Series ponders state of performing arts

Early on the crisp and sunny morning of Monday, Oct. 23, about 35 people representing regional groups gathered in the recently renovated Stissing Center in Pine Plains, N.Y., to explore the status and future of theater in our region, led by a panel of six.

This first session of the Performing Arts Business Series was organized by Brett Bernardini, the Stissing Center’s executive director, who moderated throughout. As a frame for the morning’s work, Bernardini had shared a recent article from American Theatre magazine titled “Theatre in Crisis: What We’re Losing, and What Comes Next,” which listed a history of theater closures and some pointed questions as to causes, including the traditional nonprofit business model.

Requesting personal definitions of “sustainability” and “regional theater” in the present terms, Bernardini then introduced  the keynote speaker, Harlem-based Jonathan McCrory, artistic director since 2012  of Barbara Ann Teer’s National Black Theatre (NBT). McCrory spoke of both spiritual and practical aspects of sustaining the community and practice of theater-going. 

Addressing the emotional tone of the article and the meeting’s purpose, he spoke of grief and vulnerability—as experienced via COVID-19 and in the circumstances of the field they love. 

Theater’s role, he continued, is to promote clarity of the heart, a softening of humanity, “space to fall in love—with others, with yourself.”

Panelists ponder ‘sustainability’

Panelists present in this first session were New York Assemblymember Didi Barrett; Ron Hicks of Dutchess County Economic Development; Lou Trapani, director of the Center for Performing Arts at Rhinebeck; Ancram Opera House co-director Jeffrey Mousseau; and Michael Rhodes, artistic director of Tangent Theatre Company in Tivoli. A sixth scheduled panelist had tested positive for COVID and was absent.

A major point of discussion was real estate. Trapani called theater “a landlord’s game,” with the costs of running his own facility “$1,100 a day—to do no theater.” As to possible help from grantmakers, they are not interested in this type of community  theater, he averred.

McCrory outlined how NBT got its start with Teer’s purchase of real estate in Harlem, leading to its present home in a 21-story mixed-use tower on upper Fifth Avenue, with its commercial space fronting on 125th Street—“a place to live, serve and create.” For playwright and screenwriter Darrah Cloud, who was responsible for bringing McCrory to the presentation, this move away from depending on the nonprofit model makes sense, along with other changes to how things are done.

Declining audiences

“Older folks are not coming,” Trapani and others lamented, citing distance, COVID-related concerns, and late-evening performances. By and large, it has traditionally been older, more financially secure patrons who most consistently support live theater. More matinees or earlier evening start times might draw in those who don’t want to travel home at night, some suggested.

To an audience member’s question as to how NBT so successfully attracts younger audiences, McCrory noted that NBT offers student residencies that have so far accommodated 300 young artists, holding 23 readings a year in which playwrights and actors are paid for their work.  

As with other issues, the lack of affordable housing in our region loomed large in this discussion of creative businesses. “It all boils down to jobs,” Trapani said, citing an Arts Mid-Hudson survey outlining the profits generated by the arts for restaurants, hotels and other businesses. Ron Hicks, crediting Barrett’s $3 million affordable housing initiative, pled with the audience to “participate, know what affordable housing is!”

Future sessions in the series are scheduled for January, April, July and October 2024, similarly in each month’s third week, at the Stissing Center unless the group decides otherwise.