COPING IN CONNECTICUT

By David A. Rosenberg

Yet theatre in Connecticut is showing signs of economic stress: Stamford Theatre Works has closed; the Stamford Center for the Arts’ Rich Forum sits largely unused; Fairfield Theatre Company is presenting nothing but concerts; and Bridgeport’s Downtown Cabaret Theatre is no longer producing its own shows.

What’s going on in Connecticut? One of the nation’s richest states, home to several top regional theatres, supporter of the arts -- still the economic downturn is felt as much here as elsewhere. Financially, while ticket sales are holding steady, contributions – individual, corporate, government – are down. Artistically, all of course believe that good productions will continue to bring in customers, that there is no disconnect between the popular and aesthetic.

Keeping the financial and artistic aspects in balance is the tricky part, as is balancing what’s “popular” with what’s “risky.” Some theatres seek salvation in the tried and true; others continue to experiment. Many artistic directors long for the days of having a resident acting company.

Close to New York means being close to the city’s casting directors and actually recruiting most actors from there. But such proximity doesn’t necessarily translate into hip audiences. That theatregoers will support what they want to see, and shy from what they think they don’t, or know less about, is a given.

Here’s what’s being said:
 
Westport Country Playhouse

Its mission permeable through the years, Westport Country Playhouse began as a pre-Broadway house, eventually morphing into a summer stock theatre, replete with stars performing in recent Broadway fare. With the demise of the straw-hat circuit, the 75-year-old barn re-invented and re-furbished itself, under the wing of co-a.d.’s Joanne Woodward and Anne Keefe. Now it’s facing a new era with the hiring of famed opera and theatre director Mark Lamos.

“I’m stewarding a season chosen by Joanne and Annie,” said Lamos. He’s keeping Around the World in Eighty Days, Children, tick…tick…boom, and How the Other Half Loves, but the fifth and sixth attractions will be his choices. Not until 2010 will the slate be entirely his own.

“What I’d like to do – of course, there’s always a disparity between what you’d like to do and what you can do – is get a lot of new writers involved in workshops and dialogues. I think there could be a healthy relationship between the commercial New York theatre and Westport.”

Which is not to say every season will consist of brand new work. “Some of what we do will be determined by the fact that it’s been a summer operation,” he said. “The intention is to turn it into a year-round theatre. I think that will take a while due to budget restraints, the recession. The audience needs to be looked at and developed – who they are, might be, were. That has not really been dealt with in any substantive ways yet.”

Westport’s seasons, even in its strawhat days, were not only diverse but included serious works and classics of the kind for which Lamos, in his Hartford Stage days, was noted. “I do want to do exciting theatre and that’s lots of different kinds of plays, including great comedies. I don’t know if I’ll move into the classics right off the bat; it doesn’t feel quite right for me here. I’d like to explore more proscenium plays at first.”

Westport, a wealthy community, is far less diverse than more urban Hartford and has a long history of support for the arts. Lamos is still feeling his way. “In a year or two, you’ll be able to describe my artistic point of view. But I don’t want to close myself off. I’m trying to keep my viewpoints open right now. I’m very excited. I love the space, I like the community, I love that it’s in Connecticut, an hour from Manhattan. All those things help me define how this place will be perceived and what its mission it will be. My urge is always to have the work reflect the audience, so you have a dialogue with them. I think audiences have high aesthetic demands. ”
           

Long Wharf Theatre
    
 “These are very tough economic times,” said artistic director Gordon Edelstein, whose Long Wharf Theatre still contemplates moving to downtown New Haven from its present location in a meatpacking area, assuming the funds accrue. “Everyone is nervous about the bottom line. You’d be foolish not to be. But audiences are so far responding to our season” (which included Brian Dennehy in Hughie, Athol Fugard’s new Coming Home, and the premiere of Paula Vogel’s A Civil War Christmas).

“The work that we choose to do tries to be of its moment,“ said Edelstein. “Certainly our box office has been quite strong. We see no appreciable downturn at all this year. Plays we’ve done so far this season seem to have spoken to our audience because they’re responding by buying tickets.”

Although Edelstein is scared by the downturn in contributions, he sticks to his passion and often tries to work with favorite actors. (The casting director is James Calleri.) “What I personally find entertaining, a general audience might not, and vice versa, but I try to produce plays that are expressions of my personal taste and also reflect the taste of my audience. That’s the challenge of the job: to find where those two tastes meet. There are some passions of mine that aren’t necessarily the passions of the audience. I think twice and three times before I will program a play that I am aware will probably not appeal to the general audience. Or if I do such a play, I do it in such a way that might appeal to them. I want to share things I love – the plays, the actors – my passions.”

Yale Repertory Theatre

 “Yale is not immune to the downturn,” said Victoria Nolan, Yale Rep’s managing director. “We’re trying to tighten our belts to mitigate against any further damage.”

A good sign is the recent $2.85 million grant from the Robina Foundation to establish a center for new theatre that will allow commissioning new plays, supporting workshops, and hiring a new literary manager. Also new is a joint project with the university’s music school to establish the Summer Institute for Music Theatre, a two-week program in June to develop three new works. Student and professional actors will be involved in the project. (Tara Rubin is the Rep’s casting director.)

“According to market research, the Rep’s audiences like new work and re-imagined classics,” said Nolan. “The stories don’t have to be linear or traditional, but the plays have to be high caliber – high production values and superb acting.”

The Rep’s advantage is being part of a school that encourages the arts.  “The level of student interest in things theatrical spills over, so that more than 1,000 subscriptions are bought by students. Our ticket sales are up; we have a wide variety of pricing options and we’re right on target to where we expected to be. The state of the economy is terrible and we have to be mindful. We’re going to have cuts next year. Yet I’m optimistic. Our audiences are not suddenly growing but we’re not suffering like some areas of the country. We have a distinct core that responds to the kind of work, the consistent work we’ve done over the years. They have a rigorous willingness to take the journey with us.”

Hartford Stage

 “People are making choices about how to spend their money, yet they flocked to To Kill a Mockingbird,” said Hartford Stage artistic director Michael Wilson. “People love stories. That longing and desire has not changed. Hartford is a place where people cross racial and socio-economic lines. I think that will serve us well during this economic downturn.”

Contributions are off here, too, meaning strong ticket sales have to pick up the slack. Reaching out through their theatre’s educational arm is one way of expanding the base. Another is developing plays by emerging writers and bringing in audiences of color, a large slice of Hartford’s population.

“I actually think there is a livelier and more stimulating mix of audiences out there. I want to have a very vigorous and challenging body of work, but I’m aware that it needs balance. Still, you have to be passionate about what’s on your stage. Part of our mission has been to not only uphold classics but to expand a new generation of audiences.”

Faced with new technologies, Wilson sees the theatre as one of the few places where people can come together. “We have to keep prices affordable and have works that people want to see. You have to build the new theatergoer through admittedly more popular and familiar works, without reducing your standards.”

Actors are cast largely from New York, but Connecticut actors are hired, also. “We have an extended family of artists that appear frequently with us. It’s almost what’s left of our resident acting company. (This fall, 21 actors will be seen in Horton Foote’s nine-hour Orphans’ Home cycle, playing three or four parts.) I came of age on that model and like the idea of actors having an attachment to the theatre that goes beyond being in just one play.”

Theater/Works

“In general, I’ve got my fingers crossed because things have been going reasonably well this season,” said Steve Campo, artistic director of Hartford’s Theater Works. “The thing that’s a little hard to know is when the worst of it really is going to be felt by arts organizations in this region. That’s the guessing game everyone is playing.”

A small theatre that specializes in off-Broadway fare (Dead Man’s Cellphone, Speech and Debate), Theater Works allows subscribers to choose a performance of their liking, without having to commit to any one particular night of the week. Although as subject to economics as larger venues, Theater Works, according to Campo, has not seen any significant falloff in contributions, although less money is flowing from corporations and foundations.

“We’ll come in a little under,” he said, “but not as far as I feared. I think part of our stability is our brand and a level of trust that develops over a long period of time with a constituency that understands what the product and vision are. Our small space allows for a connectedness between audience and actor which is why we prefer performers who are open and accessible.”

For Campo who occasionally directs, it’s a lot easier to get on stage and “act” than it is to “be.” That method of not cluttering a performance extends to cultivating audiences as well.

“You have to do at least one play a year that people will walk out of,” he said. “It separates the men from the boys and is the way to cultivate the right audience, an audience that is going to stay with you. It’s deeply important that we do works that are disturbing, exciting explorations that challenge unapologetically, that throw curve balls. What I believe is put the thing on the stage, with no explanatory notes, and let people have the experience.”

Seven Angels Theatre
            
 “Our audiences have stayed pretty steady,” said Semina de Luarentis, artistic director of Seven Angels Theatre in Waterbury, once a vibrant valley town. “We did adjust our prices, lowering single tickets, but keeping subscriber rates the same. Funding is only ten percent of our income because of our region. We’ve seen cutbacks in individual contributions, but we have a small, committed, dedicated, and young staff who wear different hats.”
            
Believing audiences want to laugh and escape, especially these days, de Laurentis, an original member of Nunsense who does her own casting in both New York and Connecticut, programs lots of comedies and musicals.“I would love to do a new, dramatic play but we’d lose at the box office. Our audiences are a combination of those who’ve never been to the theatre before and those who subscribe here and elsewhere and we have to take who they are into consideration.”
           
Souvenir was poignant, but Mid-Life! The Crisis Musical and Billy McGuigan’s Rock Legends are better bets. “We don’t avoid people having to feel, but it’s just how far you push in that direction,” she said. “Now, the effect of dying newspapers will be felt locally, although the pendulum always swings. Nothing tops word of mouth so we reach out with youth programs and a summer theatre camp. Still, many times it’s hard to make people understand the economic impact of the arts on the region. Ours is nearly two million dollars. We get funding through the state. If that gets cut back, it will affect our mission is to produce quality theatre and make it accessible to the public.”

Ivoryton Playhouse

“We’re keeping our heads above water,” said Jacqueline Hubbard, artistic director of the Ivoryton Playhouse, a beautiful old proscenium theatre. “Because we’ve done everything to keep our ticket prices low, we‘re not hit as hard as some others,” she said. “Besides, we have a loyal base of supporters, with a 92 percent subscription renewal rate. Eighty percent of our budget comes from ticket sales.” Marketing gimmicks iinclude restaurant tie-ins and flexible subscription packages.
             
 Concentrating on small-cast shows, mixed in with musicals (The Full Monty, Godspell), Hubbard believes this is not the climate for experimentation. “It’s not a year to risk anything new,” she said. “When we have the money, we’ll try some new stuff, popping it in like spinach. We were all set to do a new play this year until the economy crashed. We have to find a balance, appealing to an audience’s tastes while preserving artistic integrity.” (The Irish and How They Got That Way was a huge seller; The Beauty Queen of Leenane was not.) “It’s a tricky balance. We did not go daring this year. It’s not a dumbing down but sometimes you just have to appeal to them to build your coffers. This year, along with most theatres, we’ve kept it simple. Hopefully, if things pick up, then next year we’ll be able to say, ‘You know, I want to try this.’”

Goodspeed Musicals
             
“From our point of view, it’s too early to tell about a falloff, but there’s a lot of pain out there and there’s always the possibility that it could come home to roost,” said Michael Price, executive producer of Goodspeed Musicals, which is on a take-no-chances path this year with Camelot, 42 Street, and Forum. “You have to be mission driven, not economy driven. Unless you’re in Iowa, you don’t produce that way.”

Price would prefer having a rep company (Stuart Howard is the New York casting director; in Chester, it’s Carol Rubin), but his “revisals” are carefully calibrated to appeal to a sophisticated audience demanding high quality, melding the artistic with the popular. “Live theatre brings something to the public that they can’t get by sitting at home alone in front of the tube,” he said. “It encases them in glamour with style and grace. Theatre runs in a cycle, like everything else. There are good times and not such good times. When you veer from that point of view, you are more likely to fail.”