The Pushcart Takes A Hit

The NY Times reports that during a time of deepening economic crisis, The Broadway League imposed an unannounced $1 a ticket surcharge on the tickets sold at TKTS. TKTS is the ticket outlet for discount tickets sold by the Theatre Development Fund, the not-for-profit that was established to aid in the promotion of the performing arts in NYC. The League, which has decried anything that would raise ticket prices, quietly imposed the surcharge/fee/restoration charge on those patrons at the lower end of the economic scale; those who patiently wait in line in all kinds of weather to see what discount tickets are available. Three months later, when the state considered a restoration of the amusement tax, Rocco Landesman, the nominee for Chairman of the NEA, plead "pity the poor workingman" in arguing against the tax in front of a legislative hearing on the tax proposals, saying that ticket price increases will cause shows to close, restaurants to fail and frogs to fall from the sky. The League, which according to tax returns spends 30% of its revenue on salaries, claims that the fee is for "added value for theatergoers", educational programs and web sites. League member dues, which make up about half of the Leagues $8 million revenue, will go up by 10%. The source of the additional 10% was not disclosed but it is unlikely that in these troubled times, the theatre patron will see ticket prices drop.

I fail to see how raising the cost of a ticket will add value to theatre-goers on a budget. It’s also interesting how we’ve gotten to “the hard-working men and women employed by Broadway” from "Our goal is simple: to pay for workers we need and for work that is actually performed."

The last surcharge became a war chest. Who's next?

The Oak And The Willow

"The best test of a civilized society is the way in which it treats its most vulnerable and weakest members. "

Mahatma Gandhi

One of the main talking points of the Broadway League during the run-up to and during the strike in 2007 was that the Local was too inflexible in its rules and resistant to change. The Local replied that we were resistant to job losses and that Local would not change work rules without something in exchange. We were called featherbedders in public and worse in private, I'm sure.

The reality is somewhat different, of course. Given the width and breath of Local One's jurisdiction, with scene shops, television, opera, concert halls, Off-Broadway and LORT contracts, there is no such thing as a one size fits all contract. Are there standards that we want maintained? Yes. Safety, retirement security, cleanliness, the ability to take a break and have a meal, minimum calls, a living wage, these are all standards we work to keep. However, we don’t write contracts that close shows or shops. We will make adjustments when they are called for. Stagehands are nothing if not practical.

It was with some pride that I learned that the Local members voted on Sunday to accept wage freezes at two theatre companies that have been hit hard by the financial mess. As a Local we have worked over the years to help grow these companies with contracts and conditions that were appropriate for them and their size. Also passed was a new contract for a space in the Bronx that had been organized. In that contract the Local recognizes that the venue has a split mission, one as a roadhouse and one as community theatrical resource. As a result, there are different pay rates for the crew, depending on the event.

I think one of the inadvertent highlights of the labor disputes 2003 and 2007 is a renewed sense of “community” in the theatrical community. We have a history of helping each other during tough times. Now is one of those times and Local One is doing its part.

WWKTD

What Would Kenneth Tynan Do?

In an article in Bloomberg about “Impressionism”, Jeremy Gerard writes a “commentary” (which evidently is a little less than reporting and a little more than opinion) about why “Impressionism” got less than stellar reviews. It was the stagehands. Those damned expensive stagehands. And their damned expensive scenery.

Gerard starts by painting sophomore playwright Michael Jacobs as a victim of a critical “mugging” and then calls the show a “muddle.” Manny Azenberg is quoted as saying everything is getting more expensive than it was in the old days (much more expensive!) but at least he attributes some of the cost to retirement and health care, not just the dirty greed of those nasty, nasty union thugs. Gerard then says “God of Carnage” is succeeding only because it is “ferociously funny” while omitting the cost/benefit analysis. And in the last line, he quotes Producer Bill Haber of “Impressionism”, who appears to be channeling Yogi Berra when he says, “The minute they stop buying tickets, I will close the show,” he says. “I’m not in the charity business.”

I think the future of Broadway lies in the stagehands writing funnier, cheaper scenery.

Double, Double Toil And Trouble

For me my blog has become a bit of a microcosm of what life is like for many in the entertainment industry. Ignored during busy times and doted over in idleness. For any of you who have spend days, weeks and months on a project know what it’s like to suddenly start spending a lot more time at home. Corners get cleaned, taxes get paid, dinners are eaten off plates that you have to wash yourself and if you’re old enough, tending to health matters that waited until you found the time. If you’re young enough, you continue to ignore your health and you go catch up with the regulars at the your favorite bar.

Until the next project. Then reverse and repeat.

I was able to catch up on some blogs and I want to draw your attention to an interesting post on Ken Davenport’s Producer’s Perspective. The post on March 30th discusses a study about discount tickets and the impact on attendance, etc since 1992 to 2008. The study used “Phantom Of The Opera” as the control. Graph One shows that gross sales continue to climb albeit at a slower pace since 2000. Graph three shows that Average Paid Admission has continued to climb with an increase in the growth rate since 2000. Graph Four shows Full Ticket Price increasing at a rate faster than inflation for the period.

For me the most interesting chart is Graph Two. Graph Two shows that in 2000 the number of Tickets Sold has actually leveled off, with a growth rate since of only 7%. My take on this is that Broadway is putting as many fannies in as many seats as it possibly can. But we’re not growing. Broadway can’t really be considered a growth industry.

The advice to Mrs. Worthington may still hold true.

Imagine Sisyphus Happy

In a post back in December I looked at some IATSE history and road scales. Then I found Working Life by the Labor Research Association. Jonathan Tasini had a column about wages not keeping up with productivity or inflation. Since I already had a reference point for IATSE I thought I'd see how we have done.

1917 $45
2008 Adjusted for inflation $759.73
2008 $30hr or $1200wk is fairly typical

Considering where we started from, over all, pretty good.

1917 $45
1974 Adjusted for Inflation $173
1974 $280

Through the Depression, WWII and after, it looks like we were doing pretty well for ourselves. Beating inflation, getting ahead, buying homes, and educating our kids.

1974 $280 (from an hourly rate for a grip, $6.70 hr)
2008 Adjusted for inflation $1,227.34 or $30 an hour.

The last quarter century we've just been keeping even and stopped getting ahead.

But then if minimum wage had kept up with inflation from it's start in 1938 when it was .25, it would be only be $3.85. Oh wait. In NY State, it's $7.15.

It's a good thing we had cheap credit and jobs for our wives or we might have been in trouble.

Mopping The Counting-up Room Floor

Bloomberg has an article that describes the latest feeding frenzy in the shark filled waters of Broadway. Seems that those folks who believe that the arts exist for the sole benefit of themselves, i.e. the Producers, lifted the curtain on a little drama being played out with the party of the second part, i.e. the Theatre Owners, the other folks who believe that the arts exist solely for themselves. The subject only seems to be "a comprehensive discussion on the economics of the producer- theater-owner" because-the wolf is at the door, the wolf is at the door!

Learning their lessons from the Bob ( Ain't Nobodies Bidness If I Do ) Sillerman school of theatre production, some of the Producers are contending that the reason audiences are staying away from yet another juke-box musical is because of additional fees charged by the house, like the fee for staying after the show and actually counting the receipts. “The landlords won’t ever admit they charge bogus fees,” said the producer of several major Broadway hits, speaking on condition of anonymity because he hopes to continue producing Broadway hits." Note the diminishing reference to "landlords" rather than "theatre owner" by the brave but anonymous producer.

As sense memory exercise try this. Substitute "piano" for "counting-out room", substitute "mopping" for "restoration" and substitute "flyman" for "credit card fees". Then watch this rewind from the League's Strike Press Conference. If you begin to see their lips moving and nothing coming out, you may or may not have reached a higher state of awareness in your ability to analyze the cycles of the extraction of the surplus value by the owners of capital. In fact,the sound really is dropping out of the video.

From Limelight To Plasma

The difference between men and boys is the price of their toys.

Check this out. Imagine a lamp for a moving light or follow spot that is smaller than a dime, uses half the power of the current lamp, burns with the brilliance of the sun and gets its power from radio waves. Luxim has introduced a solid state plasma light source that is the step away from LEDs. LIFI™ light sources use a solid-state device to generate RF (radio frequency) energy to power a plasma light source while LEDs use the solid state device itself. The plasma lamp also has a life of thousands of hours. There go work calls.

LEDs Magazine has an article here and PLSN has an article here .

Luxim has a video here and Cnet has a video here.

Just Living Is Not Enough...

One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower. Hans Christian Anderson

One of the advantages of a little down time (hopefully very little) is finding out what’s up on daytime television. A little goes a long way. Jerry, Steve and Maury seem to have some pretty good gigs, all indoor work and no heavy lifting involved. Brow beating the helpless, hopeless and harebrained is always good fun. The shows help grown men to keep in touch with their inner adolescent and make a living at it.

One of the bright spots is Versus , the old Outdoor Life Network. It’s a guy thing. Not owned by a sports team, the channel takes a broader approach to it’s programming. Hockey, cycling and college basketball are the main team sports features. It’s here you can watch the Tour de France and other bike races in the US and abroad. There is also programming about things like hunting, fishing, wildlife management and maintenance of hunting plots and fishing areas. Catch and release is the standard in the fishing shows but be warned about the hunting shows. They don’t hesitate to show large animals being taken by gunfire or arrows and looked at as trophies. If seeing that bothers you then the watch something else.

Two of the best of the hunting shows are Escape To The Wild and Life In The Open . The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership is a group that is working to keep wild areas and government properties open to the hunter and fishermen, promotes responsible energy development and wildlife habitat management. They also have a program that is called the Union Sportsman Alliance , a dues-based, hunting and fishing club of the TRCP and its partner unions, designed exclusively for union members and their families that hunt, fish and enjoy the outdoors. Polls revealed that 70% of all union members hunt and fish and do not belong to any formal conservation or outdoor organization. I consider NRA to be an industry trade group for the promotion and sale of firearms and ammunition and not concerned with conservation. Promoting safe marksmanship is important but the mission of TRCP and the NRA are different. You can shoot on a range but you can only hunt in the wild.

While most of the work that TRCP is doing is based on the West and Midwest, there is a show City Limits has a professional fisherman trying to catch the legal limit of fish within major US cities, including NYC, DC and Chicago.

The Nature Conservancy reports that outdoor activities like camping and hiking are declining in a shift away from nature-based recreation. They lay the blame on people spending more time in front of their televisions and computers. I suspect that the decline is based less on indoor recreational activities than the loss of free time and vacations for working families trying to maintain what they have. But that discussion is for another day.

We may be the cultural capital of the world but we also have terrific outdoor things to do. The Appalachian Trail can be gotten to by the Metro-North at Pauling or the Day Line can take you to Bear Mountain. Oceans, rivers and the National Parks surround us. Teach your child to hunt and fish the proper way and they’ll respect nature for the rest of their lives. Spend the night away in a sleeping bag deep in the woods, looking at the stars and you’ll live longer, better. Get out of the theatre, studio or shop and enjoy life. Nobody on their deathbed ever wished they had spent more time at the office.

The Medium Is The Message

Many in the business world or right wing nut jobs (not that they are mutually exclusive) would have you believe that unions are an anachronism of a past Industrial Age. Hate to have to tell you this but collective bargaining and action are alive, well and seemingly getting stronger.

First there was the recent unpleasantness on Broadway. The "New Economy" and its adoration of the investor met an old-line craft union. Generations of relationships with the direct employers and the people who make them their money were tossed aside in pursuit of short term profit by, in essence, the renters of the employers property. The Producers resented the symbiotic relationship required of everyone in the communal art form that is theatre. Wharton School of Business doesn’t have a theatre department, which would have taught the students that Gordon Gecko was a fictional character in an art form designed to create illusions, the movies. Or perhaps it’s a knee jerk reaction to the liberal part of liberal arts. But I digress.

For those “New Economy” folks, what has happened in Times Square this week could be even more foreboding than an old union winning a strike against concessions. The creative types that Viacom exploits to sell its teen oriented products got tired of being punching bags for the bottom line and took to the streets in collective action. The use and abuse of those employees defined as freelancers, part time, independent contractors or long-term temps is an aspect of labor relations that the “New Media” relies on. Workers are viewed as a drag on profits and a managerial headache. Not only are office workers not viewed as a valued employee or even as a human but rather a disposable component of a multinational whole.

On Monday Viacom and MTV employees demonstrated a new willingness to take on the boss when Viacom bean counters, chasing the corporate mantra of getting more for less, starting another round of swapping around benefit plans in order to get less for less. The result would be that these permatemps would have to wait even longer for benefits. Oh, and another new paper employer, Cast and Crew that would keep the workers at a legal arms length. This kind of employer is a service common in the entertainment business where events are short term affairs and the contractor allows the service to do the back office tax and payroll duties. Large corporations, however, use them as a way to avoid paying benefits and reduce their own back office staff. Contract Out Everything 101 is a freshman requirement at Wharton.

While the anger is real and the needs great, the lack of several generations of protest and organizing became evident at MTV. This generation may have music videos, the Internet and You Tube; the loss of schooling in the history of social upheaval became evident, as did the fear that controls the work place. Where the stagehands refused to talk to the press it was because of the their personal knowledge of how the press twists the truth to fit a preconceived message that the front office wants to hear (every go to a show in preview and then read the review?). The writers and animators and assistants where not giving their names out of fear of retribution. “You want benefits and job security? I can hire the next college kid that walks in the door who would love to work here. What are you some kind of troublemaker?” So they demonstrated on their lunch hour.

Freelancers Walk Out at MTV Networks

But it worked. They attracted a get deal of attention; keep the pressure up and Viacom caved.

MTV to Let Freelancers Stay on Its Insurance

Anyone from the Sixties could have told them they would. They would know that it is people on the streets that get attention and not this load that was issued by Viacom.

"As you know, we’ve been holding information sessions over the past several days to discuss our freelance and temporary employee benefits. We’ve had many insightful conversations and heard a number of your specific concerns.

As a result of the input you’ve given to us directly through the sessions and your managers, we want to announce the following changes:"

Information sessions, my ass. It was your employment practices in the spotlight that did it. Left to your own devices nothing would have changed.

With entertainment being the second largest export today and the inability of the owners to ship out the culture to Asia, the “New Media” worker today have much more untapped power than they are aware of. It’s not the bosses who allow workers to organize into a unit; it’s the workers decision. They may be digital mills rather than steel mills or cotton mills or paper mills but to office workers they are mills nonetheless. And where there’s exploitation, there’s going to be unions.
Freelancers Union

Rat-ification

I've been holding off posting anything about the strike and the contract until it was ratified. There is a superstition in the business that you don't talk about a contract until it is signed because you could jinx the deal. As with any superstition it is more about fear than reality.

Having gone over the changes there's positives and negatives that, unless you're really in the business and understand how we work, are probably going to be to arcane to go into. There are changes to work rules that at this point don't seem particularly practical but the League fought for them and got them. Changes to lunch hours, changes to rehearsal requirements, show staffing, load-in staffing and more. Some of what has been codified has been in practice for many years and the new crop of Producers were unaware of what they could do. There was chronic problem during the negotiations of the League not understanding technology and terminology. The role of the flyman in particular was difficult for them to understand. After several explanations of how shows physically load-in, the League's negotiators still kept trying to remove the role of the flyman altogether. Several times they wanted the flyman only come for the electrics prehang and do the points later, which is a little like wanting to have the drywall hung before the carpenters have put up the studs.

For me I think that the biggest change occurred when the local theatrical community stood together to protect itself. This clearly defined to me the need for members to have a strong involvement of their Local, not just in the negotiating process but also in the activities of the Local on a day-to-day basis. It is the members who really understand how their work happens and should control the voice at the table if progressive improvements and adaptive changes need to be made. Union administration needs to be from the bottom up if members are going to be protected on the job. The further an officer gets from the load-in door, the more their focus is going to be on getting the deal done so he can move on to the next task/contract. We in Local One were very fortunate to have officers that have day-to-day contact with members and venues and value their input. This wasn’t always true in our Local but that changed. Nor can I say that is true the further up the food chain you go. It’s important that the employers understand what happens to their employees and this can only be done when we negotiate for “our” terms and “our” conditions. Outsiders most often just muddy the waters or worse, have their own agendas.
So if you’re a member of a union, get involved. Join a committee, be it a negotiating, safety, pension or any of the others. Understand how the process works. If you want good people to run you Local, start by running it yourself. Bring the needs of the members to the union and not the needs of the union to the members.

We did it and it works.

Finale

When the money runs out, so do we.

It would appear that the League took the old stagehand joke seriously. They burned through their $20 million in 2 1/2 weeks and promptly folded. And the deal went down along the lines that the Union had said, a fair exchange for work rules but no concessions.

Was a strike necessary? Evidently in the minds of certain Producers who seem to reflect the contemptuous attitude towards working people found among some bartenders, yes it was. There was going to be blood in the streets, one proclaimed.Literally, no. There were 500 people a day walking the picket lines in front of 27 venues for 10 hours a day for 19 days and, to my knowledge,not a single summons. But there was a tremendous display of solidarity from local unions inside and outside of the theatre community as well as support throughout the US, Canada and Europe.

If there was blood on the street, it flowed out from under the closed Box Office doors as productions hemorrhaged from lost ticket sales. If there was blood on the streets it was from restaurants, vendors, delis, hotels, cabs, novelty stores and other small business men and women who lost sales in order for some to gain more flexibility.

As business men and women who have an intimate knowledge of profit and loss statements (sometimes filed under fiction),the primary question will be when will they recoup what they've spent? I don't know the details of the changes in the contract or the potential impact on future productions but from what I understand, it will take a long, long time. Was it worth the disruption to the city? Was it worth the damage to the brand name that is "Broadway" that those of us who actually work in the theatre have struggled for years to attain and maintain?

It late, I'm bone tired and I have a show tomorrow. I don't have any answers to these questions nor is it even my place to try to answer them. There will be experts and pundits who will throughly discuss this in great detail and analysis right up until the start of the next news cycle.

Me, I'm just a stagehand who spends most of his time in the dark. And I'm going back to work.

Prop Man At The Last Supper

One of the best ways to demonstrate that the League has miscalculated Local One and it's membership was best summarized by a merchant on 46th St. He was reported to have said that by walking the picket line the members of Local One were working harder than they had in years. While this may have more openly shown the contempt that many of the aspiring nouveau and faux riche have for working people, it also demonstrates a lack of understanding of the inner strength that workers today need to have in order to survive today. They need that strength in order to survive downsizing and real estate inflation and diminished buying power of their wages and having their sons and daughters put in harms way. They need that strength in order to keep a household together when both parents have to work.

Walking a picket line with so many people and locations keeps a person from hearing all the stories of support given to the strikers but one story I heard stands out. At a meeting held the other day, among the things discussed was a need for volunteers in the office manning the phone bank. It was hoped to avoid a reoccurrence of the unfortunate loss we suffered earlier in the strike by protecting some of the older members from the inclement weather. As I’ve said earlier, we are accustomed to working in these kinds of conditions, unloading trucks and doing outdoor events but being in a union also means we protect our own.

There were no takers. The old timers felt that their presence on the line was more important than staying comfortable. Someone was quoted that being with my friends, protecting our jobs, keeps me warm.

So the League has gone to war with the stagehands over a philosophy of more. They need more flexibility, more profit and quicker returns to the investors, more latitude to do away with the way of doing things that they don’t understand the why or how the situation or job condition came into being. So be it. They weighed the profit and loss that was going to happen when they were knew there was going to be a strike or lockout and felt that the idea of more was of greater importance than a sense of community in creating an art form. And while they may share the contempt for working people that the hash slinger on 46th St. has, they also did not understand the soul of a union member. They did not understand the hardness it takes to get by in this world of diminished expectations, the fierce protectiveness of each other when threatened or our strength in numbers. This is not just stagehands I’m talking about. The whole theatrical community has come together because they know that they are probably next in the Leagues game plan.

Just be aware that you are taking on the young and fit and the old and hard. I suspect that was the fatal flaw in your plans.

A Little Ray Of Sunshine

Carajoy over at Full Force Theater Musings provides a very clear headed analysis of the recent past and present state of labor affairs on Broadway. Recommended reading.

It's also heartwarming to receive the outpouring of support on the picket line. One of the quickest ways to a stagehands heart is through his or her stomach. The local merchants and other unions have kept us going. Not just the craft truck sent by Local 52, the IATSE film local, which was great but also the food sent over by Local 6 Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union. Food and coffee from deli's and restaurants keep us going day and night. Individuals bring boxes of pizzas. It's really just amazing. I'm sure it's happening on every street where there's a picket line so if I try to thank every one individually, I'm sure to miss someone.Thank you every one.

Also a big thank you to Father Baker from the Actor's Chapel. He's been terrific with our spiritual needs. In fact, according to rumor, his support of the theatre community has threatened some of his funding. Certain folks want their ministering left to Sundays, thank you very much. I would suggest that the loss of big checks could be replaced by a whole lot of small ones. Set up an auto draft of $10 a week to St. Malachys. It won't hurt a bit, I promise. There are a lot of good programs there, every day of the week.

Requiem

Yes, as through this world I've wandered I've seen lots of funny men; some will rob you with a six-gun, And some with a fountain pen”
Woody Guthrie

One of our own died last night on the picket line. He died because an irresponsible commitment to improving margins. He died because of inflammatory rhetoric. He died because of a lack of compassion and a misplaced sense of entitlement.

But he also died because of his own drive to see the fight thought to the end. He died because of his commitment to improving the life of his natural family, his extended family and his community. He died for all the right reasons and all the wrong reasons. We, as his coworkers and fellow union members are filled with sadness at his loss, his loss for all the wrong reasons. We are also filled with admiration for his care, his love, his drive.

Black armbands had spontaneously appeared on the line throughout the day. Most were made of nice pieces of velour from the ladies of the wardrobe union. Some made from duvateen from television studios and other sources. Duvateen is a simple black cloth that is used for masking sets, a tool. Today that simple tool was turned into a symbol of mourning and resistance.

Tonight we gathered by his stagedoor. It was a brief time for him and for us. The solemnity of the moment was marked by its quietude. We, as a group, tend towards volubility, a love of talk, chat, gossip and verbal gymnastics. There was none of that in the breezeway tonight. His loss fundamentally changed the nature of our struggle. This fight stopped being a fight over money and became struggle for our dignity.

Our Pastor, who has stood by us, said the classic prayers. There were a few words from union leaders and we quietly drifted away.

Whatever happens with the contract, whatever happens to the conditions and the money, his loss and how and why it happened will be remembered for a generation.

Normally we would expect this event to simply end up on a paragraph in the back of the tabloid with a headline, ”Stagehand Dies In A Fight Over Money”. But his passing and how it happened will be written large for us for a long time. It will be burned into our hearts and taught to those who follow us.

Friday a stagehand died in a fight over money. Don’t ever forget.

Clearly Channeling a lot of crap.

From Boston.com comes a story that is sounding a little familiar.

"For 34 years, Bill Trowbridge was a sign hanger, one of those guys who puts up billboards."

"Five years ago, the media conglomerate Clear Channel bought the company and tried to make a profitable business more profitable. They offered buyouts that cut the 48 employees in Local 391 of the sign workers in half. But that wasn't enough.
Last March, Clear Channel told the remaining workers that they were unilaterally changing their hours, wages, and benefits. Men who were making $24 an hour, working a 40-hour week, were told they would be paid $15 per sign and would have to hustle to do as many signs as they could, safety be damned, with work hours set arbitrarily by management."

In 2004, the AFL-CIO commissioned a report on Clear Channel by Cornell University, It said, "The study also details at length Clear Channel’s growing web of influence in the political arena, a troubled history of adversarial labor relations and pattern of scofflaw behavior that has resulted in Clear Channel being sanctioned by federal and state agencies. Chelli Penigree, president of Common Cause, singled out the report’s examples of the Clear Channel money trail “which details a carefully crafted, money-driven development of insider connections not only with George W. Bush but with the rest of the Republican-controlled federal government as well.”

The entire report can be found at Clear Channel Final Report. In the Labor Relations section on Page 28, it says that "Clear Channel's business model is based on providing low cost media and entertainment services. The company typically seeks overall labor reductions by consolidating operations and eliminating positions, introducing labor saving technologies, concessionary bargaining with unions, and even pursuing union decertification. These strategies have a negative impact on employment and labor standards in the industry segments where the company operates. "

Are you a Springsteen fan? You won't hear his new album on a Clear Channel. From Fox News. "Bruce Springsteen should be very happy. He has the No. 1 album, a possible Grammy for Best Album of the Year for "Magic," an album full of singles and a sold-out concert tour.
Alas, there’s a hitch: Radio will not play "Magic." "In fact, sources tell me that Clear Channel has sent an edict to its classic rock stations not to play tracks from "Magic." But it’s OK to play old Springsteen tracks such as "Dancing in the Dark," "Born to Run" and "Born in the USA." He's being "Dixie Chicked"

What;s this to do with our little set to? Want to know who's driving this bus? IBDB has the list of shows Clear Channel has done on Broadway, either it or SFX. The SFX that was started by, sold by and bought back at fire sale terms by,Bobby Sillerman. NYT. "Grosses? You don't need no stinkin grosses." This from the NY Times article about the sale. "David Miller, an analyst at Sanders Morris Harris, said the executives had stated on conference calls and in visits with investors that "they were committed to the entertainment business for the long term."Mr. Miller added that "ultimately, what did them in is, the Clear Channel Entertainment brand name doesn't hold a lot of good will in the live entertainment community." This guy Miller has a degree in understatement.

My guess that Clear Channel is quite comfortable with fellow Texan, Charlotte, fronting for them. And just as comfortable that we're out on the street.

Tiger's heart wrapped in a Player's hide.

The labor dispute on Broadway reveals again just how far we as a society have gone from in putting the needs of the moneyed ahead of all else. The wealthy piously speak of a need to get a good return on their investment at the expense of the society around them and demand that this outlook should form our own. We are told that our core as humans is about commerce rather than community.

What is art? Is it an experience or an investment? The actors in The Lord Chamberlain's Men had shares in the company. Did they create Shakespeare’s greatest plays for profit or the joy of storytelling? Did Pirandello take over the Teatro d'Arte di Roma because he was a Fascist or because Fascism and Mussolini allowed him his self-expression?

Bertolt Brecht believed that it was the duty of theatre to educate. "It is the noblest function that we have found for 'theatre'". He wrote "The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny" because he thought operas had become too full of ritual and bereft of substance. Yet could he have come to that conclusion if he had not lived in decadent Weimar Germany? Could he have survived in East Germany if he did not have the income from the Berliner Ensemble?

Who will inherit the mantle of O’Neill, Miller, Mamet or Shepard, the hard, American playwrights? What investor will step forward and say that the duty of theatre is to teach and create a collective experiment for both the artist and audience? We have our own wars, dispossessed populations, people making hard choices about family and life and death. Who is telling those stories? And why aren’t people watching? Or is that they simply cannot find an outlet?

I would be a lot more willing to make the sacrifices that I’m being told to make if the stories that were being told had meaning beyond a return on an investment. If audiences came out of the theatre with a different outlook on life instead of with a smile and some merchandise, then I could feel that I’m involved with something resembling art.

I’ll help sell your tickets and help promote your entertainment but your cause is not my cause. You may hire me as and consider me to be no more than menial labor but I spend far more time in a playhouse than you and consider its forms. This is my home and I have seen the power of the performance so ephemeral that it disappears with the first burst of applause. I've felt the audience respond with rapt attention and an explosion of joy.

The power of the art form is in the message not the profit. Speaking for myself, your cause is not my cause.

We will do whatever it takes for as long as it takes.

Solidarity

That's not just a word to the Broadway theatrical community. For the second time in this decade, we have felt it and lived it. And each time that solidarity is tested, we become stronger for it, individually and as a community. You, the Producer, do this. We rediscover that part of the human spirit that we have been alienated from, the power of the group, the tribe, the union. This is a sense that can only be found during times of mutual trial.

Today started with a sense of solemn commitment. We were beginning a course of action that was not one we chose but rather one that was forced upon us. There were no cheers when the crews walked out of their theatres. There were no cheers when those out on the street refused to pick up their tools and instead picked up picket signs. We had to break our first commandment, “the show must go on.”

It was a trial. As a group, we had to call on those skills most commonly found inside of the theatre, not outside of one. We had to organize ourselves into action, with an aim and a goal. The groundwork had been laid and we had been given our new tools but we had to learn how to really use them. Some started to walk right away and some defiantly stood their ground. Through the long morning and afternoon some of us discovered we had not dressed warmly enough. All of us have worked in the cold, the heat, and the rain so weather is not something we are unaccustomed to. We just need to be prepared. Some of use got foot weary. All of us have spent hours upon hours on our feet, in grids, on trucks, on studio floors. This not something we are unaccustomed to. We just need to be prepared. Now we know what to expect. It will be like any long load-in, hour upon hour on our feet, in the cold. This not something we are unaccustomed to.

The late afternoon was the hardest. We were alone on the line. We were tired, cold, sore and determined.

Then they started to arrive. The other members of our theatrical community joined us on the line and spirits lifted. Where there were a few determined people trudging along, now there were many. Now there was cheering when passing cars honked in support. Matrons of a certain age, union members for decades, carried signs and smiled. House Managers, Box Office Personnel, Chorus Members, Dancers, Actors, Musicians, union members all, walked and carried signs in support of our common struggle. And we did what we knew best. We had a big finish.

You have united us as a community.

We will do whatever it takes for as long as it takes. This not something we are unaccustomed to. We’ve put your shows on. We have worked long hours and not seen home but briefly, for weeks at a time. Sacrifices come with the entrance into this community. Sacrifices you now seem to be unaware of but we know intimately. And now that common strength is united against you and we will not fail.

We will do whatever it takes for as long as it takes.

Pigs, Lipstick, Producers and the Press

In The Playgoer post about Linda Winer’s complaint about the Producers of “Walmartopia” and "Grease" pulling quotes, he cites a made up word to describe the situation, contextomy. Here is an example of just what I was describing in my previous post about the stagehands that complain about the press publishing the “lies” that the League of American Theatres and Producers are putting out about Local One without the context. Readers tend to accept on the surface what is printed or published but when a writer is personally involved, they’re shocked that the news bears little semblance to the truth. The Critics Circle wants to create a “commission” to research ethical breaches in the area of theatre reviews. A lot of research has already been done about the whole lack of quality journalism at FAIR or Project Censured. I would suggest that Howard Kissel, who is to run the Commission, start searching for ethical breaches on the front page and work his way back to the sports pages.

Reducing The Odds

The League is linking shows closing to the cost of labor. Somehow "Ring of Fire" was more expensive than "Jersey Boys". "Festen" and "The Pirate Queen" were more expensive than "Spring Awakening". They all loaded in with the same size crews. The only real difference is that some were hits and some weren't. The Producers are telling each other (and their Investors) that if only we could reduce costs, we would have hits, hits and more hits. The way I see it is that this like going to a casino and telling the waitress that brings you drinks she needs to work for less because you don't like the odds at the craps table.

The head of the League, Charlotte St. Martin (formerly of the hospitality industry where they know how to treat workers. According to a Pew Study, 17% of all illegal Mexican immigrants work in the hospitality industry.) takes a chapter out the old union-busting handbook and makes illusions to what had been known as "featherbedding" (being forced to hire workers for jobs that don't exist any more due to technology). There's a saying in my business. "A lack of planning on your part does not necessarily constitute an emergency on my part." If the production team for the show doesn't have it's act together and wastes time, this is my problem how, exactly? On the shows I've worked, this poor planning is found more frequently with less experienced teams, with less experienced producers, usually in shows that are done on the cheap. Shows that close quickly but have generated income for the Producers in preproduction, at the expense of the Investors, for months if not years.

By lowering the bar for production, you'll lower the bar for production values. The Producers will take Investor's money for weaker and weaker shows (Batman, The Musical, Abie's Irish Rose, The Musical). By lowering production values, you end up with lifetime work for Producers, greater risk for Investors and a cheapening of the brand that is Broadway.

The Business Of Bway

I’d be more inclined to protect these investors if the investors had a little better sense of theatre. If they knew more of David Merrick and less of Rupert Murdock we wouldn’t be loading in shows the likes of Festen, Lestat, or The Pirate Queen. Never heard of them. It’s because they didn’t last very long, They weren’t very good. As the Broadway expression goes, “people stayed away in droves.”
The investors could go to the NYC Public Library, go to the classics section and begin their theatre education there. Instead they seem to have developed their theatrical investing style out of the Daily Racing Form or the craps table in Atlantic City. Roll the dice and make big money. What they also seem to fail to understand is that while they may be risking their disposable income on a long shot, the actors, stagehands, dressers, musicians, ushers and others who make this magic happen (and no, a flying car is not magic) are risking mortgage payments, tuition payments, credit card payments, food shopping and other trivial items when we make a commitment to spend six nights and eights shows a week on this turkey for months at a time, even before it opens.
The biggest difference seems to be that we went into this transient business knowing that every show closes, there would be times when we have to scramble for work, that we would work on turkeys. When we “don’t send your laundry out.” We also make the big money possible. We run the Phantoms, the Les Miz’s, The Lion Kings, the Miss Saigon's, the Chorus Lines for six nights a week, 52 weeks a year in small, cramped, often outdated theatres. At home and on the road.
If these investors would spend as much time reading the Bard was well as Barron’s they would know that Life is but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more. Understand the business better, understand the art better and you’ll make better investments.
We know what we are, but not what we may be.