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Special Section: Literary Rights, Licensing & Mgmt.
The Never-Ending Quest
Artistic directors discuss the art and science of choosing plays.
The Wizard of Oz at the Valley Youth Theater
By Kevin M. Mitchell
“
I
don’t think you ever stop planning a season,” says
Ethan McSweeny, co-artistic director at the Chautauqua
Theater Company. “You always keep an eye out for
something that might fit into your programming.”
With that in mind, we took a look at three very different
companies and sussed out their process of choosing a
season and what factors into their decisions.
Bobb Cooper
Valley Youth Theatre
Phoenix, Ariz.
Bobb Cooper just celebrated his 12th year working
for one of the most respected high school theatres in
the country. Cooper himself is a veteran of off-Broadway
shows and national tours, so he brings to the position a
wide breadth of experience.
But he knows his audience.
“I keep my ear open for what’s happening out there, but
honestly, we’re in Phoenix,” he says. “So, we give our audience
what they want to see as opposed to forcing things
on them. We’re aware that we often bring in an audience
not accustomed to going to the theatre, and hopefully we
send them out wanting to come back.”
Cooper keeps up with popular culture and says he looks
for properties that have broad audience appeal and are
family-oriented. Some Disney titles will bring an audience
in just by the title, but even when they do something like
Sleeping Beauty, which they did a few years ago, they “twist”
it in someway (in that case, they added a ballad to it).
Valley Youth is influenced by what is hot. “Like when Lord
of the Rings was big in the theatre, we did The Hobbit, and we
sold out.” When Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was on the
big screen, they did Willy Wonka; same with Charlotte’s Web.
Unusual for a high school, they have an enviable budget
— but only because they built a reputation to be worthy of it.
“Twelve years ago, our budget was barely $100,000, but this
year it’s $5 million.” But royalties can eat up quite a bit of budget.
“Depending on the show, the royalties can hit you hard.
Any Disney production royalties are incredibly high. Beauty
and the Beast was 15 percent of the gross and that is huge.”
Does it affect what he chooses?
“It depends,” he says. “We work with all the major publishers,
Rogers & Hammerstein, MCI, Dramatic Publishing.
With some, we have a professional relationship and don’t
pay a flat fee but a percentage, which we appreciate.
When we do well, they do well. But some publishers, who
will remain nameless, have nonnegotiable deals. We can’t
avoid working with those companies because, unfortunately,
they have very important properties. So you do the
ones you know you can recoup.”
Financial matters do figure in: If he wants to do something
that is expensive from a royalty standpoint, something
else that’s good but requires less cost could be
figured into the season.
26 April 2008 • www.stage-directions.com