|
|
Photo Mary Ann Bragg
Guy Wolf will assume the position of managing and artistic director of the Provincetown Players. |
|
|
Provincetown Players emerge
By Mary Ann Bragg & Kaimi Rose Lum
Banner Staff
PROVINCETOWN - Two local theater groups - one community based, one primarily for professional actors - have joined forces as a single company called the Provincetown Players. The two groups have also agreed to jointly take over ownership of a theater on Bradford Street built for their benefit.
In a muggy meeting room above The Schoolhouse Galleries Tuesday night, members of the Provincetown Theatre Company, the community group, voted to confirm what had already been approved two days earlier by the board of the Provincetown Repertory Theatre.
The merger will occur on Jan. 1, although there are still corporate legalities and financial debt sharing to iron out. “Provincetown Players,” a title used in theater circles here in the early 1900s, will be the common name. Guy Wolf, who is now closely associated with the community company, will assume the role of managing and artistic director.
The enthusiasm in the room was reflected in the unanimous votes taken, although doubts prevailed about the loss of the community group's 42-year-old identity and the risk of covering operating expenses and the remaining $700,000 mortgage on the building.
The theater is in its second season and is owned by the Provincetown Theater Foundation.
In concept, the building will remain in the name of the foundation, but the membership of the foundation board of directors will change to be identical to the Provincetown Players board.
“The mistakes will be ours collectively,” PTC board member Bob Seaver told those on Tuesday night who asked about debts that might accumulate.
PTC president Howard Burchman appealed to the group's emotions, saying “If we don't do this thing, if we're not in that building, that would be unthinkable.”
Of the roughly 70 people at Tuesday's meeting, leaders from all theater organizations (the PTC, the Rep and the foundation) were present and spoke in favor of the merger.
There are financial issues to consider, though. The two theater companies each have $70,000 to $80,000 in debt. Neither of the two companies have substantial assets to their names. “We have minimal assets, like any good non-profit theater, and not a great deal of money in the bank,” Rep president Ron Robin said this week.
Both companies have annual operating budgets in the range of $180,000 to $200,000. They have projected a joint annual budget in the range of $300,000.
The three existing theater organizations are charitable non-profits.
The move to create the Provincetown Players and change ownership of the building came after a foundation board of directors vote, the results of which were released to donors over the weekend. Foundation co-chair Michael Fernon said this week that the merger is what donors have suggested all along. “It's all been in an effort to simplify the operations, from the public's view, the donors' point-of-view,” he said. “It's so confusing to have these three organizations. You're not always clear who you wrote a check to, and it's an effort to continue to extend the mission of the foundation, which is to provide a home for the two companies.”
Fernon said the foundation owes $700,000 on the building, which cost roughly $3 million to build. The foundation also has an endowment of $125,000 that is designed to underwrite the operating expenses of the building, and assets that include land on Harry Kemp Way and an association with a local ticketing agency. “We're actually in the black, surprisingly enough,” Fernon said.
(In a letter to the members, PTC president Burchman characterized the foundation as having an operating budget deficit, which he retracted on Tuesday night.)
In addition to increasing donations through a unified “Provincetown Players” message to donors, Burchman said he expected the single company to be more cognizant of “the bottom line” in its booking decisions and in staffing. Burchman also suggested that a community theatrical production and a professional production could be given in a same evening, using an economy of set design.
The new “Provincetown Players” director, Guy Wolf, chimed in as well that more grants could be applied for with the new joint venture, and perhaps a development staff person hired. “We really need one,” Wolf said.
mabragg@provincetownbanner.com
|
In the News
|
|
|
|
|
Sep 1st, 2005