ARTISTIC PHILOSOPHY: The following quote is from
the Hartford Courant which was written by Frank Rizzo in reaction
to Richard Zoglin’s article in Time magazine about the five
best regional theaters in the nation:
“To me, a great theater engages an audience in a way that
lingers well past the time theatergoers make it to the parking lot
after a show. A great theater does the classics, but it also understands
it is not a museum and must present them in a way that is vital,
elegant or challenging. A great theater presents works of new voices,
not just in a marginal way. A great theater knows how to attract
a great audience, one that will stick by it as it attempts the extraordinary.
A great theater is as hungry for the new, young audience member
as it is interested in retaining loyal supporters. A great theater
reflects the world around it, and that begins with its community.
A great theater also knows the difference between art and pretension,
knows that you don't have to pander to be accessible, and knows
the distinction between a small show and a cheap one. (So does a
great audience.) It's tricky maneuvering here, and the best of theaters
do their thing with consistency and grace matched by stable management
and generous supporters.”
NEW AMERICAN THEATRE (July-December 2003, Interim
Artistic Director, Rockford, IL)
New American Theatre (NAT) operated under an Actors Equity Association
Small Professional Theater Contract. The theatre’s average
annual budget exceeds 1.7 million dollars. NAT produces a seven-show
season and two additional children’s theatre touring productions.
NAT carries twenty five full time employees and hires numerous actors,
designers, and artists through out the year.
THE BOXER REBELLION ENSEMBLE (1999-2002, Artistic
Director, Chicago, IL)
Prior to my tenure with The Boxer Rebellion Ensemble, (BRE) was
in a great deal of artistic and personnel turmoil, suffering the
indignity of a major newspaper, THE READER, voting a production
‘one of the ten worst in Chicago’. In less than three
years the company received six Joseph Jefferson nominations and
won one citation.
Over the course of the next year, the ensemble re-defined its mission
statement and came together as an organization. In 2000 BRE was
selected as one of seven companies to be mentored by the Chicago
Arts and Business Council and received a tribute for ‘Outstanding
Work in the 2000-2001 Season’ awarded by the Chicago Saints
Organization. The work culminated in the fall of 2001 & 2002
when Chris Jones of The Chicago Tribune, singled out fifteen theatres,
out of literally thousands, calling BRE one of City’s hottest
companies.
THE PEOPLE'S THEATRE (1990-1993 Artistic Director,
Pekin, IL)
The People’s Theatre (TPT) was developed by myself and functioned
as a year round entity producing three new touring shows per season
to play in conjunction with past repertoire. Primarily a touring
company, TPT mounted five seasons of outdoor Shakespearian productions,
toured school venues with a project called Youth Intervention Theatre,
and mounted an annual Holiday Season show.
TPT was staffed with seven full time employees and hired as many
as thirty artisans in a season, working with an annual budget of
thee hundred thousand.