Kate Maguire and Simon Shaw Discuss Colonial/ BTF Plans
Tommy Can You Hear Me
By: Charles Giuliano - Feb 27, 2011
This past week members of the media were invited to meet with Kate Maguire the artistic director of the Berkshire Theatre Festival which by June 1 will be formally merged with the Colonial Theatre. She was joined on the stage of the Colonial by Michael McDonald the President of the Board of the Colonial who has been implementing the merger. Simon Shaw was the original programmer for the Colonial and has resumed that role.
The occasion was to announce the season for the Colonial as well as the Main Stage and Unicorn Theatre of BTF. There was only a moment to glance at the programming which is posted to this and other media outlets.
During a general press conference individual journalists articulated their specific issues and agendas. What follows are primarily notes and some specific questions which were asked.
Of primary interest is a concern of how Maguire, whose mandate has been presenting theatre, will mesh with the broader programming of the Colonial which spans from rock and folk music, tribute bands, comedy, cabaret and family entertainment. This is the primary domain of Shaw.
Just how does this play out by bringing small music acts to the Unicorn and theatre to the Colonial? In the past the Colonial had presented touring theatre productions. That no longer appears to be a part of the mix. But the most exciting development is that Maguire is producing the rock musical Tommy, by the Who, starring Randy Harrison. For the past few seasons Harrison had been to BTF what Richard Chamberlain was in past years. He has ‘taken one for the team’ like last season’s demanding role in Beckett’s Endgame. Randy was literally buried in that role where for this season we will experience the full glare of his megawatt star power.
The first few seasons of the vintage, former vaudeville theatre, renovated at a cost of some $23 million, have been numbingly enervating. Driving by at night the theatre has been mostly dark with only a couple of bookings each month.
Last fall, when the merger was announced, we asked if Maguire would look into developing the lobby area as a café/ cabaret. There is progress in this area with plans for participating in Third Thursdays when there is considerable foot traffic on North Street. We asked about more such programming particularly on weekends with events targeting teens and young adults.
Chatting with Shaw after the event we got into the specifics. Not surprisingly it all comes down to money. I had asked why there has been so little jazz programming and mentioned a sell out for Herbie Hancock last summer at Tanglewood’s Ozawa Hall. Of course that’s a bigger venue and Shaw stated that Hancock got $50,000 for the night. I mentioned other jazz acts to which he responded that they are way too expensive. He hopes to experiment with more affordable jazz and rock acts for the Unicorn and the Colonial cabaret.
We asked what Hot Tuna had been paid? They were expensive but Simon confirmed that “We made a few thousand on the booking.” He mentioned that there are bids out to a number of bands that I would find quite exciting.
Last fall there was discussion that the Colonial might be a venue for New York bound, smaller scale theatre productions. There does not appear to be anything fitting that description in the current schedule.
As Maguire and Shaw mentioned several times during the press conference they are still feeling their way and experimenting. One journalist pressed them about presenting dance and theatre events for young audiences. Simon responded that it is very expensive and he would be pleased to pursue that programming if the journalist would introduce them to a sponsor.
When the merger was announced last fall it raised many questions. Now we are beginning to see some of the answers. But there is the prevailing sense that Colonial/ BTF is very much a work in progress. This exciting first season, however, has clearly changed the playing field for theatre and the performing arts in the Berkshires.
Notes on the Press Conference.
Michael McDonald Since our partnership announcement in November our partnership has progressed apace. Staffs as you can see are already assimilated and working together. We formed a coordinating committee of 12 people comprised of board members of both organizations. We met as a whole on two occasions. We met once a month over the past couple of months and we have subcommittees. They meet on how to handle the corporate side as well as how we present ourselves from a marketing point of view. That is all moving apace. We expect before the next season (June 1) we will have a formal entity the holding company that will be the parent entity of both Colonial and BTF. Its board will be functioning as the overseer of both organizations. On a formal basis we are effectively there now on an operational basis. Things could not be going better.
Kate Maguire It does feel like this is working. I have not had a moment where I have said My God what did we just do. It actually makes greater and greater sense to me each day. It feels like it was a really smart move for both organizations. I am incredibly proud to work with the staff that I do. I’m having a particularly good time working with Simon Shaw.
Simon Shaw It’s a mutual feeling.
KM We look at two different financial reports.
MM It does seem the staff that you see is larger than what the Colonial had or larger than what BTF had but the aggregate is smaller. We are looking at buying cooperatives so we can leverage that for the benefit of the combined organizations. We can swap technical equipment. We will take 19 members of each board so you have 19 members participating at the parent level. And at the subsidiary levels the minimal requisite numbers. That structure has to be approved by the boards. Kate has said she has attended two different board meetings. Effectively there would be one board meeting to attend. For the parent organization we will have a name which is just a holder until we come up with
KM A great name.
SS We’ll have a competition
MM We see this as one entity with three stages.
Charles Giuliano What about rock acts for the Colonial? In the schedule you present to us today I don’t see any.
SS We have yet to confirm the music acts that are coming into the Colonial.
CG Are you going to get away from the tribute bands and start to play more real music.
SS That’s a very leading question.
CG Isn’t it nice to get to know you.
SS We always intend to put the best shows we can on the stage. I believe in the past we have put real music on the stage. And we will continue to do so.
CG Recently we came for Hot Tuna and you had great success with that act. Will you do more like that? But you don’t appear to have any jazz.
SS Can I tell you my favorite jazz joke? How do you make a million dollars with jazz? You start with two million. Jazz is a very challenging thing to present. We are collaborating with the Pittsfield Jazz Festival. We are looking to program jazz in the Unicorn space in a way that we hope we can break even. It’s a very challenging art form to present.
KM There are still several days we are holding at BTF that are yet to be programmed. Simon and I are looking at jazz and cabaret acts. We’ve been experimenting with some local rock groups. So we’ll try to program those things into the Unicorn over the next few weeks.
CG When you drive by the Colonial most nights it is dark. When you announced the merger last fall you discussed exploring the idea of turning the lobby into a café/ cabaret space. Have you gotten any further with that planning?
KM We are looking into lights for the windows and working with RSVP so they will return to the Colonial. So they can come inform the visitor’s bureau. We have had sound designers looking at that space. We’ve been drawing up plans for a new bar configuration.
It’s going to take a couple of months to reconfigure that space. The plans are already being laid for that.
SS There will be performances in that space across the spectrum from readings, cabaret perhaps some local musicians. We are very aware of making that space inviting for our patrons.
KM We have a target date because the festival we are working on for October will demand the use of that space. We will put on our community musical on stage in the Colonial. Last year we put on Annie and had a hundred school children this year we will do Wizard of Oz and have a thousand.
CG In the past few seasons Randy Harrison has become to BTF what Richard Chamberlain formerly was as your resident star. We have seen that Randy has an incredible fan base. You are leading with your ace by starting the season with him starring in Tommy. The capacity of theatre is 765. But the second balcony seating is problematic. During a recent performance a friend of ours became ill sitting up there. She went to the box office and paid to upgrade to the orchestra.
KM I would argue with you about those seats. I go to Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) and when I go there I sit in similar seats. They are no different than our seats and I treasure having some affordability to get into that theatre. I don’t get sick sitting up there. There are people who complain about those seats but we have people who enjoy sitting in those seats because they are affordable and we have had some success with that lately. The box office had been helpful in making people understand what sitting up there is like.
CG If you factor in the undesirability of the second balcony and consider the orchestra and first balcony the capacity is pretty close to that on the BTF main stage.
SS With the two levels (orchestra and first balcony) there are about 600 seats which is about a third more than the Main Stage of BTF. Main stage is a bit under 400.
CG What are you doing on the BTF Main Stage with Tommy.
KM Sylvia.
CG Are you competing against yourself?
KM I don’t think so. Tommy starts a week earlier. Then Sylvia runs after Tommy. That all remains to be seen. I think they are two very different productions. I’m not going to program the Who’s Tommy and Hair at the same time.
CG What if Tommy is a hit? Randy and Tommy, wow, that has legs. Can you extend it?
KM From your lips to God’s ears. That’s a lot of seats for us to sell we are moving into a whole new world. We will take one step at a time and see how it goes.
SS It would be a wonderful challenge.
CG You couldn’t have done that at BTF because you are locked into a tight schedule for the season.
KM We have the option of extending or bringing something back. That’s a possibility if it is that big a hit.
CG Will you program more than tribute and midlife crisis bands.
SS We want to reach out locally and regionally to the Hudson Valley and the Capital district who are going to have a really big impact on the music scene around the country. We would like to have them first at the Unicorn and then bring them back to the Colonial so they have a real impact on the area in terms of live music. You got that and you nailed what we are going to try to do with the Cabaret space. You’re absolutely on the right drift.
CG During the Wilco Solid Sound Festival one of the best received bands was The Books. Originally a duo for this gig they added a third player. They combine music and their original videos. They have been resident in North Adams and Williamstown and have a local fan base. By far they were the most interesting and best received act. That was last summer and since then they have not performed in the Berkshires. So that underscores the inability to develop the local music scene.
SS I have only been back for the past seven weeks but that is the direction we are going in. But I do want to pick you up on tribute bands. While they may not be everyone’s cup of tea they do attract a certain audience. They do make money. Now I am not saying we should be a tribute band house. I think we should be programming excellent music and we should be going after the audience that comes to see Hot Tuna. There are plenty of artists in that genre that would fill this house. We are going after them and we will continue to go after them. While we have a very good location it is also a challenging one. To the west of us there’s The Egg Center for the Performing Arts in Albany (The Egg houses two amphitheatres, the 450-seat Lewis A. Sawyer Theatre and the 982-seat Kitty Carlisle Hart Theatre) and to the East of us venues in Northampton. Those venues are going after the same artists we’re going after. They can play The Egg one night and Northampton the next. But they won’t play here and those other two venues. That is a challenge we will undoubtedly overcome but we will loose acts to the Egg and Northampton. As to the tribute bands if they’re good and there are 600 people in here having a good time that’s a great thing. I don’t think we’ll be programming that many but I do think we will be programming some.
Bess What are your plans for Third Thursdays?
SS We have some surprises and for right now they are going to remain surprises. We have had a lot of conversations with people involved in Third Thursdays and it seems that if you charge a ticket price people won’t come. It’s an evening to take a stroll and taste many different things.
KM We also have to cause a bit of a commotion. There are all those people there and we have to get them here.
CG If you have the lobby space developed as a café/ cabaret you can have small acts come in for modest fees or five dollars at the door and make your nut on the bar and snacks.
SS When Kate develops the space we will certainly do that. What’s wonderful about the Colonial is the back stage area and the way that incoming acts are treated by all of the staff. We often hear from touring acts what a great experience they have arriving at the theatre being loaded in and their performance. Then helping them get out. That does add up. The word travels and we hope to benefit from that because this is a beautiful space. If you saw James Taylor on Charlie Rose the video of the show was on national television.
We are trying to embrace local artists and make the Colonial their home.
CG In the past few seasons there has been a shift to front load season. Last summer we had James Taylor and Carole King at Tanglewood. This year Mass MoCA is hosting its Wildo Solid Sound Festival June 24 to 27. Tanglewood have Earth Wind and Fire that same weekend. During the Fourth of July Holiday weekend Pittsfuield will have two musicals Guys and Dolls at Barrington Stage and Tommy at the Colonial. They are within walking distance. What is the marketing strategy and synergy among the four major theatre entities: Colonial/ BTF, Shakespeare & Company, Barrington Stage and Williamstown Theatre Festival? I am aware that you all meet regularly. Considering the significance of the New York audience to the Berkshires are you considering pooling resources for a full page ad in the New York Times? (About $12,000)
KM Simon has brilliantly led people to August with Tommy Tune. Jaime Davidson sits on committee with other three marketing directors. Perhaps he will address that question.
Jaime Davidson The past three years the four producing theaters have been collaborating on some marketing initiatives to move people. It has not really been about moving people up from New York the money hasn’t been there to do that. We have been looking at ways to have people experience more than one theatre while they’re here. In the past we’ve done a ticket stub discount. We are putting the finishing touches on what we call the Berkshire Four Theatre Passport. We will be announcing that soon. We meet every couple of weeks and talk about both ways that we can move people from theatre to theatre but also how we can expand that. Our goal thus far has been to brand the Berkshires as a theatre destination more so than just a cultural destination. Now, with the merger with the Colonial, more marketing directors are interested in working more together on branding it as a full blown, cultural art destination. We are getting away from the model of Tanglewood as driving the bus and letting everyone know all that is going on in the Berkshires. That is what we are doing for the next couple of months and on into the future. We are all working closely together and the marketing directors all talk pretty frequently.
CG What role does the state have in marketing and tourism? At a critical time they seem to be reducing spending when they might be putting boots on the ground in the region.
KM I would adore for you top call the Governor’s office and ask him. Tourism does really drive this region. The more the political folks understand that, and the more the public understands that, particularly in this community, the better off we all will be.
CG The governor is a Berkshire resident. To what extent do you have contact and talk with him?
KM Given what’s going on around the country with state budgets it’s not an easy time.
CG Do you have his ear?
KM I haven’t spoken with him in some time. I think he recognizes the force that we are. I imagine he has a lot on his plate right now.
Question What about programming for young people and affordable youth ticketing?
SS We just had 700 families last week for Bubble Mania. We are still looking to confirm our family events, music, and lots of things in the Unicorn. It’s ongoing and because we are not saying ‘that’s our season’ so we can take advantage of lots of opportunities that present themselves. We are looking to put family events in here during the summer and throughout the year.
KM Christmas Carol was affordable and will be again this year. All the time we have affordable tickets to events so people can get in here.
SS For all of our shows there will be 15 and 25 dollar tickets. The challenge for us is that to get the artists in here that we want their ticket price has to be at a certain level. That’s the great equation how much can we pay an artist and how many tickets can we sell at any given price to get that artist
KM Right now we are putting together a youth board. Teachers, drama teachers, and local musicians. We are gathering the names of four or five kids from each area high school to come together and teach me about the kind of music they want to listen to. So far, some of these kids have brought us names of people we have never heard of. They will tell us about the music they listen to. We will give them their own project to work on. So we’ll mentor them through a contract and teach them about the industry. The good news in that is that they won’t have to come to a lot of meetings because they know how to set up social networks. We will be reaching out to kids in all areas of the region. By talking to these kids were talking to their families. It is critical that young people understand that this is their theatre. Every time we program their music this theater, like Barefoot Truth, is packed. With Bubble Mania they walked in these doors. So those barriers of elitism (evoked by questions from journalist) I really don’t feel them here.
MM With Music Man Kate came up with the idea of local high school bands and special student prices. When the bands came out you heard a whoop from up in the balcony.
CG With the new configuration that seems to give you different options for programming the Unicorn Theatre. With 120 seats it also seems perfect for music and performances as well as theatre. There is little for kids to do in the Berkshires. Music we have heard so far at the Colonial has mostly targeted mature audiences. The Unicorn would seem to give you option of developing a younger audience.
SS We are absolutely looking to program contemporary music to the kids so they will go there.
CG Is there a critical mass of local bands that could build their audiences as well as build your audience?
SS There are artists we are talking to right now that will help us to identify those bands.