23 contemporary works, and only 4 world premieres.
Sometimes Mission Statements establish goals to which organizations can aspire. That’s what this is. Over the coming seasons, Barksdale aspires to produce:
• at least one world classic a year by Brecht, Chekhov, de Vega, Ibsen, Lorca, Moliere, Pirandello, Shakespeare, Shaw, Schiller, Strindberg and/or other world masters;
• at least one American classic a year by Albee, Hansberry, Hart, Hellman, Inge, Kaufman, McCullers, Miller, O’Neill, Williams, Wilson and/or other great American playwrights; and
• at least one world premiere each and every year.
To that ambitious roster, add all the wonderful musicals (some new, some classic), comedies and fresh new dramas that have entertained Barksdale audiences in the past. It's our goal to dazzle you with a broad cross section of theatrical excitement that will be the equal of any season you’ll find at any theatre anywhere.
Well thank you, Bruce. I appreciate your sensitivity to the issue. You actually articulated my point better than I did! I certainly didn't mean for you to censor yourself; your opinions were enlightening, as well as positive and encouraging. I was just offering a different viewpoint.
It's wonderful that a blog has inspired such challenging discussion between Richmond's theatres! I think it's vital for a thriving theatre community that these conversations exist. (Not that they didn't already exist, but it's great that this particular one is so visible. It gives such great insight into the "inside stuff".) In very simple terms, I'll just say, "Wow! I'm really excited!"
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