Confessions from the Queen of Paper Cuts

Posted by Annie Hulcher
What can you learn from stuffing envelopes?

I suspect anyone who has ever interned has asked himself or herself this very question. I was asking myself this question a few weeks ago, wondering what I could possibly gain from this besides multiple paper cuts.

I'll admit that after sitting in a classroom all day learning about calculus and reading Beowulf, it's nice to come to the welcoming environment of the Theatre IV offices and do something that is relatively mindless. I get to talk to the other volunteers I'm working with, or staff members who come and take a break from their own work and chat with me for a bit. Ultimately, doing this mindless work gives a girl time to think.

A major component of my mentorship course is writing a college style research paper on a topic related to what I'm doing “in the field." I've been thinking a lot about this recently, and the topic I keep coming back to is how technology is being utilized in the theatre community, specifically marketing and development.

The letters I was stuffing contained a plea to patrons to donate money so that Barksdale and Theatre IV can keep producing Broadway caliber shows, such as this past summer’s hit Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. As Bruce has stated in previous blog posts, Barksdale is taking steps to become a nationally recognized regional theatre, and they are well on their way. Obviously, without donations from patrons this wouldn’t be possible.

Any-who, while I was stuffing, I couldn’t believe so many trees were being killed when this could all be done via e-mail, facebook, or twitter. After discussing this with Barksdale's staff, I learned that right now, research indicates that approximately 44% of Barksdale's subscribers--the people most likely to contribute--don't actively communicate via email, much less twitter. I also learned that national research indicates that funding requests sent through the U. S. Postal Service initiate 72% of all contributions made in response to a written request. Only 28% of these contributions are made in response to email requests.

As each year goes by, more people respond to email, or give Barksdale their email addresses in the first place. Still, I am slowly becoming fascinated by how theatres around the world are reaching their widest base of patrons by using both snail mail and email. Barksdale in particular has patrons who have been committed to the theatre since the 50’s. Barksdale's job is to appeal not only to them, but also to budding theatre enthusiasts such as myself, and everyone in between.

Theatres today have to consider the demographics of their audience from all angles, including:

* what shows are selected each season,

* what language, images and media are used to market those shows,

* what creature comforts add most to the theatregoing experience, and

* what technologies and/or traditional dissemination methods can be used to reach all patrons.

What a perfect concept for my paper! Not only that, but how have theatres been making the transition from doing all of their marketing via mail, to incorporating e-mail, and now facebook, twitter, four square, and a variety of other social networks. Even this blog!

I will be doing extensive research over the next few months. Right now, it seems like a mix between the old and the new is the approach Barksdale/TIV is taking. I look forward to learning much, much more about this through observation and research.

And I thought I couldn’t learn anything from stuffing envelopes.

--Annie Hulcher

Announcing Barksdale's 2010-11 Signature Season

Posted by Bruce Miller
"Brilliant" - defined by TheFreeDictionary.com as "Full of light. Shining." Exactly how I feel about the five plus one shows in Barksdale's 2010-11 Signature Season.

Somewhere near the top of the list of my most important responsibilities is selecting which plays we will produce. Play selection is not something I do alone or in a vacuum. Suggestions come from virtually everywhere (Board members, subscribers, single ticket buyers, teachers, theatre artists of all stripes, contributors). I honestly appreciate and benefit from all the ideas you throw my way.

Direct input into the process comes from Phil Whiteway (of course, he's the one who has to pay the bills), Chase Kniffen (he will assist me in selecting the artistic teams that will bring each title to life), Sara Marsden (she'll sell the tickets), Judi Crenshaw (she has to articulate the strengths of each title to the media outlets and the general public), plus Joy Ross Davis (group sales), Sue Griffin (costumes), Bruce Rennie (tech director), and several others.

At the end of the day, the buck stops with me. If you hate (or love) a play produced by Barksdale, I'm the guy to blame (or congratulate).

From the millions of titles that exist (surely the world must have given birth to at least several million comedies, dramas and musicals by now), there are perhaps a couple hundred titles that make it on to one or another of the lists that always float around the Barksdale offices. From this wealth of great work, five or six titles ultimately emerge. The criteria against which each title is assessed are:

* is it a "great" play (Barksdale's mission is to produce "the great comedies, dramas and musicals--past, present and future")

* do we have the capacity, based on existing resources, to produce a first class production (our mission charges us to create "national caliber productions")

* will our production be fresh, unique and alive

* will it captivate the audience

* does it have the potential to expand our subscription base (lots of lengthy and very personal discussion here; remember, the productions that have passed this test include everything from Guys and Dolls to Intimate Apparel to Boleros for the Disenchanted to The Little Dog Laughed to Cyrano de Bergerac to Melissa Arctic to Is He Dead?)

* does it add to the diversity and breadth of our work and offer new opportunities to our artists and audiences (we try very hard not to produce on our Willow Lawn season the same type of play over and over again)

* is there or will there be a considerable font of energy created around this title among our artistic leadership and family

* is there a unique "hook" that will allow us to extend this energy to single ticket buyers, group sales leaders, and playgoers / playmakers at large

* does the season feel good as a whole--is the total greater than the sum of its parts

* would the season make our founders (Pete, Muriel and Nancy) proud; will it engender pride among our Board of Trustees and staff

This year there was a special emphasis on a final criteria.

* Will it make money?

With the continuing sluggishness in the economy, the significant declines in governmental and corporate support, and the increasing competition coming from CenterStage and the "Broadway" season, there is no margin for financial error. I know that admission is not very high-minded. I'm just being honest.

Five titles (with a sixth subscriber option) have run this gauntlet and emerged with colors flying. I'm very excited to announce Barksdale Theatre's 57th Signature Season!

Shipwrecked! An Entertainment - by Donald Margulies
White Christmas - Music & Lyrics by Irving Berlin, Book by David Ives & Paul Blake
Legacy of Light - by Karen Zacarias
Contemporary Broadway comedy - title TBA
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels - Music & Lyrics by David Yazbek, Book by Jeffrey Lane
The Bluest Eye - by Lydia Diamond, based on the novel by Toni Morrison

More to come tomorrow about each of these wonderful shows. I hope you'll subscribe!

--Bruce

That Championship Reading

Posted by Bruce Miller
We had a great time last night reading That Championship Season by Jason Miller in the Kilgore McAuley Library at Barksdale Willow Lawn. The reading was pulled together by Scott Wichmann. The late Jason Miller is the man who introduced Scott to theatre a couple decades ago. Miller is also the actor whom everyone knows for having played, brilliantly, the younger priest in the film The Exorcist.

In the 1980s, Scott was a mere lad of 12, and he and Miller both lived in Scranton, PA, setting of That Championship Season. More than a decade earlier, Miller had received tremendous national acclaim for writing Championship, which opened on Broadway in 1972 and won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in '73. Miller immediately followed that triumph by playing the younger of the two titular priests in The Exorcist, the most popular film of 1973. For his role in The Exorcist, Miller received an Oscar nomination. In the late 70s / early 80s, Miller chose to retreat from the limelight and return to his hometown of Scranton.

It was there that Miller directed a community theatre production of A Thousand Clowns, and Scott auditioned for the 12-year-old boy. It’s a GREAT part, one for which Scott was perfect, so of course he nailed it. It was Scott’s first show, and it was directed by one of the most nationally acclaimed playwrights and film actors of the time. Talk about fate.

Scott has never forgotten Jason Miller, and the two stayed in touch until Miller’s untimely death in 2001. One of the things the two had discussed was Scott’s desire to one day play the role of Tom, the cynical alcoholic in That Championship Season.

So last night, Scott called together some pals (Joe Inscoe, Larry Cook, Grant Mudge, and, of course, the current other half of Scott’s Odd Couple, Dave Bridgewater). They sat around the conference table acting their hearts out, drinking bottled water and eating Chex Mix. Phil Whiteway and I enjoyed the privilege of listening in.

All five men were terrific. The play reads beautifully today, and it reminded me how visceral 70s Broadway was. The language is intense. Five middle aged men assemble for the 20th Anniversary of a high school basketball triumph, and explore the limits of macho gamesmanship and the power of friendship and forgiveness. After the reading was over, we all talked about the messages of the play to a 21st Century audience.

I don’t know if Barksdale will produce a revival of Championship or not. After last night's powerful reading, we're certainly considering it.

Barksdale first produced the show at the Tavern in 1975 with Jay Lundy, Burt Edwards, Lloyd Shockley, Frank Howarth and William C. Smith. In the early '80s, the play was made into an acclaimed film, directed by Jason Miller, and starring Robert Mitchum. Martin Sheen, Stacy Keach, Bruce Dern and Paul Sorvino.

Thanks to Scott and his pals for bringing this searing classic back to life.

--Bruce Miller