Some Behind the Scenes Financial Info

Posted by Bruce Miller
Let's face facts. The recession has kicked Barksdale Theatre in the shins just like it has everyone else. Sadly, recovery in the nonprofit sector lags about two years behind recovery in the for-profit sector.

Contributions donated by governments, corporations and foundations are based on earnings from the previous, not the current, fiscal year. So these contributions always fall one year behind recovery. In fact, they usually fall two years behind. Institutional givers tend to hang on to their funds until they have two years worth of evidence that the recovery is real, not just an aberration.

They're wise to do so.

Ask any nonprofit and they'll likely tell you that 2010-11 contributions from governments, corporations and foundations are at a five-year low. Gifts from individuals are starting to turn the corner, thank goodness.

That means we're re-energizing our efforts to ask for financial support from the community. Just like our good friends at public television and radio, we're going to have to keep asking until our budget revenue goals are met.

We're also increasing our cost-cutting.

Our biggest expense cuts thus far have been the elimination of six staff positions (mostly through attrition), elimination of company contributions to staff retirement plans, 25% reduction in company contributions to staff health insurance, and a graduated, across-the-board reduction in staff salaries (with those earning the most taking the biggest cuts).

The last few years have been all about belt tightening. No one here makes very much. At least we all know that the suffering here is reflective of the financial pain felt by much of the nation.

Our priority now is to protect current staff positions from additional job elimination and salary/benefit cuts. If we are able to maintain that status quo, our next goal is to restore salary reductions. Thereafter we want to decrease stress by restoring some of the cut positions. Finally, we're committed to funding a staff pay raise, something our incredibly loyal employees haven't seen in four years.

This hoped for recovery and progress won't be easy, but we're giving it our best shot. Competition for ticket buyers, school field trips, and contributions increases regularly. Competition is good, but it can also put a strain on earned revenues.

We've already made all the big expense cuts we can make. Expenses this year between our two nonprofit companies are more than $100,000 under budget. So now we're going after some smaller expenses.

Starting immediately, we're eliminating two long-established perqs: closing cast parties for Barksdale productions (we eliminated closing parties at the end of shorter Theatre IV runs about four years ago), and company dinners held between the afternoon and evening tech rehearsals of Barksdale shows.

We will have nine Barksdale mainstage productions next year--five on the Signature Season and four at Hanover Tavern. Each closing party is budgeted at $200, and each tech dinner at $350. Annual savings, therefore, will be about $5,000.

We know many of you who work with us on our shows will miss these fun fellowship opportunities. We'll miss them too. We also know you wholeheartedly support our efforts to keep Barksdale growing and going strong.

Thanks for your understanding, talent and hard work.

--Bruce Miller

Losing 31 lbs and Living to Write About It

Posted by Bruce Miller
This morning I weigh 216 lbs. That’s my after breakfast weight, recorded while wearing slippers and pajamas on a 1950s bathroom scale that I suspect is only relatively accurate.

I mention my portliness because I’ve decided yet again to attempt to lose weight and become more productive by adopting a healthier lifestyle. I’m 58 years old. It’s now or never.

The other reason I’m confessing to this embarrassing heftiness is because I’m thinking that the best way to stick with my new, longed-for lifestyle may be to I write about it. I know that keeping a journal is supposed to help weak-willed weight-losers stick to their goals. Experience tells me I’m more likely to subscribe to a new regimen if I do so with friends. When I put these two nuggets of knowledge together I discover a compelling reason to blog.

There are other reasons, of course:

1 People turn out in droves to read about how to lose weight. Maybe this new, sporadic series will attract more readers to the Barksdale Buzz, which would be a good thing.

2 I like to write. Others will decide if I’m any good at it. I find it impossible to sit down and write for myself. I only write when I think it’s at least possible that someone will read what I’ve written. My main attraction to the blog is that it gets me writing. My secret hope is that one day I’ll put together some combination of these jottings into a book. Books are hard to write—impossible for me. I’d never have the willpower to sit down and write a book. But apparently I have whatever it takes to write a blog, one post at a time. And if I do enough of that, I may one day discover that I’ve written a book by accident.

3 Adopting a new lifestyle requires discipline and research. Which changes should I make and why? Writing a blog requires similar efforts. Interspersed with all my investigations into plays and playmakers, maybe I can reconnoiter the latest exercise data, learn the perfect method for brewing green tea, or crack the code for making tasty whole wheat waffles. I have lots of intellectual curiosity, but I tend to direct it only towards work-related topics. If I blog about my desired change toward a healthier lifestyle, it becomes work-related.

4 In my first baby steps into the “healthy lifestyle blogosphere,” I’ve been told repeatedly that participants in this brave new world are among the most supportive, friendly and well informed people online. Based on the many times I’ve tried and failed, I suspect that this new attempt to embrace a healthier lifestyle will “take a village,” as they say. I hope to benefit from friends who are there to offer occasional support and information. When you learn of a better way to do sit-ups after hernia surgery, I want to hear about it. And when you’re standing next to me at a cast party and Gordon Bass enters with a plate of his sausage cheese balls, you can warmly advise, “Two, you’re only allowed two.”

5 As I embark on this journey, it occurs to me that I may actually help someone—a fellow sausage ball junkie who, like me, may benefit from some encouragement and step-by-baby-step advice. I like being a helper; I really do. Knowing that the information I uncover may be of use to someone who is committed to a similar quest, and living in the sure knowledge that many of you “someones” will be seeing me at the next opening and assessing my progress (or lack thereof)—it all makes me feel accountable. I’m much better being accountable to others than I am being accountable to myself.

Succeed or fail, I figure it’s worth a shot. I’m more than a little humiliated to be sharing turf with Kirstie Alley (not that there’s anything wrong with her), but I need to try something that may make this time different.

What does any of this have to do with theatre? Everything. Ask anyone who's ever been rejected for a role (or a grant) because some director (or contributor) chose to support someone else who was more physically fit.

Stay tuned for the results of my research and the occasional progress report. My goal is to reach 185, pretty close to my ideal weight and a number I haven’t seen on a scale in about a quarter century. Anyone who wants to toss in their two cents worth along the way is much more than welcome.

--Bruce Miller