Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 2009 - 15

" I know that a lot of you work in the dark, as do I...

But frankly there is a little bit of an economic situation going on
out there. I thought it was important to share that with you."

worst block for violent crime, the most police calls to any block in three
states. Now that was something to really be proud of. And when I was invited back, they invited me back for three months to close the theatre. They
said, "The theatre is about $1 million in debt. We have 400 subscribers.
We've already spent the subscription money and we're supposed to open
the season in six weeks. So we'd like you to come back." (I was on the
advisory board.) "We'd like you to come back and help us close." Well,
I went back Cincinnati. The Cincinnati Playhouse, which I love, is there. I
grew up there. I started there three weeks out of undergraduate school. It
was in a magnificent place.
When I came back to ETC to close the theatre I thought, Wait a minute. They've got a building. Most theatres don't get that to start with. ETC
started as an Equity theatre. They hadn't broken that many rules so they
were still an Equity theatre. And I thought, there is something to this. Then
I looked around at the neighborhood. I remember the board president at
the time saying to me, "The great thing is we have our own little parking
lot. There are eight places right next door to the theatre so you don't have
to be on the street because it's very dangerous on this street." And I'm
like, okay, cool; off-street parking. I didn't have that in L.A. or New York.
The second day on the job there was a dead guy next to my car in
the parking lot. My car was off-street and it hadn't been broken into, but
it took the police an hour and ten minutes to respond because their question to me was, "Where are you?" I told them Over-the-Rhine, 1117 Vine.
Then they said, "Are you sure he's dead?" I said yeah, I was pretty sure. So
I guess they didn't see any need to rush.
That's kind of where ETC was. It was sort of on this basic life support
system. There was a technical director at the time, Kevin Murphy. He is
the only guy I know who left theatre for a worse paying job-to become a
preacher. But he was great. He'd been the technical director of the theatre
and when I decided to stick around for a while he stepped up to managing
director. And he said, "Well, we need to do a show. We can't pay royalties
and we have no money for a set. And we really don't have any money for
the actors." And I'm like; wow, the good news is that we have a building
(in a neighborhood that nobody wanted to come to).

But in his great devotion to the cause, Kevin found pieces of things
from other theatres, he found bits and pieces from some church he knew
about, and we managed to scrape by. It was show to show. So many of
you in this room have been in that position; show to show, moment to
moment, beat to beat. What comes next? You don't know. It's part of what
keeps us in our jobs, although we may age quicker than we might in other
professions. It does keep us on our toes. It keeps us growing. It keeps us
learning. It keeps us wondering, "What can we do next?"
And believe me when I tell you that no matter if a theatre has a $15
million budget or a $1.5 million budget, zeroes are going to be dropped
in these next few years. And it's not going to be much different than me
looking to a technical director to find bits and pieces to keep everything
together. The thing that made Ensemble Theatre come to life and build
its own identity was the technical team. And I know that some of you are
going to say, "I do that all the time." But think about it: I have an elevenmember staff. Eleven full-time employees on a $1.5 million budget and
we produce world and regional premieres. My production manager, who
is here today, is also a lighting designer. He's also our master electrician.
He also essentially runs the place because when somebody can't find
something, Matt Hollstegge knows where it is. Also, when I have auditions,
he comes in and reads opposite actors-particularly African American
women roles. I can't quite explain it, but it's a tremendous skill set from a
young artist who is generous to share his life with us at ETC.
My scenic designer, Brian Mehring, he's like this long-suffering
guy. When you first meet him, he tends to look sad a lot. It's not that
boy charm kind of thing, though. His sadness is because I put this crap
on his back that nobody deserves! We're in a reconverted bank building and I'm saying, "Hey, we are going to do Gray Gardens." And I do
it. And he doesn't run screaming into the street. He doesn't even drink!
But when I say to him that I have to do Gray Gardens he understands
that I'm in a competitive market and tough economic times. We're doing the best of recent works, we're doing the best in bringing them to
Cincinnati, so we have to do this play. And he and Shannon Lutz, our
props master, figure out a way to do it. And they figure it out with grace

S U M M E R

2009

theatre

design

technology

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 2009