I’ve
been holding off on writing about the fate of the Alliance (last mentioned back
hereish) for a while, as I’m not removed enough from the situation to really
write much about it.
But
here are the basicists of the basics:
1) The
company did get out of the space by the end of the month.
2) The
show originally planned for April and May went off without a hitch thanks to
the efforts of some really hard-working, wonderful people. It has gotten great
reviews, and is now running through June – the longest extension of an Alliance
show since early 2004!
3) I
am no longer the Chairman of the Board or the Treasurer of the company. In
fact, I am not on the board in any capacity.
4) It
was a decision that was totally mine, based on several factors, most noticeably
my dwindling time as I continue pounding my head on the keyboard and hoping
that a screenplay comes of it.
(For this site, it would appear I’ve buried the lede.)
There
was a laundry list of reasons that I stepped down. The biggest one was the time
commitment; I am working on two screenplays (one full length and one short), a
stage play, and trying to resurrect a moribund freelance writing career. This
is in addition to SAT prep. And if I can’t sell the full length screenplay, I’m
going to try to produce it in 2008. There just isn’t the kind of time needed
anymore.
Also,
about midway through the month of March, I looked around at the company and
realized that it was in no way, shape or form either helping me or fun. It was
fun in that I got to hang out with some fun people, but those who are truly
friends won’t mind hanging out at the bar instead of the theater. And it wasn’t
helping me in that I had not, in two years, been cast in a single full-length
play. Sure, 365 Days/365 Plays was fun to be a part of and all of that, but I
was not getting anything out of it in terms of my career – and that wasn’t
going to change in the near future.
Instead,
I was spending a great deal of time – sometimes upwards of 20 hours a week
during busy times – working to get other people on stage. Some were
appreciative, some didn’t notice. That part doesn’t really matter. What does
matter is that I was doing all of the work that no one wants to do – I was
paying bills, thinking about things like insurance and liability and taxes
while everyone else was thinking about performing and show nights.
Then,
there were the frustrations I felt during the beginning of the move process.
All of those boiled down to vision, really. I had a vision of where the company
could go, but it was going to take a lot of work to get there. It was going to
take fundraising, taking chances on big productions, hiring help from outside
the company on occasion, becoming a bigger part of the community and expanding
our actor pool. Meanwhile, it took board members five months to replace the
back door and we couldn’t even set up a meeting with our “web designer” about a
redesign for the home page. In January I presented to the board a list of 11
things I wanted us to work on. Not a single action was taken on any of them by
the time I had stepped down. There is a lot of potential in a theater company
that’s existed for 21 years, but there’s also a lot of opportunity to rest on
laurels.
It sucks, because it sure seems like I’ve lost some friends because of it – phone calls and text messages go unreturned, etc. And it also sucks because I have an unnecessary attachment to anything I am a part of for an extended period of time. I feel bad, almost to the point of guilt, for jumping ship. But at some point my sanity won out.
I
am proud, extremely proud, of all the company accomplished in the last eighteen
months or so when I was on the board, including my six months as chairman. I
have no doubt that the Alliance will go on to achieve even more moving forward.
But I have little left to give.

I am proud of you.
Posted by: JT | May 10, 2007 at 09:21 AM
Spuhl-dogg, I'll always rather hang out at the bar with you.
Posted by: Snyder | May 11, 2007 at 01:12 PM
Snyder - Thank you. Though my liver disagrees.
Joni - I'm not sure it's much to be proud of...
Posted by: Robert | May 11, 2007 at 06:33 PM
I think you made the right decision! Way to put yourself first. Seriously.
Posted by: A.Taylor | May 12, 2007 at 01:35 PM
Remember the Alamo!
Posted by: David | May 15, 2007 at 12:08 PM
A- Thank you. You know me ... it's not something I do well...
D- Stupid Alamo.
Posted by: Robert | May 20, 2007 at 08:23 AM