Horse Barn Theatre - Laramie, WY > BLOG

Less Than One Week Until Opening!

2008-09-13T19:12:00.000-07:00

We've been rehearsing The Mystery of Irma Vep since September 3rd, and we're less than a week away from opening night on September 19th.

There are two things that consistently amaze me about producing for the theater - the first is how quickly the process moves from the first read-through of the script to a nearly complete show. The second is how well the process works even though some major elements are not added until more than halfway through.

Today - 10 days into rehearsal and five days prior to opening, we added costumes for the first time. Irma Vep is a particularly tricky show because each of the two actors plays multiple roles (and multiple genders!) which means there are a lot of costume changes over the course of two hours.

Here are actors Nick Linn and Mark Irish in one of the newly-costumed scenes:

That object in Nick's lap that looks like a wooden box is actually an Appalachian dulcimer. There is a scene in the play that requires both actors to play (really play - no soundtrack involved) dueling dulimers. So that's another element that we just added yesterday for the first time.

One thing is for certain: The Mystery of Irma Vep is going to be a very funny show. Tickets are now on sale for $10, and are available by calling (307) 703-7300.

On the Move!

2008-06-24T21:29:00.000-07:00

Well, so much for blogging on a regular basis. However, good news today on two fronts.

First, we've been awarded a grant in the amount of $3,500 from the Wyoming Arts Council. Second, we've been awarded a $4,000 grant from the Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund!

The 2008-2009 Horse Barn Theatre season is quickly becoming a reality. More soon! I promise!

Brother, Can You Spare $100,000?

2008-03-19T21:06:00.000-07:00

Some of you reading this may have already seen the article about the Horse Barn in the Laramie Boomerang a couple of weeks ago (if you missed it, you can see it here).

In that article, I mentioned how I have a fundraising goal of $100,000 to make a year's worth of theatrical productions possible. And now I'm in the thick of it, pulling together a master list of prospects and figuring who to ask for how much.

So, how did I arrive at $100,000? Well, it just worked out that way during the budgeting process, which involved assigning a dollar amount to each and every expense likely to be incurred over the course of the productions. The actual budget for the theater is about $120,000 (OK, $118,500 to be precise). The goal for the first year is to raise $100,000 in contributions and earn the rest through ticket and concession sales.

The expense breakdown looks a little something like this:

Production (68.03%)
$80,614

Production: Personnel (54.53%)
$64,614

Production: Non-Personnel (13.50%)
$16,000

General & Administrative (18.14%)
$21,500

Marketing (8.89%)
$10,530

Facilities (2.11%)
$2,500

Fundraising (1.94%)
$2,300

Other (0.89%)
$1,056

Making theater is a labor-intensive exercise. When you look at the breakdown, more than half of the entire budget goes directly to paying people involved in the productions. And whether there are two or eight performers in the cast, you generally need the same fixed number of people behind the scenes. You'll always need a director, stage manager, lighting, scenic and costume designers, stagehands...adding more performers only incrementally increases the overall production cost.

In my fundraising pitches, one of the things I try to make clear is that much of the money in this budget will be paid out within the community of Laramie. And most of that money will be paid to people. One of the things I'm really passionate about is the ability of cultural organizations to make an economic impact on their communities. This statement from a Wyoming Community Foundation report on the nonprofit sector in Wyoming says it all:

Wyoming nonprofits play important roles as service providers, advocates, and community builders. They strengthen and vitalize our communities. Yet, when Wyoming citizens consider issues of economic development, the economic role of the nonprofit sector is often overlooked. Dollars to the charitable sector make invaluable contributions to the quality of life in our state, but they also make a significant contribution to the state’s economic health. Nonprofit organizations employ Wyomingites, spend money in our communities, invest in equipment and property, and leverage local, state and national charitable resources.

From "The Hidden Sector in our Economy: Nonprofit Organizations in Wyoming" (June, 2004)

Something else I'm also trying to make clear is that the Horse Barn Theatre currently receives no direct ongoing financial support from the state, even though it is located on state property and owned by the state (we have to apply for state grants just like everyone else!). The Horse Barn was converted to a theater many years before the state took over ownership of the park, and the staff there have more than enough preservation and research work to keep them busy without having to program the theater. That's why the Wyoming Territorial Park Historic Assocation took over the responsibility. The state does an excellent job of keeping up the building (a new paint job is on the schedule for this spring, and new floors are going in as I type), but to make the Horse Barn Theatre a successful performance venue, it's going to take the help of funding from many private and public sources.

But I have no doubt this can be done. With the right mix of programming and the right combination of donors, Laramie will have a new cultural fixture by this fall.

At Least I Have a Desk (I'm Just Not Using It)

2008-01-25T08:45:00.000-08:00

When you go to college and earn your degree, you expect certain things. Like when you get your first job. One of things you expect is that you'll get a desk. Especially if you've majored in business, for example, and you're hired to do business-like things.

This was not the case a little over 11 years ago when I was hired to be General Manager of Penobscot Theatre Company in Bangor, Maine. I didn't have a desk at all my first week. A piece of plywood supported by two filing cabinets appeared sometime during my second week. I think I managed to wrangle a chair about a week later.

Fast-forward seven years.

I'm sitting in a corner of the basement of a run-down synagogue on West 47th Street between 8th and 9th Avenues in New York City. I now have a Master's degree in Business Administration. I've been hired as General Manager of a start-up Jewish theater company called Storahtelling (either in spite of or because of my complete lack of Jewishness...I'm still not sure). And I'm clearly moving up in the world because a desk is in place on the day I'm hired. Granted, it's of the plywood-and-filing-cabinet variety, and I have to share it with two other people, but it's there.

I know I'm starting off this blog with a lot of obsessing over desks, but there is a point to be made. Making theater is not easy or pretty. And it's often done at the expense of everyday items working people take for granted - like office furniture. It's a lot like making sausage, really. The end product is usually tasty, but if you witnessed the entire process from start to finish you'd probably never partake of it again.

But we merry makers of sausage and theater carry on, either in spite of or because of the fact that the end product is often so very tasty. I'm still not sure.

In any event, I've been hired to do just that.

The Wyoming Territorial Park Historic Association (WTPHA) - an organization devoted to supporting the Wyoming Territorial Park in West Laramie and overseers of programming in the Park's Horse Barn Theatre - have brought me in to devise (and hopefully execute) a plan for consistent theatrical production at the Horse Barn. And I'm finding that the Horse Barn is a lot like politics - everyone has an opinion about it.

With that out of the way, I'm happy to say that three of the four productions we'll be presenting at the Horse Barn are family-friendly. And one of those three is specifically geared towards children. And in a nutshell, that is the new vision for the Horse Barn. And I, for one, am very excited about it because:

1) It's one of the most unique theater spaces I've ever seen (and I've seen a lot of theaters);

and

2) I have a desk. But I'm not using it. The WTPHA was kind enough to provide me with one ( a real one, no less) but my wife has given birth to two children since my last theater job, and by working at home I'll get to see them a little more.

Check back here for periodic updates about how plans for the Horse Barn are going.