More Theater Woes

Running a Community Theater is no picnic. For the most part, the problem is that the same people running it are playing in it. There seems to be no way around this. It's a non-profit, so there's really no reason to do it except to provide entertainment for both the audience and the actors. Commercial theaters have the profit motive, and so can attract executives whose sole purpose is to execute in order to make money.

The Sam Bass Theater has been producing a full season of shows since (I think) 1982. The uncertainty comes from a definition of "full season." Our season now has more shows than it did then. How many shows make a season? I'd say that producing shows year-round makes a full-time theater.

Back to the business of having the Board of Directors working all the shows. The Board members are not paid. Nobody is. So the same people who volunteer their time five evenings a week for rehearsals, and then four evenings (well, three evenings and an afternoon) a week during the actual performance run, are also coping with publicity, finding volunteers for the box office, building the sets, maintaining the buildings and grounds, managing the finances, etc., etc. Couple that with the fact that very few of us are retired or otherwise free of the necessity to show up at a job almost every day, and you have a situation where people get burned out.

I keep standing for re-election in my position on the Board for two reasons. First, I consider it paying my dues for the privilege of being on the stage, and second, I like to have a voice in how the place is run. I have devoted many hours to my theater hobby over the years; acting, stage managing, running lights and sound, running props, building costumes and sets and directing. In addition, I have put in a total of three seasons on the Board (so far), all in the position of House Manager. Being the House Manager means that I keep the place clean and stocked with necessities like toilet paper and ice, and I also try to find volunteers to run the Box Office and serve refreshments at intermission. It is really the least arduous position on the Board, but it still absorbs a lot of time. If none of my volunteers wants to work a performance, I must do it. In recent years, with all of us having more demands on our time, I have been running the box office for the majority of the performances.

We're not even talking about the huge time commitment of other Board positions, which involve committees to award scholarships, apply for funding, select the Season plays, sell ads in the program and other seriously necessary activities. Designing programs and maintaining the website are both full-time jobs.

I love this theater, and I have seen it change and improve over the years. Now, we need so much more than we have needed in the past. We have been a small theater, started when Round Rock was a small town. We are still a small theater, but the town has grown from 10,000 to 80,000 over the past 23 years. We need a bigger space, including storage and rehearsal space, and more funding.

We are now going into a new season, and hoping for the best.