Buzzin' and Bookin' to Beat the Band

Posted by Bruce Miller
I admit my relationship with the Barksdale Buzz has been an on-again, off-again affair. The reasons are several, having to do with the pull of other responsibilities both personal and professional, a fierce desire to avoid conflict, my tendency to become bored by routine, and a schoolboy’s response to the flirtations of other IT applications.

I believe it’s an important part of the job of the artistic director of any major professional theatre to communicate regularly and publicly about this most popular of all performing art forms. Like it or not, and I admit that I like it, there is a platform that comes with my position. I enjoy speaking in our Coffee & Conversations and Bifocals monthly programs. I’ve been known to get giddy leading walking tours in NYC or London during our annual theatre trips with Covington Travel.

But enjoying communication doesn’t make it easy or effective. Worthwhile, informed, articulate communication takes time and focus.

Not everyone agrees. Blogs and other new technologies encourage casual and free-wheeling correspondence. Several friends insist my writing is way too stuffy for a blog. But the minute I put on my artistic director hat, and more and more I’m realizing that I’m never allowed to take it off, every word I write becomes writ in stone. Sometimes people make judgements about Barksdale and Theatre IV based on little more than my syntax. Each of these judgments has a cash value, and I have 40 to 80 people counting on me every two weeks for their pay checks.

As I was contemplating all this last fall, the siren call of Facebook began to fill my ears. Facebook is not about writing; it’s about connecting. Perhaps here, I thought, I could continue to promote the two nonprofit theatres I represent without needing to pontificate. I kissed blogger goodbye, or at least farewell, and jumped into F’book like a skinny dipping kid on a hot night at the local swimmin’ hole.

Now, 1,575 friends later, I’m beginning to learn the ins and outs of Facebook. Without ever intending to, I’ve made people frustrated and upset; I’ve hurt feelings. I’ve learned to be cautious and to keep a much lower profile.

With only a couple early exceptions, I don’t play the Facebook games or take the surveys or join the causes or throw sheep at people.

Currently I use Facebook, professionally, as follows. I try to keep up with Theatre IV and Barksdale alum, to let them know they will always be remembered and appreciated. I try to befriend theatre students at VCU, Carnegie Mellon, and the University of Oklahoma, hoping they will audition for us as they grow their professional careers. I try to befriend professional actors in Broadway, Off Broadway and nationally touring shows, wanting to spread the names of Barksdale and Theatre IV widely throughout our national talent pool. I network with “friends” and supporters of other theatres in town, including the upcoming “Broadway” series at CenterStage, hoping that Barksdale and Theatre IV will show up on everyone’s radar screen. I keep in touch with a full roster of civic and business leaders, reminding one and all that Barksdale and Theatre IV are worthy nonprofits that need broad-based community support.

Will any of it work? Who knows. But I’m trying.

And now, perhaps, I’ll begin writing a bit again on the blog. If and when I do, I hope you’ll all begin reading again, and commenting. Most of all, I hope each and every one of you will become a constant player in the Richmond professional theatre scene. It won’t happen without lots of energy coming from lots of people in lots of places.

Hope to see you at the theatre.

--Bruce Miller

Wear Black for Broadway??

Posted by Bruce Miller
On Facebook—yes, as many of you know, I’ve ventured recklessly into that brave new world—a “global rally” is being promoted. On Jan 4, it is suggested, any and everyone who loves theatre should show their support by wearing “Black for Broadway.” A black show tee shirt is recommended, but any black garment will do.

My friend Lizzie Holland—no one loves Broadway more than my friend Lizzie—has signed up for the event. Facebook being the fervent social secretary that it is, I was informed immediately. That's Lizzie below and to the left with Raúl Esparza.

The well intentioned ideas behind this pro-Broadway, pro-theatre demonstration are these:

Sunday, Jan 4 will mark the closing of four Broadway musicals and one comedy: 13, Boeing Boeing, Grease, Hairspray and Young Frankenstein. Closing notices have also been posted later in January for Gypsy, Spamalot, Spring Awakening, Forbidden Broadway (Off Broadway), and “many others.”

The creator of the event, which was originally listed on Facebook as a “protest” and later changed to a “rally,” believes that the closings are premature and the result of our troubled economy. I doubt that this is actually the case, nonetheless ... “This event,” he or she writes, “is just a bunch of theatre fans showing our love and showing our support for something we care about during these difficult times. It’s a day of honor.”

I'm certainly in agreement with that sentiment, and so I'm getting my black Peter Pan tee washed and ready.

As of this writing, 7,548 theatre lovers on Facebook have signed up for the event, a figure that will no doubt increase exponentially over the next few days.

One cogent commenter, Chris Leavy of Orlando FL, added, “I'm actually going to a show on the 4th. Not on Broadway, but still—the best thing we can do to rally support is to keep seeing shows—any shows we can, as often as we can. Broadway is killing itself with $120 ticket prices. Hopefully some good will come of this recession and soon many more people will be able to afford to see live theatre.”

Apparently Phil and I are on the same wavelength with Chris. Hefty ticket prices are a problem not only in NYC, but also right here in River City. When the economy tightens, people look for bargains. At Barksdale and Theatre IV we’re trying to address these current realities by launching our Entertainment Stimulus Package, announced in a news story last week on Channel 12. Click here for more information and to view the YouTube coverage of the news broadcast: http://www.barksdalerichmond.org/stimulus.html#12

So what are we up to? The truth is this—thus far, ticket sales are doing really well. We’ve exceeded budgeted goals for Driving Miss Daisy and Sanders Family Christmas at Hanover Tavern, This Wonderful Life at Willow Lawn, and The Best Christmas Pageant Ever at the Empire.

But as we look to the future, we’ve come to believe that additional stimulus will be needed if we’re to match projections for Children of a Lesser God and Well at Willow Lawn, the World Premiere of Mona’s Arrangements and I Ought to Be in Pictures at the Tavern, and Sideways Stories from Wayside School and Annie at the Empire. With the exception of Annie, these shows have less name recognition that our recent hits. And if any of you are wondering if name recognition is a factor in ticket sales, I assure you in all caps, IT IS.

So we are continuing to sell our best seats at normal ticket prices (appromimately $38), reducing our second best seats to a very affordable $20 (you must purchase by Jan 31), continuing our $15 rush tickets for any and all theatre lovers who don’t mind waiting until 3-hours before curtain to purchase their seats, and providing Hanover County Students with $9 (same as a movie) tickets to all shows at Hanover Tavern.

And if these prices aren’t low enough, we welcome folks to write to me, tell me how much you can afford (on the honor system), and we’ll find a way to make tickets available to you for the price you name. This has always been our policy. We’ve never turned anyone away because of inability to pay.

It goes without saying that we need to continue to sell tickets at all price ranges in order to stay afloat. And we WILL stay afloat. I say this emphatically because literally every time we announce a new fundraising campaign or ticket sale initiative, friends and supporters suspect that we’re going under. Such is the legacy of the surprise closings of TheatreVirginia in 2001 and Broadway Under the Stars in 2006.

Friends. I promise. We are in no danger of closing. We’re merely trying to address strategically the economic challenges that ever business is facing.

So, you can wear your black show tee shirt on Jan 4, or you can pull out a $20 (or two tens and a five if you want to wait for Rush) and show your support by buying a ticket. This is a time for all of us who love theatre to stand shoulder to shoulder and rally behind the art form and the several nonprofit theatres that make our lives so much more fulfilling.

All of Richmond's nonprofit theatres need your support. I hope to see you soon at one of them!

--Bruce Miller

What is the BTW? (Barksdale Theatre Workshop)

Posted by Bruce Miller
A respondent to the previous post about TenSpot tickets made a good comment. "Hi. I'm confused. I understand the high school ticket rate; that's great. But what is the Barksdale Theatre Workshop? Is it really some type of free workshop for high school students?? Thank you."

Great question. I'm posting the answer here rather than in the comment section so that it can be seen by more people.

The BTW (Barksdale Theatre Workshop) is our outreach program designed to improve our service to high school students who love theatre. Through the BTW, we create opportunities for young actors, directors and designers to become more interested in and more connected with Barksdale Theatre.

The word “workshop” has two definitions. Quoting Merriam-Webster, a workshop is:
· “a small establishment where manufacturing or handicrafts are carried on, and
· a usually brief intensive educational program for a relatively small group of people that focuses especially on techniques and skills in a particular field.”
To help us create the BTW, we turned to our best resource, the talented and committed high school teachers who direct the drama programs in schools throughout our community. In the fall of 2005, we invited these drama teachers to Barksdale Theatre at Willow Lawn to discuss what Barksdale should be doing to serve their programs and their students. They identified five areas where we could have a positive and much needed impact. These five areas are the five components of the BTW.

In priority order, the recommendations of the teachers were:

1. Stage a summer production in which our community’s best high school theatre students could perform with Richmond’s major professional theatre. The program should be open to high school actors from all programs and backgrounds. Students should be able to audition for and participate in the program without charge. Rehearsals should be at night so that those students who needed to hold down summer jobs could participate. No other program, at that time, was filling that need. In partnership with The Steward School, we filled it, with Grease in 2006 and Disney’s High School Musical in 2007 (pictured throughout this article).

2. Create a discount program that allows high school students to come to plays at Barksdale Theatre for $10 each. The BTW TenSpot program now fills this need.

3. Create an externship that allows students interested in the performing arts to meet in a small group with our community’s top theatre, music and dance professionals in an after-school program for academic credit, learning firsthand about careers in the performing arts. In partnership with the CenterStage Foundation we have created and now operate the SOAR program (Student Opportunities in the ARts) to fill this need.

4. Expand our website to create a place where high school students can post information about the productions they’re working on and share their theatre interest with other high school drama enthusiasts—a community-wide high school theatre bulletin board. If you go to the Students section on the Barksdale website, you’ll find the pages where we’re filling that need. We’ve also created an interactive FaceBook page that hundreds of high school drama students access and contribute to each week.

5. Create Master Classes led by Greater Richmond’s best actors, directors, designers etc. and make those classes available on tour to individual drama classrooms in Greater Richmond's high schools. Also, conduct Master Classes in our theatre facilities so that students can access them on their own. We’re planning for our Master Class program to be in place by the beginning of the 2008-09 school year. The Master Classes will be unique, not duplicative of other programs currently existing in the community, such as (in alpha order) Christian Youth Theatre, HATTheatre and/or SPARC—all of which we support.

If you or someone you know is a high school theatre lover, we hope you’ll make sure they know about the BTW (Barksdale Theatre Workshop). For more information, they can email or call Chase Kniffen, 783-1688 ext. 14.

--Bruce Miller