I am going to attempt to be a regular contributor to the VTA Blog site and I thought that a short post about my first opening night might be a good place to start.
I joined the VTA/ACF as President and CEO on June 1st, so yesterday was week three, day two – not that I’m counting! And Tuesday was the opening of the final show in our 2008-2009 Chase Broadway series – LEGALLY BLONDE THE MUSICAL. For me it was an evening of meeting lots of new people, seeing a show that I had never seen before, and generally watching the “process” of how a new theatre – new for me, at least – does things.
One of the great things about theatre, whether as a producer or a presenter, is that the process is essentially the same no matter the size of the venue, the type of theatre, or the show being presented. But the thing that is a bit different about the VTA is that there are so many elements involved in the overall evening that there is the potential for calamity at every corner. Let me explain.
We run a restaurant (Citilites) that was busy prior to the show and we were doing a large catered event in our “black box” theatre that involved production elements and event food services. And there was a fashion show as part of that event. We also run a parking garage – so that was busy. It was threatening rain which is always a problem, increasing the number of latecomers and chaos for the box office and house management. And on top of all that, the volunteers were presented with four different stuffers for the programs at the last minute. Oh, and did I mention that the Humane Society had rescue dogs in the lobby? I’m sure you get the picture: the evening could have been a disaster if any one of these aspects of the operation had significant problems. And then on top of all of this you’ve got this slightly nervous new President wandering around, asking questions, and probably getting in the way.
I am happy to report that everything went off swimmingly.
Sometimes, the best thing a Prez can do – especially a new one – is to stay out of the way, trust that everyone knows what they are doing, and then thank everyone for making you look good! And that is exactly what I did!
