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Highlands Today

Little Theatre feels economic pinch

Resilient group changes to meet challenges

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By JOE SEELIG

Highlands Today

Published: July 18, 2010

SEBRING - The sagging economy has hurt a lot of not-for-profits, and even with a steady income stream from ticket sales and that fact that it only has one paid employee, the Highlands Little Theatre has suffered.

HLT President Art Harriman and Vice President Goldie Garnich met with Highlands Today on Monday for a frank interview. Executive Director Vanessa Logsdon (the paid employee) joined the conversation a little later.

"Unfortunately, because of the economic situation, like a lot of non-profits, we just can't afford to go so far, without the (large) sponsorships and donations, which we don't get anymore," said Harriman.

"People can't afford to sponsor shows. People can't afford to buy the playbill ads a lot now."

People in general are more selective how they spent their money.

Plus, the theater has two debts, owing more than $100,000. One is a loan it took out to repair the building beyond what insurance covered after the 2004 hurricanes.

"We're struggling to pay our loan," Harriman admitted. "And we have a line of credit."

Letters were sent to 52 life patrons. Happily, 12 people responded with a total of $1,500.

Bills were paid by order of importance, according to minutes from a recent board meeting.

Each month they face about $2,000 or more for electricity. Add $500 more when they have a show; and $500 to $700 on top of that for the Thakkar Pavilion.

Royalties, ranging from $1,000 for a play and as much as $10,000 and up for musicals, eat into the ticket sale profits. They've had to rethink how they do things and it required tough measures.

Dinner, dessert shows to end

HLT has been in existence for about 36 years, having staged about 175 plays, musicals and special performances, many with weekend dinner shows.

One of those tough measures required the elimination of food service at the theater at the close of the 2009-2010 season with "Footloose," which is scheduled to run from August 13-29, Harriman said.

"With the cost of food going up, it was either go way up with our ticket prices or change the dinners," said Harriman. "As some of our members would say, 'it's time we get to the business of being a proper theater.'"

Future plans include theater-style seating.

In November the new ticket prices will be for seating only. Anthony's Lounge will still serve drinks and packaged snacks.

"The lounge is doing well," Garnich joked during the interview. "As long as people keep drinking we'll do alright."

For years HLT served its prime rib or salmon dinners, or vegetarian platters, prepared by theater volunteers. More recently the meals were catered.

Some time ago they began offering theatergoers the choice of dinner seating or non-dinner seating, Harriman said.

"Up till now the non-dinners are outweighing the dinners," he said.

The price of a non-dinner ticket will be considerably less per person. More savings will be realized through licensing and insurance reductions.

Musicals are costly

Offering a musical show can cost the theater $10,000 or more to put on and that's mostly the royalties, Harriman said.

"'Beauty and the Beast' cost over $25,000 to put on, and that was with several people putting up large amounts of money and we still struggled to pay that one," he said. "It was a great show, it sold very well. But it was just very expensive."

"And to rent some of the costumes," added Garnich, pointing to a picture of the show's actors in the lobby.

"You look up there, you could see the tea cup we had to rent; we had to rent the beast costume, the (Wardrobe Closet costume)," she said. "Some of that stuff is expensive and it's available for rental and we couldn't build it."

"It was almost $14,000 just to rent costumes," said Harriman. "And we made a lot (of costumes). To put on a quality show, it costs money and that's what we want to present to our community is quality."

Harriman said this theater belongs to the community and it should be regarded as one of the community's great assets.

Innovative ideas

All is not bleak. They've taken a new approach in offering sponsorship packages as well as fundraising.

"It used to be $5,000 to $2,500 to sponsor a show," Harriman said. "Now, we're offering sponsorship packets of $1,000 or lower just to get some..., and maybe we'll do four or five sponsors for a show to get it paid for."

They've been working with in-kind donations for set pieces and lumber for building.

"Home Depot has been very good to us with that, giving us materials to build the sets as part of their sponsorship," he said. "Like, Cohan and the (news)papers have given so many ads as part of their sponsorship packages. We've gone to using some of those."

They've got new program chairs to work on sponsor ads for the programs.

They're continuing to try doing top quality theater to bring people in, he said.

"Doing cheaper stuff is not necessarily going to bring people in here," said Harriman. "If it's a cheaper quality show, it's a cheaper looking show. People have become accustomed to a certain quality show from Highlands Little Theatre, and we want to keep that reputation up and not let it go down."

In the meantime they're working with the directors to be more aware of expenses.

"Everyone has become very budget conscious," he said. "We now work on the budget. Every show is allowed a budget and when we pick the shows, they are picked according to budgets and we're getting the best shows we can without going to the extreme."

Christmas shows

"We're coming up with a program of all different fundraisers," Harriman said. "The Mystery Theater shows by the Who-dun-its; the Broadway in Concert series that we do."

"We had a Mystery Dinner Theater on Saturday night," said Garnich. "It was a huge success. I think there were all but 10 tickets sold. People had a wonderful time. People were walking around the theater helping each other look for clues. It was wonderful."

"We're going to be doing four Christmas shows the second weekend in December," Harriman said.

Over the years they've had calls every year asking if they were doing a Christmas show. This year they'll get it. It will be a stage and screen holiday celebration. Tickets will go on sale on Sept. 1, at $10 for adults 13 and over, children tickets will be $5.

The Glad Hatters

"It's a group of senior citizens who do vaudeville skits ...," Garnich said. "I'm the chair of The Glad Hatters."

They are the senior arm of Highlands Little Theatre, she said.

"We started with 10 members and we have 20 now," she said. "And we're all hams."

With a repertoire of skits, songs and jokes, they try to perform wherever and whenever they are asked. Their program runs about an hour.

"As privileged members of the theater, we do not memorize our scripts, but carry them on stage with us," their flyer reads.

They entertain at retirement villages, condominiums, assisted living facilities, senior centers, nursing homes, civic organizations and other groups.

While The Glad Hatters group does not charge, they do accept donations to benefit Highlands Little Theatre.

Princess Dianne Tours

Vanessa Logsdon, the executive director of Highlands Little Theater joined the discussion. She just returned from a meeting with Shawn Kuhns, of Princess Dianne Tours Inc., of Avon Park, to set up theater trips to Orlando, Tampa and Ft. Myers.

"Basically what it is, is he's already got a schedule of trips to go to different shows, and if they mention Highlands Little Theatre, then he will kick back a certain amount of money. It depends on the show, how much for each one, as a fundraiser for the theater.

"For example it may be $10, so if we get 20 people to sign up and they all mention Highlands Little Theatre, then we get $200 back plus those people get to have a great day at the theater and do dinner."

Ghost Tours

For the price of $10, guests 13 and older will be tricked or treated to a downtown tour where tour guides will share ghoulishly scary ghost stories about the theater and buildings along the route.

Children 6 to 12 will join the tour for half price ($5).

"If you've ever been to St. Augustine or Charleston or anyplace like that, where they have walking ghost tours, it's for entertainment purposes, but it's also a little history," said Logsdon.

"The plan here, to adapt it to our purposes, is that we will send a group, say 20 people at the most, with a guide. It will be one of our performers in costume. They will walk up around the Circle, maybe a little bit further down to where the Firehouse is and come back."

Periodically the performers will stop in front of a building and tell a ghost story. Preferably related to the building they're standing in front of.

It is for entertainment; it will be family friendly, not anybody jumping out with a fake axe, she said.

"There are quite a few ghost stories related to the theater," she said.

More will be revealed, for example: stories of flying beer cans, the sound of sewing machines running, while no one else was there.

"I was here late Friday decorating for Saturday and I did hear voices," said Logsdon. "I said, 'What the heck is that?' I walked back there. We were getting bleed-over on the walkie-talkies back there. I was actually disappointed."

Let the haunting begin on October 29-30 - two tours per night, Friday night and Saturday night. They may do two more shows on Halloween, Sunday, Oct. 31, depending upon the interest. Booking could begin online as soon as Aug. 11.

Youth Theater

The theater is constantly attracting new members. During the interview a woman came in with her baby in one arm and 7-year-old daughter in tow. The daughter was interested in joining the theater.

They have the regular shows that often use a youthful cast as well as the youth group. Garnich told the mother about the ShOwStOpPeRs.

They meet in the Thakkar Pavilion, behind the main theater.

"The HLT ShOwStOpPeRs are youth members of Highlands Little Theatre interested in all aspects of producing theatre for youth by youth," according to its Web site. "They are guided and advised by adult HLT members."

In December 2006, the ShOwStOpPeRs produced their first play, "A Modern Christmas Carol."

They have also performed at National Kids Day, the Zenon Awards Show, A Night on Broadway, and the Fine Arts & Crafts Festival, the Web site stated.

Requests for appearances continued to come in. The youthful HLT members are between ages 5 to 18.

The early days

The HLT's first organizational meeting was held on April 5, 1974, at the Highlands Art League, Inc., then located at 122 N. Commerce Ave. There is a parking lot there now.

Until 1982, plays were held at a small auditorium in Sebring High School or the Sebring Civic Center. The fledgling organization put on its first production, "Pure as the Driven Snow" by Paul Loomis, on July 25-27, 1974, at the Sebring High School auditorium.

Time passed. The city hired Pete Pollard in 1982 to head its Community Redevelopment Agency.

"I was looking for a project to kick-start the revitalization of the downtown," said Pollard. "We needed a cultural element. The Art League was looking for a home. HLT needed a home. I proposed we create a cultural center. We went to both organizations to see if they were interested."

The HLT organization leased the former USO club, later known as Teen Town, from the city for $1 per year. The building was appropriately named The Lakeside Playhouse. The Art League leased the Art Museum building.

In 1988 the stage and shop area were added for about $750,000.

The Little Theatre is located at the Allen Altvater Cultural Complex, 356 W. Center Ave., in Sebring. The theater, and the land it sits on, belongs to the city.

Highlands Today reporter Joe Seelig can be reached at 863-386-5834 or jseelig@highlandstoday.com

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