Content area
Full Text
The reason they call it show business is because without profits, there are no shows.
Producing live theater is a balancing act. To make money, producers have to get the people in the seats. To do that, they have to weigh production costs against ticket prices. But the production rights to newer, hotter shows cost more than the rights to the tired oldies.
Performers cost money. And so do set designers, customers, directors and lighting engineers. Theater maintenance is a continual burden. Advertising is another expense.
For an independent, for-profit theater, the task of staying afloat is just about impossible. The Maryland Theater in Hagerstown has been fighting for years to stay alive.
It might seem that the Maryland has everything going for it. Located near Public Square in downtown Hagerstown, the theater boasts antique architecture and a plush interior. And its roster of acts includes some of the brightest names in show business: Crystal Gayle, George Carlin, Pam Tillis. It is also home to the Maryland Symphony.
But the Maryland has suffered from middling attendance and insecurity among board members whose turnover has been brisk.
Most recently, the theater received a $130,000 bail-out from a federal credit union, loaned so the theater could cover a mortgage taken two years ago in the face of funding problems. Now the theater is negotiating additional loans and reorganizing its paid staff to reduce expenses.
The Maryland Theater is known in show business as a "presenter, "as opposed to a "producer," because it books finished shows rather than produce original pieces. It brings in name acts and pays for each show as a package. To succeed, the theater must then profit through ticket sales.
The problem, according to theater Acting Director Patricia Wolford, is that most shows at the Maryland are one-nighters, with significant booking costs and only one chance to cover them.
An average show costs the Maryland Theater $40,000 in booking, advertising, artist and crew fees. At $31 a ticket, the theater would have to sell out its 1,00 seats simply to break even.
But usually the theater sells only about 800 seats, Wolford said. And even if the show is great, word-of-mouth recommendations do the theater no good...