Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 2000 - 80

Ire bad to pallse at tbis poillt so tbat t collid stop lallgbillg
and catcb /II)' breatb, Tbe /liental jJictllre ofthis rerr distillgllisbed fonner jJresidelit alld Felloll' of tbe Ilistitllte siltillg
at a /'Oadside stalld. dressed ill a Pallanla bat,flo/rered sbirt,
alld Ber/llllda sborts-/ritb long black stretcb socks-/rbile
bml'killg disCOllllt bootleg tickets to Dime)' World ll'as jllst
too /lllIcb for /lie, It sbollid be 1I0ted tbat Ralld)' ll'as lallgbing
al/llost as bard. altbollgb sO/llell'bat /IIore l'/leflll~r,
Interviewer: Butl"Ou didn'l hal"e 10 do that'
RE: \0, El'entuaJlI", there Il"as some negoliation behind the

scenes and I don't hal"e the details on that. But ol"erall. it
lI'as not a good time, Our expenses Il"ere exceeding our
rel"enues, At thaI point. of course, there lI'ere nJal1l'l"illains,
One of the I"illains Il"as lhe computer Sl"stem, I can remember finance commillee meetings lI'here people Il"ould sal'
"ll"e II"0uldn 't be in hot Il"aler nOli' if Il"e hadn't put in that
damn computer system, Did lI'e rea II I" need it'" I can remember those I"erl" lI'ords, I mean, lI'e Il'ere approaching
our t\\'el1ll'-fifth annil'ersarl', "That file cabinet lI'ith those
cards had II-orked for l\l"enrl'-fil'e
. .I'ears, Ranch'.
.\rhl'
. didll'e
need 10 inl"est in a computer sl'stem'"
Interviewer: \rell. change is ahl"al's hard,
RE: That's right. But one of the accomplish men IS during ml'
presidencl", and I credit the finance commillee and.lan
~Iusson, so this is not somelhing that I lake credil for. is
that lI'ith the tremendous success of the \ ell' York

"T7wtfile
cabinet with
those cards had
}i'!orked for
tl'venty-five
years, Randy
1;\f hydidwe

need to invest in
a C01nputer
systenz?"

IN THE HEART OF CHICAGO'S
---LJYNAMIC THEATRE SCEN

'--

BFA in Costume Design, Costume Technology, Lighting Design, Scenic
Design, Theatre Technology, Production Management. Acting, Playwriting,
General Theatre Studies, DramaturgytCriticism and Theatre Management
MFA in Costume Design, Lighting Design, Scenic Design,
Acting and Directing

:--lichael :--Iaggio, Dean
~

1:\:' :\onh Kenillore ,-\\ enlle
ChiL'ago, 1L 60t1 1-1--11 1I
177:\1 :\~:'-7'J'J'J or
IOllhiue Illinoi\1
I-XOO--I-DEP,-\LL. e\l 7'J'J'J
Illlllelt/er0 II ppO:-,luepalll.edli

78

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TI)&T

THE
THEATRE
SCHOOL
DePaul University
HTIP :IITHEATRESCHOOL. DEPAUL. EDU

conference 119851, folloll'ed bl' the el'en
greater success of lhe Oakland confel'
ence 11986], lI'e finalll' not onh brought
lhe Institute into the black, but into financial soll'encl', So I do feel a sense of pride,
hUl there Il"as a lot of bell tightening,
One storl' from lhat time-and
something that a lot of people I'm
sure don't remember-is thal Il'e held
a raffle lI'here you bought a S5,OO
licket in Orlando, The raffle drall"ing
lI'as conducted at the banquet. Do you
knOll" Il'hat I ll"On at the banquet'
Inteniewer: \0, what didl'ou win?
RE: Afree I'ear's membership in L'SIl1'!
Interviewer: Aww\\', wait a minule!
RE: \0, I did not do the drall'ing l But I won a
free I'ear's membership, and I hal"e nel"er
gOllen thaI prize,
Interviewer: ~Ial'be lI'e ought to talk to lhe
national office about thal!
RE: Well. lI'e lI'ere in such financial straits thal
I'ear that 1 fell I had 10 pal' ml' dues, There
Il'aSn'1 el'en a queslion, I also sail' some
moral. ethical. and legal reasons 11'111' I
ll"Ouldlft take it. And please understand
again that I ll'a.~n 'I the one to do the drall'ing! BUI it just Il"asn't possible,
One of the things that I did to trl' 10
boost the revenues lI'as 10 really expandthe contribming and sustaining
members, That's lI'here I really put my
emphasis, But what I did lI'as go out
and knock on doors to tI'l' 10 get additional contributing and sustaining
members, I'd tI'l' 10 push people up
from suslaining to contributing, Without mentioning anI' names, I'd go 10 a
cenain firm and tell them, "Do I'OU
kllOlI' that so-and-so is a contributing
member andl"Ou are onll' a sustaining
member' And Ihat I'OU are lacking all
of Ihat prestige, including the shingles
on the Il"all and acknowledgment in
the publications," I also tried 10 bring
in lots of nell' sustaining members, We
IIwe forming a nell' corporation,
Pantechnicon, here in San .lose, and I
said 10 ml' business panners "We need
10 be a sustaining member," .I:Ul
,\Iusson's companl' GUlle on :L~ a sustaining member, I came 10 San .lose
State andll'el1l 10 ml' chair and asked
"Why are lI'e nOI an organizational
member of the Instillue?" And I would
go lhrough the entire sales pitch of
Il"hal S./SL' gets out of pal'ing its dues,
http://IITHEATRESCHOOL.DEPAUL.EDU
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 2000
