What's the history of the Huntington's relationship with commercial producers?

Peter DuBois

by Peter DuBois

The Boston Globe reported recently on an upcoming study about the partnership between the non-profit-theatre and commercial producers. The study was sponsored by the Center for Theater Commons at Emerson College and written by Diane Ragsdale.

With respect to the Huntington, its true that we occasionally collaborate with commercial producers, and we believe that this can be accomplished in ways that stay on mission.

I encourage you to read the Globe article and to think about your own response to the questions raised. The Globe reported a short overview of our history of collaborations that involved commercial producers. In the interest of transparency and adding additional facts to the conversation, here's the full history of the Huntington's relationship with commercial producers, dating back to the our founding.

What do you think about the relationship between non-profit theatres and commercial producers? If you're an audience member, do you think it's impacted your experience at the Huntington?

My tenure: 5 seasons, 3 projects scheduled in collaboration with commercial producers (one dropped out before production), and one co-produced with a New York-based non-profit 

2012-2013 Season
Our Town
In collaboration with an Off Broadway commercial producer

2011 – 2012 Season 
Sons of the Prophet
Co-production with New York-based non-profit

Captors
In collaboration with an outside producer

2008-2009 Season
Pirates! 
Scheduled with the with the participation of an outside producer who ultimately pulled out before production

The Nicholas Martin years: 8 seasons, 7 projects in collaboration with commercial producers including 3 with Broadway in Boston

2007-2008 Season
Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps
West-End transfer transferred directly to Broadway

2006-2007 Season
Radio Golf
Pre-Broadway production with commercial producers involved

2004-2005 Season
Gem of the Ocean
Pre-Broadway production with commercial producers involved

2003-2004 Season
As You Like It
Commercial touring production co-produced with Broadway in Boston

2002-2003 Season
Marty 
Produced in collaboration with commercial producers

2001-2002 Season
Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Toward the Somme
Produced in association with Broadway in Boston, direct transfer to Lincoln Center Theatre

2000-2001 Season
Fully Committed
Produced in association with Broadway in Boston

The Peter Altman years: 18 seasons, 7 projects in collaboration with commercial producers

1999-2000 Season
King Hedley
Produced in collaboration with commercial producers

1998-1999 Season
Jitney
Produced in collaboration with commercial producers, no commercial run

1995-1996 Season
Seven Guitars
Produced in collaboration with commercial producers, pre-Broadway run

The Young Man from Atlanta
Enhanced by commercial producers, ran on Broadway in 1997

1992-1993 Season
Pal Joey
Enhanced by commercial producers

1990-1991 Season
Two Trains Running
Produced in collaboration with commercial producers, pre-Broadway run

1987-1988 Season
The Piano Lesson
Produced in collaboration with commercial producers, pre-Broadway run

Hail Hail - Radio Golf

The gangs all here!

There's a lot of love from theatres all over the country (Yale Rep, Mark Taper Forum, Seattle Rep, Center Stage, Huntington Theatre Company, the Goodman Theatre, The McCarter Theatre) pouring towards the Cort Theatre on Broadway tonight for the Opening of Radio Golf.

Best wishes and congratulations to all of our Radio Golf friends tonight! Break a leg!

addendum: Here's a photo from the Broadway Opening Night Party



Kenny Leon, Anthony Chisholm, Tonya Pinkins, James A. Williams and Harry Lennix. See this and more opening night photos from BroadwayWorld.com here. For Broadway tickets and information visit www.RadioGolfonBroadway.com

Pulitzer Picks? Norton Nods?

Playbill news this morning names our first three plays of the season as Pulitzer contenders; August Wilson's Radio Golf, Teresa Rebeck's Mauritius, and David Lindsay Abaire's Rabbit Hole.

Read the Playbill.com article here.

In local news - The Elliot Norton Award nominations are also out. Nods were given in a variety of categories to Love's Labour's Lost, Radio Golf, and Mauritius. Exhibitionist has the details.

New Toys

My previously planned Friday post has been delayed, so I thought I would try out a new blog toy... a live poll widget. I like toys. Widgets are good. It's from polldaddy.com - how could one possibly resist? And polls can be fun. Really. Give it a try...



What other topics would make for a fun poll? Click on "Join the conversation!" below and let me know.

Addendum:

I found another toy tonight. I'll now be sharing news and blog items of interest (at least of interest to me) with you. Look for Todd's reading list on the right hand sidebar.

BTW - Kate Burton was WONDERFUL on Grey's Anatomy last night. Missed it? Watch the episode titled Wishin' and Hopin' here.

Where the money goes

I prepared substance of this post (and the next few) as a tool for our Development department to illustrate what the production department spends it's budgets on. Looking back on it last week for an update I thought it might be fun to share it with you, along with some photos of our productions over the last few years. Enjoy!


$50 Buys two gallons of scenic paint. Our paint shop uses an average of 40 gallons per show, over 300 gallons in a season. Left over paint is mixed and treated with flame proofing compounds to be used as a fire retardant back paint on our scenery to meet fire code and help insure the safety of our staff and patrons. In this picture you can see the scenery representing the Baths created for our 2005 production of The Rivals. The dimension seen on this exterior is 30% real, 70% paint technique. Photo: T. Charles Erickson



$100 Buys some beautiful wool fabric imported from England from which to tailor a man's suit. For the entire suit, that's about three yards - then we add linings, interlinings, buttons, zippers, etc. Not to mention the tailoring itself! Some of that is done in house, some is sent out. We purchase “stock” fabrics, such as linings, muslins, and the above wool cloth each season in bulk, often from overseas, for the quality and reasonable cost. Pictured here are the sharply attired Roosevelt Hicks (James A. Williams) and Harmond Wilks (Hassan El-Amin) in our Fall 2006 production of August Wilson's Radio Golf. Photo: Eric Antoniou.



$175 Condoms for a musical. Yup, condoms. There seems to be something in the water here, with 10% of the production staff this year welcoming a newborn family member, but that has nothing to do with our support of the Trojans. Musicals often require wireless microphones which consist of two parts; the first is the mic, which is often placed in the actor’s hair or wig. The second is the transmitter, which is hidden on the performer in any number of locations, such as the small of the back, inner thigh, or even under a wig. You can imagine these locations can get moist and steamy as we have not yet developed actors who don’t sweat. Electronics and moisture don’t mix well so to protect the actor and equipment the transmitter is protected by an (un-lubricated) condom. One per actor per show. Shown here is the full cast of the Huntington Theatre Company's 2005 production of Falsettos. Photo: T. Charles Erickson




$350 Gets us 18 sheets of ¼” MDF, or 19 pieces of 24’ 1” tube steel, or 650 board feet of 1”x 4 “pine, or twenty four 30’ tape measures, or six “kegs” of screws and fasteners. Materials for our scenery can range from $14,000 for a small show such as 2006's The Road Home to $50,000 for a large show such as Love's Labour's Lost, with that amazing tree. A musical which can included many computer controlled winches that speedily moved scenery on and off stage can easily top $100,000, illustrating one of the reasons we don't do them that often. In this photo Dumaine (Eric Anderson) proclaims his love thru poetry as his compatriots peer down from a tree in the our 2006 production of Shakespeare’s comedy, Love’s Labour’s Lost, directed by Nicholas Martin. Photo: © T. Charles Erickson.

I might get another post out this week as it will be pretty quiet around here tomorrow, but if not I'll give my Thanksgiving nod now. Thank you to my staff and co-workers for making this job such a pleasure. Most of the time. Really.

Dress Rehearsals - Day 8 and 7

Day 8: Tuesday, October 31

Yesterday’s work has paid off. The set is looking great and it’s fun to look around and find the new stuff. Pictured here is assistant Props Master Brandon Ribordy admiring the fridge dressing. What’s wrong with this picture? Stainless steel does not attract magnets. We faked it.

Today is our second 10 out of 12 (ten rehearsal hours in a 12 hour span). I have a feeling we’ll be out early again. We start with tech of the last scene. Costumes has scrambled and will be ready to put everyone in costume for 1PM. Six hours earlier than originally scheduled. We’re ahead and we’re ready to see the clothes and try all of the fast changes.

The cast gets to eat a lot of dessert in this show. Crème caramel (yogurt), lemon squares, and a chocolate birthday cake (sugar free, no trans fat). Any local bakeries care to help out??? There’s a fair share wine consumed as well. That’s just still water with a little coloring.

I’m right. We end early, shortly after 10 pm.

Day 7: Wednesday, November 1

This afternoon we do a little tech stuff in the afternoon, and then a full dress run in the evening. There’s a cake crisis today. We don’t have a (working) oven on site, still can’t find a local bakery that does sugar free (what’s up with that Whole Foods??) and the cast doesn’t want leftovers. Props asks if they can run over to my apt and bake. Unfortunately I recently let my housekeeper go and there is no way I’m letting anyone near my kitchen with out spending a few hours cleaning up. We discover that one of our microwaves is a convection combo and the baking experiments begin. It was all frustrating and silly but if that’s the biggest problem we’re fixating on I’m not too worried. What are some of the other issues… it’s a little tricky to plumb a sink that moves around onstage. Much like an RV we have to use a pump to get the water flowing. And a pump makes noise. Another issue is the TV where the hubby watches his videos. We’ve managed to place the screen so it’s not visible to the audience, and now we’re working to make it look like it’s actually playing something so that you’ll see the light flashing realistically. It will take a bit of playing around to get it right.

My new laptop arrived this afternoon, so I got a chance to play a little. Found this on Julie White (Bad Dates and the title character in Persephone performed at our Breaking Ground festival last spring). Julie is so much fun… she guest judges on Iron Chef America once in a while and steals the show.

And Radio Golf scene designer David Gallo talks about his latest project Evil Dead:The Musical on the NY Times website. I’m not sure how to link directly to the slideshow, so look for the audio slide show link in the multimedia square. David was telling us back in September about all of the fun they were having with the blood FX.

(Photo: Julie White in Bad Dates. Photo taken by T. Charles Erikson)

Stumbling around

Here are a few things I've stumbled upon in the last several days. It's not necessarily about backstage at the Huntington, more about what catches my eye. If you want the backstage stuff you gotta ask...

For our Tom Stoppard fans, a neat article in the New York Times about the new Stoppard trilogy coming up at the Lincoln Center. It talks about the difficulties of getting such a large production together, and finding name actors, directors, and designers to commit for such a long period. Good luck to them. While I'd love to tackle a project with a $7m budget someday, I'm glad we don't do rep!

Also, via email, an invitation from Jim Petosa, Director of the School of Theatre: Jim says "I am writing to get word to you about an exciting performance opportunity coming up this weekend at the Boston University Theatre. The School of Theatre will be presenting Tom Stoppard and Andre Previn's collaborative piece for six actors and 47 piece orchestra, EVERY GOOD BOY DESERVES FAVOUR. This a fine piece of theatre that is seldom seen because of its unique requirements. If you would like to attend please contact the box office at 617 933 8600." or visit www.bostontheatrescene.com

I enjoyed this article in the Globe by Catherine Foster about new play development in Boston (and well, yes, the Huntington).

Congrats to cast, crew, staff......... EVERYONE on a great opening night for Mauritius last night. A full house of family, friends, and press filled the Wimberly for an energetic and exciting performance, followed by a cast party in Deane Hall. We're keeping our fingers crossed for good reviews in the Friday papers. Mauritius Factoids: Did you know that one million in hundred dollar bills weighs 20lbs? The suitcase full of cash (theoretically) contains $3 million (yet since it's a prop only weighs 10-15lbs) and yes, we'll fix the latch.

In this morning's email:

"Hi - I want to express how nice everyone was working on the play.
What a good staff. I also liked the theater.
By very best to you all"
(Scenic Designer) Eugene Lee

Last but not least, some of my favs: my two favorite local Arts blogs are Joel Brown's HubArts.com and the Boston Globe's Exhibitionist ("Buzz Off, Huntington!" says Geoff Edgers). Playbill.com and TCG have the word on Theatre across the nation. And for local folks in the biz... StageSource.

(as for the photo... Well everyone was stumbling around, over, under and through the Radio Golf set on Monday as it sat in our Huntington Ave shops waiting to be loaded into three semi trucks bound for Chicago on Tuesday)

Sneak Peek!

So here's the first sneak peek... a preliminary model photo of ACT II of The Cherry Orchard with scenery designed by Ralph Funicello.

Mauritius is beginning to settle into a nice run, with preview performances and rehearsals this week, with ongoing work on the show by director Rebecca Taichman and playwright Theresa Rebeck. This work paid off on Sunday Night with our first standing ovation. We struggled to find the right feel and look for the living room making many changes in the set dressing. Thanks to everyone who kept on going until we found the right look.

Oh yeah, Radio Golf closes on Sunday, and rehearsals for Rabbit Hole begin today.

Again, welcome to the Huntington's blog. I'm new at this... And trying to figure out what you're interested in hearing about what goes on behind the scenes at the Huntington. A little bit about me.... As production manager I oversee all of the individual production departments including Scenery, Paints, Properties, Costumes, Lighting, Sound and Stage Management. We have over 30 full time and seasonal production staff, and we can add another 30 -40 part time technicians and artisans on any particular production. I also work with our other departments (artistic, general management, finance, development, marketing, education, and the BU Theatre program) to plan and coordinate budgets, seasons, design teams, and operational issues. I'm celebrating my 15th season with the Huntington this year.

Have a question for me? Shoot me an email at twilliams@huntingtontheatre.bu.edu or post a comment on the blog. I'll see what kind of response I get and post something again by week's end.

(Photo above: The Cherry Orchard set design by Ralph Funicello.)

September was extremely busy for our Production Department

From Todd Williams, Production Manager:

September was a busy month with the opening of Radio Golf and rehearsals for Mauritius. Our opening night festivities for Radio Golf were held in the scene shop and paint shop, which were completely transformed from busy work spaces to a dramatic party space, complete with beautiful lighting, and costumes and props from past shows on display. The shops looked absolutely fantastic and were enjoyed by all. Thanks to all of the staff that worked so hard to make it happen.

Production Departments Heads (Dan, Kris, Roberto, Nancy, Brian, Ben and Kat) also gave tours on our annual subscriber reception on Sept 19th, and enjoyed the enthusiasm and interest from both our new and long time loyal subscribers.

I’ve wrapped up some of the lingering details on Radio Golf as we now work to get it ready to travel again in mid October. Next stop is Chicago’s Goodman Theatre in January and then to the McCarter in New Jersey come March. Both companies are sending staff here to see the show, and to take a look at the set… and here’s another shout out to the folks at Seattle Rep who have done such great work from getting all of the props, costumes and set dressing from the Yale Rep and Center Theatre Group and then built David Gallo’s beautiful set. I’d better not forget Centerstage who also had a great run of this production. While we often prefer doing our own thing from start to finish it has been very satisfying to be part of this final August Wilson production and to work with so many of our colleagues across the country.

We have loaded in Eugene Lee’s gritty Mauritius set at the Wimberly Theatre and getting the motors rigged and programmed for the scene changes. The cluttered stamp shop continues to fill with philately paraphernalia, keeping our props staff, Kris Holmes and Brandon Ribordy, VERY busy. Our Technical Director, Dan Ramirez, is heading to Broadway to help install our set for the Broadway Run of Butley.


The scenery for Rabbit Hole is coming along well…. Jim Noone’s homey scenic design features a living room, bedroom, and kitchen surrounded by the skeletal form of the house’s exterior. We’re trying out a new computer system to run the automation, the techies among you can check it out here. And we’re hoping super retailer IKEA is going to sign on as a production sponsor and come through for us with a kitchen full of cabinets and stainless steel appliances. The design team for The Cherry Orchard is beginning to find the shape of the show and we’re hoping for prelim scenic designs from legendary Ralph Funicello any day now. This season holds great promise for some outstanding design from some of the nations top theatre artists.

Enough for today… I’m giving myself a headache thinking about it all. I promise to post some sneak peek photos in future entries. (Photo above: Radio Golf set design by David Gallo.)