In 1987, I arrived in Manhattan and one goal I gave myself was to write a play.
Twelve years later, I wrote, produced, and performed my own one-woman show. Mooseface: Naked in My 50th Birthday Suit is a poignant and humorous story about the will to live, the power to survive, and the wits to stay afloat in dangerous waters.
Program Cover
It wasn’t easy to bring together and manage all the different aspects of my production, including financial support, marketing, etc. I still to this day give thanks to the terrific support team who volunteered to stage Mooseface: my director who sculptured the show into two acts and many scenes; props mistress who not only put everything in the right place, she reassured me before I went on stage that I’d remember my lines; cameraman who videotaped my first performance; musician who recorded lovely autoharp music that was played during each scene change; and the friends, colleagues, neighbors, church members, and strangers who paid to see one of my five performances.
Staging the show gave me insight into the many facets of the business of theater (the spelling of theatre is the traditional, British way; theater is what is commonly used in the U.S.) and the roles the financial, administrative, and operations teams need to fulfill in order to stage a production that an audience will pay to see. It also helped me learn about patience, management, and other skills I needed working to be a leader.
Earlier this month, John Malatesta, Managing Director of the Baruch Performing Arts Center (BPAC), sent me a flyer describing a panel discussion on “The Production Process,” a program in “The Business of Theater” series with theater professionals for the City University of New York (CUNY) communities, sponsored by Bridging Education and Theater (BEAT). The event, put on by CUNY and Theater Development Fund (TDF), was an educational experience.
I invited students in my “Organizational Behavior” to attend the program and offered them extra credit for a brief report on what they learned. Why? It was a great opportunity to highlight the elements of an ‘atypical’ organization from the ones they study in my management class, one that like any company focuses on finance, management, team work/collaboration, innovation, and wise decision-making.
Three of my students attended and they agreed with me that the panel discussion was stellar. Included on stage were Robert Fried, Theatrical Accountant for American Idiot, Billy Elliot, Memphis, Sister Act, and Wicked, among others; Sue Frost, Producer for Memphis, Vanities, Make Me A Song, and A Chorus Line tour, among others; and Carl Pasbjerg, General Manager/Producer for Memphis, Lucky Guy, Donny & Marie: A Broadway Christmas, Guys and Dolls, among others. The moderator was Victoria Bailey, TDF Executive Director & Educator.
Since all three panelists are involved in Memphis, the winner of the Best Musical 2010 Tony Award, the discussion focused on the beginnings and evolution of this show. Here’s a description from the show’s website, “Inspired by actual events, MEMPHIS is about a white radio DJ who wants to change the world and a black club singer who is ready for her big break. Come along on their incredible journey to the ends of the airwaves — filled with laughter, soaring emotion and roof-raising rock ‘n’ roll.”
Bailey asked Frost to lead the discussion on the origins of producing the show. Frost shared with the audience that she quit a job at a company where she had worked for 20 years yet didn’t know what she wanted to do exactly. The opportunity opened up for her to get involved with a new show called Memphis. After she read the script, she knew she wanted to be involved. The show started in LaJolla, California, and then moved to Seattle for the first reading.
Frost’s role as a producer was to find the investors who would back the show. The first reading cost $35,000 for two performances of a small production with musicians. Creating an environment where artists could do their work was Frost’s goal and, after getting positive feedback about the show’s viability, that led to a goal of raising the $12 million to take the show to Broadway. Investors who come in early to support a show have the greatest risk; Frost found those people and more throughout the process of staging Memphis.
As General Manager/Producer, Pasbjerg was responsible for the operations of this business which included overseeing human resources, legal issues, union relations, and other areas relative to the production. He describes himself as someone who wanted to not just hold to the budget but find ways to cut costs. A former actor who by chance was asked to stage manage a road show, Pasbjerg was cognizant of the intricacies of a production and was a careful overseer of each area.
Fried joined the team at the first reading of the show when payroll, investors, private placements, etc. needed the work of an accountant. As the show progressed, however, and moved to Broadway, his services were needed even more. There is “nothing in a can,” he said, meaning that the production is what it is each evening. It is a new and different show and operations budgets change depending on audience attendance, cast, crew, etc.
Only one out of every five shows that come to Broadway succeeds. To achieve that success, it takes a range of people with expertise in different areas who can collaborate. Bailey, the Moderator, asked the panel to share examples of times that they disagreed. The three on stage looked at each and basically said, “We get along.” There were times when Frost wanted to spend money on a particular area and Pasbjerg questioned that. It wasn’t a disagreement, they said, it was a chance to have a conversation about what was best for the show. Respect for the others’ point of view is important and you could tell that the team on stage not only respected each other but they always had the success of Memphis in mind when making a decision.
What happens after success arrives in the form of sold out shows and the Tony Award for best musical? Innovation! Frost said that she spends 75% of her time on marketing. The Memphis teams needed to find new ways to bring the show to wider audiences and set up a schedule to bring the show to regional theater. Each production on the road is a separate business which requires more staff, company members, and financial services. Although it was counter-intuitive, the team produced a DVD of the show, began to sell it, and found that unlike what might be assumed, those who bought it wanted to see the live show. The road show, booked into 2012, will start in Memphis, then move on across the United States, and make a return trip to Memphis.
What I took away from attending this program was that the core of the success of Memphis was a wise decision-making team, one that took great risks on a script and musical score to now managing a $40-50 MM year budget. They kept focused on their goals and created new ones to maximize the product that they had helped to create. Their roles were ‘back office’ but they were the ones that made the stage come alive with a production that is so wonderful one of my students has seen three times.
At the end of the discussion, the host of the event, John Malatesta, opened up the program for questions from the audience. The first person called on asked Frost, “I have a script I wrote; can I make an appointment with you?”
No, that was not me. I’ve had my experience on a theatrical stage. Now, I’m helping my students understand the similarities of the business of theater and their roles in owning the management stage in other types of organizations.
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