RobertSpuhler.com

On Budget Cuts and Woolly Mammoth

 
Between my generally squishy moderate leanings and a cable-less (and therefore cable news-less) existence, I don't delve into politics all that often.

That being said, I have to write something about the new budget deal for the rest of FY2011, and one of the cuts in particular.

Arts organizations, especially non-profit ones, do not have “wiggle room” in their budgets. Whether it's a tiny theater in a strip mall in Burbank or the Woolly Mammoth Theater in Washington DC, a major catastrophe or massive, unexpected loss of funds can cripple performances, community work and other services.

And so, when the latest budget impasse ended with government scalebacks that included a 70 percent slashing to the National Capital Arts Program, it became personal for me.

Woolly Mammoth Theater Company is my artistic home on some level. I took my first professional acting class there, fell in love with live theater there and found some of my favorite plays there.

Because of this budget deal, Woolly Mammoth will lose about $200,000 this fiscal year, or about five percent of its operating budget.

There is a solid argument to be made that arts funding is not the job of the federal government (though what that means for DC arts, since there is no “state level” funding until the district is granted statehood, I don't know). It's one that I can sympathize with, especially during this time of economic distress.

But what this Congress and President Obama have done is take away money that arts organizations, Woolly in particular, thought they had coming to them halfway through a year. This will cause immediate pain, the type that triggers contingency plans and will cause layoffs and downsizing.

Let's have the discussion about arts funding in America. Let's figure out what level of government, if any, should be responsible and how much money should be involved. But let's not pull the rug out from organizations in the middle of a fiscal year.

(BTW: The real shame in all of this is that the Democrats were too cowardly to even try and pass a FY2011 budget last year. I can guarantee that the left would have left this program fully funded.)

Photo courtesy of Flick user "Gurana" - check out his photostream here

Office Sonata...EXTENDED!

We got word this weekend from our producers that Office Sonata's run at the Hayworth has been EXTENDED by two performances (it's just like a concert encore! Except without a bad Dylan cover to end the night!).

Remaining performances: May 23rd, 24th, 30th and 31st at 8 pm.

I've still got one complimentary ticket left, so here's the deal: Post in the comments section your prediction for the final score of the DC United-Toronto FC match on May 24th. The person closest to the right score gets the comp!

(For everyone else, tickets are available for half price through GoldStarEvents.com or LAStageAlliance.com)

Thank you so much to those of you that have already made it out, and I hope to see everyone else over the next two weeks...

Energy

Call time is seven, but the entire cast is at the theater at 6:30. Props are checked, re-checked and then checked again. Fight scenes are rehearsed. Lines are sped through.

Is there a better energy than that surrounding a cast on opening night of a show?

On Los Angeles Theater

(NOTE: All hyperlinked play or film names may contain spoilers.)

I've been a big fan of Neil LaBute'€™s work since seeing In the Company of Men for the first time. His stage work is even better; The Mercy Seat might be the best art produced to date involving September 11^th, and The Distance From Here should be replacing SubUrbia as the play that best reflects the status of today'€™s underclass youth.

He'€™s written a piece in the L.A. Stage Alliance'€™s magazine Pravda ... er ... LA Stage about the five things that Los Angeles theater has to do in order to be more successful or, as the headline puts it, "€œgreater."€ It'€™s a great read, and my summary and follow-up comments here shouldn't stop you from reading it yourself, if theater in Los Angeles interests you (and if it doesn'€™t you'€™ve stopped reading by now).

Then and Now

Then:

Now:

Interiors after the jump...

Upon Return

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Thank you to Dave, Chris and Danielle for letting me crash on your couch for a week.

Thank you to everyone who made time for lunch, dinner or bowling.

Thank you to Juniper Lane for showing me the 9:30 Club dressing rooms - after all the concerts I've covered there, that was the first time I had ever been up there.

And most of all, thank you to Jonathan and Radhika for letting me share your special day.

Photos after the jump and at my Flickr page.

Endings Start With Answers

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.)

What I'll Be Doing With My March

When I ran WVAU (some would add “into the ground” at the end of that) in college, I always consoled my fears by saying, “well, I can’t kill it.”

On Wednesday, the Alliance Repertory Company found out that its landlord sold the building housing the theater and that the ARC has 30 days to vacate the premises.

And while I'm sure we'll survive in some form, I can't keep from asking myself...

...can I avoid killing it?

30 days and counting…

365 Post-Mortem

Thank you so very, very much.

Last week’s run of 365 Days/365 Plays was incredibly rewarding, and I really appreciate those of you who came out to take part in the show. I hope you enjoyed it, and I hope you got a sense of just why the entire project – both our week and the overall 365 project – is so special to me.

Again, thank you for your support. It means a great deal to me.

The show itself turned out great, even if it was frustrating personally for me at times. I felt lost on stage in some of the scenes (“what the hell do I want?”) but I eventually got it figured out enough to not embarrass myself.

I don’t know what the next project at the Alliance will be, but I can’t wait to get started.

More 365

365 Days/365 Plays got a nice mention from LAist, my favorite LA-centric blog, today. They’ve been doing a great job of covering every week of the festival thus far.

The project has been very difficult for me, as the plays themselves don’t easily lend themselves to the type of scene analysis I do to prepare. The Practical Aesthetic* is not terribly effective when we’re talking about plays a page in length. I’ve had to modify how I work, to take a bit more on faith and use things like “back story” to devise playable actions.

But it’s been a great challenge in that regard as well. I’m not someone with a big theater background, or someone who’s been doing this for a long time. It’s good to have your assumptions challenged this way.

It’s also good to be challenged by the other actors on stage – it is an very talented cast, working with a very talented director and a great production team. The fact that we’ve been able to pull all of this off with our first rehearsal coming only 13 days before we opened (and several cast members, including myself, missing multiple rehearsals due to conflicts) amazes me.

Again, it runs every night through Saturday at around 9 p.m. Oh, and it’s free.

* - J: Check out the Wiki PA page. Three step system without the as if and with the want? Huh?