Capital Report: Legit Scene Gaining Ground

If I mention Washington, D.C., what comes to mind? The White House? The Capitol? The Federal Reserve? For members of the American Theatre Critics Association and readers of Back Stage, Washington, D.C., may conjure up the National Theatre, Arena Stage, or the Signature Theatre in nearby Arlington, Va., and the company's recent celebration of Kander and Ebb.

With the emphasis on the city's theatrical strengths, ATCA made the nation's capital the site of its 2008 conference this past June. The annual event is held in a different city every year in order to introduce or reacquaint members to theatres in various cities or states. It's only been in the past two decades, however, that the D.C. area has become known as a vibrant theatre community. Previously it was identified mostly as a destination for touring shows. As proof of its new vitality, the Helen Hayes Awards — the area's top stage awards — found that in 2007, 67 professional theatres presented 454 productions totaling more than 8,000 performances before audiences reaching almost 2 million.

"Washington has a different aspirational level than New York," said Peter Marks, formerly with The New York Times and now the theatre critic for The Washington Post, during an ATCA panel of D.C. reviewers. "New York is about how much money can be made; even the nonprofits think that way. In Washington there's very little in the way of big productions, perhaps three or four during the year. The town has a more serious menu of theatre."

At another panel discussion, titled "A Theatre Career in D.C.: Why We Came, Why We Stay," Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company member actor Rick Foucheux emphasized, "We're all together in this. We're like a huge ensemble company where there's more than 50 theatre companies to do your work in." Added actor Dawn Ursula, who hails from Richmond, Va., "I fell in love with the city and the community of agents, casting directors, and actors. They were so welcoming. It's this feeling of positivism that translates to the stage for me."

The variety of D.C.-area theatre was evident in the shows offered. Some attendees nicknamed the conference "The Bus and Truck Tour of Metro D.C. Theatre" because we covered so much ground in so little time (only six days). We visited such venues as the Kennedy Center, the National Theatre, the Bethesda Theatre, and GALA Hispanic Theatre, and saw productions at the Shakespeare Theatre Company (Antony and Cleopatra and The Imaginary Invalid), the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company (Measure for Pleasure), the Olney Theatre Center (Stuff Happens), the Studio Theatre (the Civilians' This Beautiful City), the Gunston Arts Center (Synetic Theater's Carmen), the Signature Theatre (Kander and Ebb's musical version of The Visit, starring Chita Rivera and George Hearn), the Round House Theatre in Bethesda, Md. (Nixon's Nixon), and Arena Stage (The Mystery of Irma Vep), among other choices.

An Arts Incubation Program

Synetic Theater is one of the most exciting physical-theatre companies I've seen. But what impressed me most was the absolutely amazing approach to helping new performing artists taking place at the Gunston Arts Center in Arlington, Va. Called the Arts Incubator, this 18-year-old program is run by the Arlington County Cultural Affairs Division under director Norma Kaplan, who was instrumental in its creation. The program nurtures emerging theatre companies and individual artists by granting them free rehearsal and performance space along with other resources, such as costume and scenic shops, a costume collection, administrative support, and free consultations in a number of areas.

The Arts Incubator allows the county government to work with the community to tap into valuable local resources in order to assist artists and theatre companies. The program has grown impressively over the years, from an annual budget of $400,000 to $3 million, from a grant-giving program of $80,000 per year to $300,000 per year, and from working with just a few arts groups, such as Signature and Synetic, to about 50 groups today.

Kaplan, chief of the county's Cultural Affairs Division, has over 30 years' experience "building communities through the arts," as she describes it. She's served on boards and committees of various agencies and consortiums in the region, speaks at regional and national conferences, and spent 10 years in New York as both a theatre director and an arts administrator. The program was the recipient of the Helen Hayes Awards' Washington Post Award for community service. In 1996, the Arts Incubator was the first arts initiative to win an Innovations in American Government Award from Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government. She is knowledgeable, forthright, and a determined multitasker, radiating confidence in her approach to helping artists.

"This is a very personalized approach," states Kaplan. "Our idea is not to have a program where the artist comes in and does the same as everyone else. Our idea is to sit down with an individual person who has this vision, talent, and creativity, and work with him to move his ideas forward. New York may have a lot of resources where the artist can go, but usually it's 'We have this program. You take it. If it's not what you need, then sorry.' We're much less formal than that."

For example, she says, "We tried to diversify and attract more ethnic groups that weren't necessarily coming to us. So we hired a folklorist and sent him out to the community to try to identify people who were in the community that we didn't know." As it turned out, the folklorist identified a master weaver from South America who wanted to teach her skills in the United States. "We are strong into community outreach," Kaplan stresses. The program has since hired a number of folklorists to pursue other artists, both visual and performing. 

Getting Involved

How can one apply to be part of the program? "The first step," Kaplan says, "is for the artist to meet with the department's cultural development director, Mary Briggs, and describe what he or she wants to do. If it sounds good, she will ask the individual [or group] to put in writing who he or they are and what they want to do. She will then explain the resources that we have."

Kaplan cites a highly skilled musician who visited the office a year or so ago wanting to get a chamber group started. "Since we never had a chamber group before, we set him up to do three performances at Rosslyn Spectrum," she says, referring to one of the theatres at the Gunston Arts Center. "We got him an individual-project grant and introduced him to our marketing director, who helped him with press releases and to publish a brochure about the group." If the artist or group shows real potential, there may not be any costs involved. "The first grant is important to him because he uses top-notch musicians and is paying them scale," Kaplan adds. "He's now back doing four concerts."

The chamber music artist is now applying for his first state grant, and he visits the center every two or three months to discuss his next steps. Kaplan notes that he's expanding his program and is more aware of the marketing aspect. "Five years down the line, he should be a real organization," she boasts.

How could such a program be started in New York? Kaplan at one time worked with the Queens Council on the Arts' grants program. "You have to approach it from a neighborhood mentality," she quickly responds, a bit amused by the question. "It could be a city-wide program but implemented through smaller neighborhoods, possibly through the borough arts councils. It's important to work with neighborhood-based organizations that can bring in non-cash resources. They know the neighborhood, they know the spaces that might be used, and they understand the neighborhood's interests."

Referring to the scene and costume shops available to Incubator artists, Kaplan says, "Technical expertise, accessed by the arts councils, could be provided on a borough-wide basis, centrally managed by using a decentralized service-delivery program — just because New York is just so big." 

She notes that emerging arts groups are supposed to have low-cost community spaces in order to develop and grow: "When their product is good and they start building an audience, then they can move on to something, but they always need that foothold to start."

Though New York does have many resources available to artists — as well as borough arts councils — I'm not quite certain these programs offer the hands-on helpfulness of the Arlington program, as Kaplan noted. It's important to add that the Arlington artists have no restrictions on what they can produce and are self-managed. And because the program focuses on benefiting the community through the arts, the local government does everything it can to support it.

For more information on the program, go to www.arlingtonarts.org.

-- Sherry Eaker
seaker@backstage.com