The Capital Times Story Sets Madison's Overture Stage

Jacob Stockinger had an excellent article in The Capital Times on Friday, Stage Fright: CTM's Collapse Sends Alarms Through the Arts Community . Below are some excerpts from the article followed by my comments in bold italics.

Nobody should feel safe. No one should be complacent. That's the shared view of community arts leaders and presenters this week as they view the wreckage of CTM Madison Family Theatre.
The veteran theater company last Friday fired three staff members, including director Colin Douglas, and canceled 100 performances through the fall of 2007. It cited a $300,000 debt and said it hoped that by suspending the season it could reorganize and return.

There is no question that CTM had serious management problems independent of moving into the more expensive Overture. This was well documented going back to the year 2000.   

"Our radar is up," said Allan Naplan, the new general director of the Madison Opera, adding that popular works such as Puccini's "Tosca" and Mozart's "The Magic Flute" have meant excellent ticket sales so far this season, despite a deficit from last season.
Remember non-professional performing arts groups never make a profit.  They must combine ticket sales with contributions and perhaps an endowment to make it through each season.
"I think we all feel it, absolutely. It could happen at any time for any of us," said Elizabeth Fadell, managing director of the Madison Repertory Theatre, which hopes to reverse a 15 percent dip in ticket sales this season when it moves into its new permanent home in the Overture Center's Playhouse in mid-February."We could find ourselves there with any shift in the wind. We all operate year to year. It could be us."

That 15 percent dip in tickets sales is most certainly the result of Overture’s hosting so many more shows, particularly sucking out dollars for touring road shows. Hopefully the Rep will do well with  Our Town, which opens Friday, February 17th with  Andre De Shields. Be There.

"It's a shame about CTM," said Ann Stanke, the retired general director of the Madison Opera and a major player on the Madison arts scene for almost 50 years. "Any time you lose an arts group that has been around for more than 40 years, it is a cause for concern. I think some of the new start-up groups had better be careful. "Every time you turn around, there is another one. We are oversaturated for a city our size. Maybe there should be some thinking about merging, like CTM and the Rep joining forces."

For almost twenty years both companies did well in Madison. One would think that with new facilities, a wealthier metropolitan area, and a new facility they would have grown not withered.

"It's a very sad moment for Madison and we are concerned," said Rick Mackie, executive director of the Madison Symphony Orchestra. "Something happened and it is bad for the community. We all worry. Five years ago, who would have thought the Chicago Symphony Orchestra would be in the trouble it is today? "We all depend almost entirely on community support. It's a high-stakes game. We're doing fine because we did not wait for Overture Hall to open to start triples (three-performance weekends) and market them like crazy," Mackie added. "But by no means do we take our success for granted. The shakeout for sales might not come in the second or third year, but might come in the fifth year."

Well said.

Competing for seats: Across town, the empty seats left by CTM at the new Capitol Theater are worrying Steve Sperling, general manager of the Barrymore Theatre on Atwood Avenue.
Sperling sees Overture as the source of two concerns. "One is the amount of money that the Overture Center takes out of the local entertainment economy, which has become more competitive because of individual venues and acts," Sperling said. "How much money do people have to spend? As the prices go up, that becomes more and more acute. "My second concern is competition among venues, and how the Capitol Theater comes into play. With CTM out of the picture, the Capitol Theater now has 100 empty dates and they're going to try to fill them."

This was the most important element that was ignored for the last ten years.  Despite the growing metropolitan area and the right demographics-baby boomers now empty nesting, Overture demands too many dollars in ticket sales for the existing venues and companies to survive.

"That could affect not just the Barrymore, because of its similar size, but also the Wisconsin Union Theater and the Mitby Theater at Madison Area Technical College. My guess is they will become more aggressive in their marketing..."
"Last fall, our ticket sales were down 20 percent ...

The Overture factor: Taken together, such factors could mean that the worst fear of the early critics of the Overture Center may be coming true: that the expensive performing arts center will - through high overheard costs and increasing rental fees - drive tickets prices up and attendance down to the point where the survival of the very groups that the $205-million arts complex was designed to benefit will instead suffer or fail.

One of those critics is former Mayor Paul Soglin, who put together the original Madison Civic Center in 1981 and has served on CTM's board.
Soglin has said the Overture Center should have been "built more with democracy than dollars.
"The impact of Overture hits the bottom line in several places," Soglin said this week in an interview. "First and most obvious is rent. That covers a lot more than the space - a bigger heating bill, a larger facility staff, maintenance and upkeep.
"But it also impacts production costs. CTM's old 'Christmas Carol' was significantly less to stage than the new 'Christmas Carol' - the point being that CTM could not put on the old 'Christmas Carol' on the larger stage in a significantly larger venue."
Soglin believes CTM's failure is a harbinger of things to come.
"It certainly is the beginning of the dominoes falling," said the six-term former mayor. "I think the troubles at CTM are just the beginning. It is likely that in the coming months or year, other groups will reveal they have the same problems."

Overture's acting director and CEO Michael Goldberg disagrees with Soglin's assessment.
"The well-being of these resident groups is absolutely necessary for us," said Goldberg, who has been active in the Madison arts scene for almost 40 years, much of that as director of the Wisconsin Union Theater.
"All of the groups that have moved into Overture have had artistic, financial and audience success, as the donors of Overture intended. CTM is the exception."

As for the financial success, I am not sure that is true today and I certainly question that assessment for the coming five years.

The Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra is one such successful group, according to its executive director Bob Sorge.
"CTM is not necessarily a bellwether for other arts groups," Sorge said, noting the WCO has sold more tickets this season than last and that its move into the Capitol Theater has helped it sell more.

It is heartening that they sold more tickets last season but tragically for performing artists, ticket sales are not a measurement of financial success. There needs to be a comparison from year to year of various trends which include ticket sales, endowment income, and gifts, and of course, expenses.  If the dollars from rising ticket sales are comprising a smaller portion of the rising expenses, there is trouble in lake city, trouble in lake city, my friend.

Nonetheless, Goldberg did see some cautionary signs and fallout from CTM in today's art scene. "I think in a crowded market that all arts organizations have to be streamlined and to focus on the competition," Goldberg said. "But it was always that way. There have always been more shows than people can go to."

Let us understand that the big competition is the touring shows, particularly the Broadway plays that have sucked out millions in the past year.  It would be interesting to see the gross ticket sales, year by year for the last five years, for touring shows.  That should be public information.

The show will go on: Although she said she still sees a performing arts shakeout possible in the next several years, Ann Stanke recalled that the Madison Theatre Guild could not afford to use the old Civic Center when the center was new.
"Will the performing arts survive in Madison? Absolutely," Stanke said. "Will the arts groups survive? Absolutely.

The performing arts will survive.  The question is: will community theater survive? Just as important, will Madison continue to be the home for young film makers, actors, directors, writers, and technicians who learn their craft and share it with us-that is in jeopardy.

"And so will the University of Wisconsin football and basketball teams."

Good.

Comments

[Stu Levitan]

I was vice chair of the CDA during development of Overture. I'm sure I would have ultimately failed, but do you think I should have tried to stop it?

[Paul]

Stuart, the critical point was when the City Council voted to set up the Arts District. Once that occurred the die was cast.