CHALLENGE: To document a theatre’s history for professionals and patrons.
PLAN: Create a celebratory book marking an anniversary.
WHAT WORKED: Blending archival material with new content created for the occasion.
WHAT DIDN’T: Deadlines are tricky with numerous contributors; sorting through old photos can be labor intensive.
WHAT’S NEXT: Commemorative books and playscripts by print-on-demand facilities.
With so many theatre companies across the U.S. passing new milestones every year, it would be impossible for American Theatre to cover them all and have room for other articles. (If the magazine had an anniversary section, it would read like a Facebook wall smothered in “Happy Birthday!” wishes.) Still, each anniversary a theatre celebrates is a chance for hard-working theatremakers and devoted audience members to pause, take stock and rejoice. Occasionally, in addition to throwing a fleeting gala, a theatre decides to create a lasting tribute to how far it has come and sometimes even where it plans to go next. Recently, three very different books marking 50-year, 35-year and 20-year theatre birthdays caught our eye.
In annotating past productions, gathering photos and culling essays from artists who have shaped the company’s existence, books from Dallas Theater Center, Shotgun Players in Berkeley, Calif, and Soho Rep in New York City tell their theatres’ stories while also reflecting the unique artistic voice they’ve developed over the years.
50 Is Nifty
The Dallas Theater Center had put together small-scale anniversary books in the past, but for its half-century celebration in 2009, the company’s leadership decided to create a hardcover volume that would suit the top of a coffee table. “We were moving from one architectural masterpiece, the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Kalita Humphreys Theater, to another, the space designed by prize-winning architect Rein Koolhaas, which is named after DTC life trustee Charles Wyly,” explains trustee Sarah Warnecke. The moment called for a book that, would chronicle the passing of time but also mark the change of venue.
According to Amy Webber, director of publications, a healthy archive of the Dallas Theater Center already existed in the Dallas Public Library, so pulling from that stash of photos and production information was relatively easy. In addition, the team helming the books creation conducted interviews with directors, trustees and the founding artistic director of the theatre, Paul Baker. All told, it took nine months to turn around Staged Right: A Half Century of Passion and Performance at the Dallas Theater Center in time for the 50th anniversary gala. Warnecke says, “The biggest challenge for us was the timeline—to get the interviews done, to proof and reproof the copy coming from the publisher and to meet the publisher’s deadlines.”
Warnecke estimates that die cost of creating and printing the books was less than $100,000, and says that copies sold for $40 at first and later $30. “We never expected to gain a profit from this,” Webber adds, describing how the goal was to create a book that looked back in celebration of the people who have shaped DTC’s history.
“The book brought so many people together,” Warnecke affirms, even postulating that old wounds between various artists healed during the course of the book’s creation. A final event gathered die six artistic directors that span DTC’s history (or their representatives). The theatre’s current artistic director, Kevin Moriarty, interviewed them on the new DTC stage.
Warnecke has advice for theatres considering printing an anniversary book: “I recommend telling the story, not just a chronology of plays and events. Engage key players in the history. Form a focus group. I have the funds up front—don’t expect to make any money on sales. Do the project for the professionals and patrons who love your theatre.”
On the Cusp of Adulthood
When your theatre starts out performing in the basement of a pizza shop, turning 20 is kind of a big deal. “I don’t think anyone expected us to turn 20,” says Shotgun Players managing director Liz Lisle, who has been with the company for the past 10 years. “In our first season we started out with a budget of less than $75,000, and now we’re close to an annual budget of just under $1 million.”
Shedding adolescence was just one reason to create a publication. Another was to make a historical artifact. Like the company itself, the creative process for the book morphed along the way. “At first we went though all these boxes in artistic director Patrick Dooley’s basement hunting down photos,” recalls Lisle. The book team realized that they also needed anecdotes from people who worked on Shotgun shows over the years. “Then we thought, what we really need is an index of every show we’ve done,” Lisle adds. The result is a visual and narrative progression broken into different cycles of the company’s history; juxtaposing photos and production information with idiosyncratic memories, ramblings and e-mail exchanges among artists. Dooley also wrote a number of essays for the book. “It was almost like writing a memoir for him,” Lisle avows.
A key component of the book’s creation was the involvement of company member Kevin Clarke, whose by-day trade is book designing. “Kevin poured his heart and soul into this,” Lisle attests, adding that though Clarke was paid a fee, it was at a steep “friends and family” discount. The book took a year to make—many memories, photos and essays were collected at a gathering at La Val’s Subterranean Pizza (the initial site of Shotgun performances). “At first we wanted the books ready by then—but then we realized we wanted everyone’s story who was flying in,” says Lisle. With Clarke’s professional connections (for example, heavy stock paper was donated from a printer in Shanghai, China), the total cost of the books was $16,000. The colorful tome sells for $40, but Shotgun doesn’t plan on turning a profit. Says Lisle, “I’m sure there are some misspellings, but that’s how Shotgun is. We’re always trying to reach further than where we are.”
Middle Age on the Horizon
While most anniversary books rely heavily on photos, Soho Rep in New York City went a different route for its 35-year volume. “We only have two photos,” says literary manager Raphael Martin. “We kept joking that the recently published anniversary book from BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) was the Goliath against our David.” Indeed, this anniversary marker is as pocket-sized as the company’s 73-seat black box. Says Martin, “We’re a new-writing theatre, so we decided to focus on words by people who have worked here over the years.”
And not just words by artists in a series of 50 or so essays, but also the text of a new play: David Adjmi’s Elective Affinities. “We’ve been publishing playscripts for two years now,” says Martin, noting how the program is modeled after the Royal Court’s play publishing program in London. “We print about 100 scripts on-demand through Samuel French and sell copies for $5 each. The anniversary book ultimately also served as the play program for Elective Affinities. We were glad to include a current text, because in that way the book also looks forward.”
The goal with the essays was to create a collage portrait of the theatre. “Instead of inventing something ourselves, we thought that we should let the people who have worked at Soho Rep over the years speak for us,” recalls Martin, noting how directors, actors, designers and playwrights contributed essays, including such heavy-hitters as Will Eno, Marin Ireland, Mac Wellman, Michael John LaChiusa and Young Jean Lee.
Martin sat down with current artistic director Sarah Benson and previous artistic directors Marlene Swartz and Daniel Aukin to develop a list of artists to approach. “Everyone said yes,” declares Martin, adding that the process of contacting people took about six months. “The hardest part was getting people to write to deadline.” Martin estimates the total cost was between $3,000 and $4,000 for 1,000 copies printed on-demand through Samuel French (700 of which were given away at Elective Affinities performances in late 2011).
As for lingering words of wisdom, Martin says, “It’s really doable. It takes a smaller amount of cash than most theatres think. As we celebrate 35 years, this book is a Jinchpin for all the activities that we will carry on throughout the season.”
