Angels in the American Theater (Schanke)
Charles Mee and the Fishers
These are a few of the highlights of the Charles Mee chapter which talks about his relationship with a personal donor. Mee doesn’t charge small companies to produce his plays, but charges professional theaters and universities who can afford it, he also has a website where all his plays can be downloaded for free. He openly encourages people to take his plays and radically change them and stick there name on them. None of these great artistic gestures would be possible without the patronage of Richard Fisher.
The Fishers met the Mees in 1971 while summering in the same vacation spot, over the next two decades Charles Mee began to struggle more and more, and Richard Fisher rose to be the president of Morgan Stanley. Even after Mee won an Obie and found success but was constantly frustrated by trying to find money. In 1998, when Full Circle was being staged at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre, Mee had become completely frustrated by the exigencies of chasing money, and the constraints the pursuit of it placed on his writing for the theater. So he wrote a letter to an old friend, a multi-millionaire. Mee suggested that the two of them start a play writing company together with Fisher providing the money and Mee the content. Then this happened.
“Fisher and his second wife, Jeanne Donovan Fisher, waved away Mee’s good capatilist offer of a joint venture. Instead, they proposed an arrangement in which they would, twice yearly, write Mee a check for an amount sufficient to the families needs. Mee could then do as he wished.”
Lucky him.
The Fishers met the Mees in 1971 while summering in the same vacation spot, over the next two decades Charles Mee began to struggle more and more, and Richard Fisher rose to be the president of Morgan Stanley. Even after Mee won an Obie and found success but was constantly frustrated by trying to find money. In 1998, when Full Circle was being staged at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre, Mee had become completely frustrated by the exigencies of chasing money, and the constraints the pursuit of it placed on his writing for the theater. So he wrote a letter to an old friend, a multi-millionaire. Mee suggested that the two of them start a play writing company together with Fisher providing the money and Mee the content. Then this happened.
“Fisher and his second wife, Jeanne Donovan Fisher, waved away Mee’s good capatilist offer of a joint venture. Instead, they proposed an arrangement in which they would, twice yearly, write Mee a check for an amount sufficient to the families needs. Mee could then do as he wished.”
Lucky him.
Grant Goodman
Mr. Goodman is used as an example of the importance of smaller, annual donations to a off off house. Eat Theatre in Kansas, is a theatre that is based in the English Department and Grant Goodman (an English Professor) gives the Artistic Director 10,000 to 15,000 annually to do with as he pleases. This is a great example of a small contribution having a large impact, donations like these that are given on an annual basis are the life blood of independent, downtown, off off Broadway theater. By giving a donation annually without any strings attached Mr. Goodman is really stepping outside the norms of modern patronage. Later in the book Schanke tells about Michael Kahn getting two pages of notes from a donor on the board after a final dress rehearsal, the rareness of a do with it as you wish donation are really highlighted by this behavior.
Disney on Broadway
Disney's first foray onto Broadway was a critical disaster and a public success, in 1994 Beauty and the Beast opens, gets panned in the Times while setting a record high for tickets sold. Disney strategically pays to renovate the New Amsterdam Theatre, then the premeire of it’s second production The Lion King happens, an article is printed in the Times equating Disney to the Medici’s.
Which in a way works,
“ Dale Kent in his book The Rise of the Medici, specifically argues that banking was the foundation of the Medici power for the fundamental reason that it made them a financial force, not only in Florence, but throughout Italy.”
This is an example of more of Disney's funding of the Arts:
“Finally, Disney funded, and is funding, the Roy and Edna Disney CalArts Theater (REDCAT) a state of the art experimental theatre space in the Walt Disney Concert Hall Complex in Los Angeles, California.”
“CalArts has a ninety nine year lease to use the Walt Disney Concert Hall Complex as a performance venue and gallery for it’s students and faculty.”
Which in a way works,
“ Dale Kent in his book The Rise of the Medici, specifically argues that banking was the foundation of the Medici power for the fundamental reason that it made them a financial force, not only in Florence, but throughout Italy.”
This is an example of more of Disney's funding of the Arts:
“Finally, Disney funded, and is funding, the Roy and Edna Disney CalArts Theater (REDCAT) a state of the art experimental theatre space in the Walt Disney Concert Hall Complex in Los Angeles, California.”
“CalArts has a ninety nine year lease to use the Walt Disney Concert Hall Complex as a performance venue and gallery for it’s students and faculty.”
Clear Channel Network
Corporations are about making money for their stockholders. Peter Ziesler (TCG)
Compared to the Syndicate of the turn of the 20th Century, which built the theatre that Disney renovated.
Clear Channel and the Syndicate wanted to combine smaller producers into one large company.
Quick Facts About Clear Channel post 1999-2000 Mergers:
-40 television stations
-800,000 outdoor advertising displays
-125 live entertainment venues
-revenue 9.5 billion annually
Essentially they own the signs that advertise the plays, the radio stations that advertise the plays, and the billboards along the highway that advertise the plays, as well as the venue where the play is performed—how could any other producer compete with that kind of a monopoly.
Now known as live nation.
Compared to the Syndicate of the turn of the 20th Century, which built the theatre that Disney renovated.
Clear Channel and the Syndicate wanted to combine smaller producers into one large company.
Quick Facts About Clear Channel post 1999-2000 Mergers:
-40 television stations
-800,000 outdoor advertising displays
-125 live entertainment venues
-revenue 9.5 billion annually
Essentially they own the signs that advertise the plays, the radio stations that advertise the plays, and the billboards along the highway that advertise the plays, as well as the venue where the play is performed—how could any other producer compete with that kind of a monopoly.
Now known as live nation.
The Future
Where do we go from here as an artistic community? The answer is too big for one person to handle, moving forward we an academic world have to start to look at alternative means of funding, thinking outside of the box, and finally to ultimately answer questions about the importance of art once and for all. This should be our number on priority as a group, because without drastic changes sustainability is going to be an issue. These are some topics that I want to research after working on this project that I could not find the time to delve into:
The Syndicate what is it and who were it's members
Actors Equity are the driving the cost of a production up to high?
Ben Johnson is he the father of the modern corporate theater, and what can we learn/be warned from by him?
Is there a way to put to bed the notion that actors are a lower class of people, and that artists aren't valuable, contributing members of a capitalist society?
Federal Theatre the rise and fall of this?
McCarthyism's effect on the nation's view of theater professionals, and how homophobia plays into this?
The list will go on....
The Syndicate what is it and who were it's members
Actors Equity are the driving the cost of a production up to high?
Ben Johnson is he the father of the modern corporate theater, and what can we learn/be warned from by him?
Is there a way to put to bed the notion that actors are a lower class of people, and that artists aren't valuable, contributing members of a capitalist society?
Federal Theatre the rise and fall of this?
McCarthyism's effect on the nation's view of theater professionals, and how homophobia plays into this?
The list will go on....