I realize that I have not posted in the last 10 days or so. There has been lots going on, unfortunately none of it good. Karen, the artistic director of the opera had a house fire on Feb 21 that left her without a habitable home and lucky to be alive. Her son Christian, who went to the third floor to rescue his mother, and Karen were plucked off the roof by the Philadelphia Fire Department. The fire was started by a neighbor’s chimney and did considerable damage to the house. Fortunately, there is insurance that will replace belongings and reconstruct the house. So all in all things could be worse.
Karen had decided to cancel the Philadelphia premier of Romeo e Guiletta in June because of a lack of funding to support it. The fire, I think made her glad that she had made that decision because now she is focused on getting her personal life back in order and some international events she is committed to.
At the end of March, the opera company will perform an original musical that Karen has written, Wild Things Whirligig, at the Rosenbach Musuem in Philadelphia. It is a musical that celebrate the stories of the children’s’ illustrator Maurice Sendak. In June the company is trying to organize several fund raising events to support Romeo e Guiletta’s production in Philadelphia next year. Details to follow
In July, the opera company will present a concert version (no orchestra, no costumes) of the new opera Iago at the Niagara International Chamber Music Festival in Ontario, Canada.
In August, the company will give a full performance of Iago in Citta della Pieve, in Italy during the 175th anniversary of the 175th anniversary of Teatro degli Avvaloranti.
So, it is not clear what useful part I can play in any of this. What the company really needs are some grants to support production locally of some of the work they have developed. So, I will look with Karen at funding sources and sharpen up my writing skills. Going forward, I am confident there will be meaningful work, so stay tuned.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Friday, February 20, 2009
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Financial Stuff!
I promised a posting that looked at the finances of staging an opera. Even a production as straightforward and simple as Brundibar is at best a break even proposition. Let me say that no one I know who works in the arts has made this choice to make money. The first myth to debunk is that ticket sales cover the cost of the production. Not even close!
For Brundibar the most optimistic budget projection had ticket sales of about $5000. It was important for schools to keep the cost affordable, so those tickets were $8/student. The Sunday performance generated the most revenue, about $2500. All told the income was about $4000. The other income that should have supported the production was ads in the program and we got a late start on this and did not have enough volunteers selling ads. So that income never materialized. Corporate sponsors I think could have been recruited particularly because this opera has deep meaning to many in the Jewsih community but we never got the right people to ask the right people. Lastly, the children would have normally paid a participation fee (~$100) and because we got a late start Karen did not charge this.
The expenses were considerable and it was quickly apparent to me that without some important sponsors this production would never have happened. First, the International House offered their theater free of charge, this was huge. Second, all of the program printing was underwritten by a number of corporate sponsors. The program development and layout I did and Carole R took all the photos of the cast for the biographical section. No paid advertising, normally a key item in developing an audience was used. Rights to the opera needed to be paid for each time the company performed it (~ $250 / performance). Lights needed to be rented and paid for. Lighting placement and design was accomplished by Christian and Bernard Bygott, Karen’s sons, both of whom have professional theatrical careers themselves. Lighting gels needed to be bought. Costumes which were simple became the responsibility of some of the mothers who shopped thrift shops. The pianist was a colleague of Karen’s from Sardinia who gave everything he had to this production. Normally there would be a stage manager who would have relieved Karen from some of the people issues that she dealt with through out the production. Some additions to the stage had to be built, again volunteers helped out and did this. The lighting was handled by Bernard Bygott. The cast needed to be feed during all day rehearsals – again many helped out. Some mothers volunteered and brought lunch, other days it was donated pizza. I and a few drafted friends did all of the ticketing and ran the box office. These are just the expenses that I can think of off the top of my head, I am sure there are many more. So in the end I don’t know exactly how much Karen was able to pay Gianlucca (the pianist) and Bernard who was at so many rehearsals and performances but I’d be stunned if she was able to give them more than $700-800 after all the bills were paid.
The plan is to repeat this opera next year and I have a list of items that will make it a more financially viable production (sell more ads, find more sponsors, increase audience size etc.), but in the end people don’t get involved in the arts to make money.
Next posting I will talk a little about future plans for the opera company.
For Brundibar the most optimistic budget projection had ticket sales of about $5000. It was important for schools to keep the cost affordable, so those tickets were $8/student. The Sunday performance generated the most revenue, about $2500. All told the income was about $4000. The other income that should have supported the production was ads in the program and we got a late start on this and did not have enough volunteers selling ads. So that income never materialized. Corporate sponsors I think could have been recruited particularly because this opera has deep meaning to many in the Jewsih community but we never got the right people to ask the right people. Lastly, the children would have normally paid a participation fee (~$100) and because we got a late start Karen did not charge this.
The expenses were considerable and it was quickly apparent to me that without some important sponsors this production would never have happened. First, the International House offered their theater free of charge, this was huge. Second, all of the program printing was underwritten by a number of corporate sponsors. The program development and layout I did and Carole R took all the photos of the cast for the biographical section. No paid advertising, normally a key item in developing an audience was used. Rights to the opera needed to be paid for each time the company performed it (~ $250 / performance). Lights needed to be rented and paid for. Lighting placement and design was accomplished by Christian and Bernard Bygott, Karen’s sons, both of whom have professional theatrical careers themselves. Lighting gels needed to be bought. Costumes which were simple became the responsibility of some of the mothers who shopped thrift shops. The pianist was a colleague of Karen’s from Sardinia who gave everything he had to this production. Normally there would be a stage manager who would have relieved Karen from some of the people issues that she dealt with through out the production. Some additions to the stage had to be built, again volunteers helped out and did this. The lighting was handled by Bernard Bygott. The cast needed to be feed during all day rehearsals – again many helped out. Some mothers volunteered and brought lunch, other days it was donated pizza. I and a few drafted friends did all of the ticketing and ran the box office. These are just the expenses that I can think of off the top of my head, I am sure there are many more. So in the end I don’t know exactly how much Karen was able to pay Gianlucca (the pianist) and Bernard who was at so many rehearsals and performances but I’d be stunned if she was able to give them more than $700-800 after all the bills were paid.
The plan is to repeat this opera next year and I have a list of items that will make it a more financially viable production (sell more ads, find more sponsors, increase audience size etc.), but in the end people don’t get involved in the arts to make money.
Next posting I will talk a little about future plans for the opera company.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Brundibar opens...
In bringing this opera to the stage, I had questions as to where the child performers would come from. The time commitment was short – from Jan 5 thru the performances the last week of the month – but intense. Most days the rehearsals went from 3-6pm and the two weekends prior to performance both days were long rehearsal days. The performances were Sunday thru Friday, so most of the school day would be missed that week.
About half of the children were home schooled which I have come to know is not unusual if a child wants to participate in musical events. One of our cast families had five children in the opera, and the mom was home schooling them. I can only think events like this give home school moms some respite to what must be a major challenge. Other children came from some of the charter schools in the city, and there were a goodly number of suburban kids from private schools who participated. Karen had any number of contacts with music teachers in the area that helped. But as the opera developed children were continually dropping out or being added to the cast, it was wild! A week before the opening, one of the major roles still wasn’t casted. Through all this I tried to assemble the program, but finally gave up until things stabilized and bios and pictures could be taken with some surety that these were the children that would perform.
As we approached the opening things started to gel. The children in the lead learned there parts – the two leads were 7 and 8 years old – so their growth was stunning from week one to the opening. But all of the other children learned also. Following each rehearsal Karen gave them ‘notes’, which is a critique of their performance. It was not unusual for 50-60 items to be noted and reviewed. All done in good humor and accepted the same way.
The opening was a major success. The weekend section of the Inquirer had a small piece so with that added publicity we had a sell out, about 300 people. This was the only performance where the audience was mostly adult. The opera is a story within a story set in the Theresienstadt concentration camp, so as you might expect it was quite emotional. As it ends each child speaks the name of a child who was lost and then the set fades to black. I watched the audience at the end and there were more than a few in tears. It was extremely well done and I think the audience was quite appreciative of the efforts of these children. The rest of the week the audiences were school classes from the city and suburbs, one class came from Harrisburg. The ages ranged from 2nd grade to 8th grade and again they were engrossed in this simple but moving story.
In the next post I’ll talk a little about the finances of a production like this, and funding for the arts in general in the city.
About half of the children were home schooled which I have come to know is not unusual if a child wants to participate in musical events. One of our cast families had five children in the opera, and the mom was home schooling them. I can only think events like this give home school moms some respite to what must be a major challenge. Other children came from some of the charter schools in the city, and there were a goodly number of suburban kids from private schools who participated. Karen had any number of contacts with music teachers in the area that helped. But as the opera developed children were continually dropping out or being added to the cast, it was wild! A week before the opening, one of the major roles still wasn’t casted. Through all this I tried to assemble the program, but finally gave up until things stabilized and bios and pictures could be taken with some surety that these were the children that would perform.
As we approached the opening things started to gel. The children in the lead learned there parts – the two leads were 7 and 8 years old – so their growth was stunning from week one to the opening. But all of the other children learned also. Following each rehearsal Karen gave them ‘notes’, which is a critique of their performance. It was not unusual for 50-60 items to be noted and reviewed. All done in good humor and accepted the same way.
The opening was a major success. The weekend section of the Inquirer had a small piece so with that added publicity we had a sell out, about 300 people. This was the only performance where the audience was mostly adult. The opera is a story within a story set in the Theresienstadt concentration camp, so as you might expect it was quite emotional. As it ends each child speaks the name of a child who was lost and then the set fades to black. I watched the audience at the end and there were more than a few in tears. It was extremely well done and I think the audience was quite appreciative of the efforts of these children. The rest of the week the audiences were school classes from the city and suburbs, one class came from Harrisburg. The ages ranged from 2nd grade to 8th grade and again they were engrossed in this simple but moving story.
In the next post I’ll talk a little about the finances of a production like this, and funding for the arts in general in the city.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Making Brundibar
I know many are thinking (that is if any are reading this) what could I possibly have to contribute to an opera company. So in this and a couple more posts I 'll tell you how things went and some of the things I did to help with the Brundibar production. First off, nothing on the creative side of the project, but quite a bit on the nuts and bolts activity of tickets, programs, bills, revenue, etc.
Brundibar had a totally unrealistic production schedule. More than a few times I thought this show will never get staged. I first became involved the week before Thanksgiving, 2008. The shows were scheduled for the week of Jan 25, 2009 for International Holocaust Remeberance Day. When I went to my first committee meeting I was blown away to learn that other than a theater (Int'l House on the Penn campus) and a pianist, the major elements of a show were not in place - no cast, no audience and no funding. Single handedly Karen put all of these together. Cast members were found from who knows where (I compiled contact info, make email lists and published rehersal schedules). Calls were made to school administrators and school audiences were recruited (I massed emailed to schools, printed tickets, and developed an invoicing system). Karen did almost all of the work. Programs were needed, I took this project and learned all new skills in MS Publisher and how to sell ads and deal with commercial printers. Box office needed to be staffed, on and on. Funding never did develop.
Rehersals started Jan 5 and several key parts still were not casted. The children casted in the show had a steep uphill road IMHO. Karen kept everyone working and moving forward. Initially she spent time with the children talking about the Holocaust and how this production would honor children lost at the Theresienstadt concentration camp. Each cast member had the name of a child (matched for age and gender) who had been lost. Little by little the cast improved. Karen's skills in developing these children (age from 6 to 16) were something to see.
Brundibar was a childrens opera written by Hans Kraása and performed 55 times in the Theresienstadt camp - most famously for an Int'l Red Cross visit in 1944. Karen has written materials that make this production a play within a play. It is a powerful and moving piece that she has created. At the end of the performance each child steps forward and says the name and age of the child they represent. No curtain call, stage fades to black, not a dry eye in the place. More to come...
Brundibar had a totally unrealistic production schedule. More than a few times I thought this show will never get staged. I first became involved the week before Thanksgiving, 2008. The shows were scheduled for the week of Jan 25, 2009 for International Holocaust Remeberance Day. When I went to my first committee meeting I was blown away to learn that other than a theater (Int'l House on the Penn campus) and a pianist, the major elements of a show were not in place - no cast, no audience and no funding. Single handedly Karen put all of these together. Cast members were found from who knows where (I compiled contact info, make email lists and published rehersal schedules). Calls were made to school administrators and school audiences were recruited (I massed emailed to schools, printed tickets, and developed an invoicing system). Karen did almost all of the work. Programs were needed, I took this project and learned all new skills in MS Publisher and how to sell ads and deal with commercial printers. Box office needed to be staffed, on and on. Funding never did develop.
Rehersals started Jan 5 and several key parts still were not casted. The children casted in the show had a steep uphill road IMHO. Karen kept everyone working and moving forward. Initially she spent time with the children talking about the Holocaust and how this production would honor children lost at the Theresienstadt concentration camp. Each cast member had the name of a child (matched for age and gender) who had been lost. Little by little the cast improved. Karen's skills in developing these children (age from 6 to 16) were something to see.
Brundibar was a childrens opera written by Hans Kraása and performed 55 times in the Theresienstadt camp - most famously for an Int'l Red Cross visit in 1944. Karen has written materials that make this production a play within a play. It is a powerful and moving piece that she has created. At the end of the performance each child steps forward and says the name and age of the child they represent. No curtain call, stage fades to black, not a dry eye in the place. More to come...
Saturday, February 7, 2009
In the beginning...
As many of you know I have been volunteering with the International Opera Theater since the beginning of this year. I have found it rewarding work entirely different than anything I've done in the past. I have absolutely no experience with work in the arts but still have found useful things to do with this group. My first project with the IOT was Brundibar and the Children of Theresienstadt in January. It is a childrens opera that delivers a message of hope and renewal in the face of great tradegy and also memoralizes the 15,000 children lost at the concentration camp at Theresienstadt in the Czech Republic. All of us who worked on this were changed by the experience.
The heart and soul of the opera company is Karen Saillant. Her life's passion is the IOT and she has poured all she has into it. The opera company brings together diverse peoples and opens lines of communications by developing new operas or revitalizing old ones. Karen gathers all to her and the passion of her work. I orginally meet Karen through my church - Old St. Joseph's- where a mutual friend decided that the two of us could develop an audio tour of the church. We developed and produced an downloadable mp3 file for the church's website that tourgroups can use to take self guided tours. To make a long story short, I was the sound and technical part and Karen was the talent. We worked well together and when I heard she was doing Brundibar I offered to help. Things took off from there. My intention in writing the blog is to share some experiences and hopefully personal growth as I work with this opera company..
The heart and soul of the opera company is Karen Saillant. Her life's passion is the IOT and she has poured all she has into it. The opera company brings together diverse peoples and opens lines of communications by developing new operas or revitalizing old ones. Karen gathers all to her and the passion of her work. I orginally meet Karen through my church - Old St. Joseph's- where a mutual friend decided that the two of us could develop an audio tour of the church. We developed and produced an downloadable mp3 file for the church's website that tourgroups can use to take self guided tours. To make a long story short, I was the sound and technical part and Karen was the talent. We worked well together and when I heard she was doing Brundibar I offered to help. Things took off from there. My intention in writing the blog is to share some experiences and hopefully personal growth as I work with this opera company..
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