Cool Cleveland Interview

Scott Spence

Cool Cleveland: This is an anniversary year for you, right?

Scott Spence: Which one? The Beck Center is in its 74th year. I’ve been here for 15 years on September 1st.

What brought you to Cleveland and the Beck Center?
I’m from Nebraska – I did my undergraduate degree there, and my MFA in directing at Western Illinois University. After graduation, I was in Kansas City languishing – that was a very poor town for freelance opportunities, very limited. After 3 years working in professional competitive improv in Kansas City, in a group called ComedySportz – I decided to try my luck in Cleveland, where I had some friends and connections. My friends thought I was crazy, but it looked to me like a better theater town.

I applied here at the Beck Center in 1990, the same day I auditioned for Walter Grodzik at CPT for Vampire Lesbians of Sodom. I got a call from the Beck Center stage manager that they needed a second lead in Kiss Me, Kate, and something told me to take that one.

Bill Roudebush was a resident director here and he and I became quick friends. He told me it looked like he was going to become the new Artistic Director, but he still wanted to do work in New York. He said that if he accepted, he only wanted to work 6 months a year, so he needed an Associate Artistic Director. So I became Bill’s Associate A.D. 18-20 months into it, Bill was missing too many opportunities in New York and opportunities to do new work. So in the fall of ’92, I became Artistic Director. Cleveland has become home for me. I have no complaints, except for snow in May.

Many people still think of Beck Center as the very traditional community theater that it was during the Karl Mackey era. They don’t realize how much it has changed.
Karl was here for 35 years. After he left, Fred Sternfeld took over for two years. That was hard on Fred – it’s the worst thing in the world to come in after a demigod. Then there were some guest directors, then Bill Roudebush, then me. I remember talking people into buying our first wireless mikes for Lies and Legends: The Music of Harry Chapin, which we’re reviving next year.

Since you’ve been at Beck, there’s been a major sea change, turning into a place with professionals and very diverse programming. How did you get the ship turned around?
You know, I’m famous for the baby steps approach – I’m not a revolutionary. Ask anybody: I don’t like in-your-face conflict or confrontations. I don’t even fight well with my wife! I want everyone to feel good and be happy. But I also wanted us to be unique and have our own niche.

Did you have a long-term plan?
For a while it was just evolutionary. Then we put together a strategic plan, about 1997 or so. The board asked me: how do you see our immediate future? I said that I don’t see us as the new LORT [League of Resident Theaters, an all-Equity contract]. I don’t think Cleveland can support more than 2 LORT’s – the Play House and Great Lakes -- plus all the touring companies that come into Playhouse Square. But we can “professionalize”. That means offering actors money, and hiring professional directors and designers. We need to stimulate artists. We need to pick titles and hire directors that people want to work with. Last year Tom Fulton had 130 people audition for his Studio production of The Seagull. Whether it was wanting to work on a Chekhov classic, or work with Tom, that’s the kind of draw I mean.

The board said “go”. Now we call ourselves a non-Equity professional theater. We started with one Equity contract; the next year there were two, then four – it’s almost been exponential. Last year we offered 19 Equity contracts, more than any other theater in town other than GLTF and the Play House. I don’t know if we can afford to hire many more than that. Our current contract limit is 2 Equity actors per show on the mainstage and 3 in the Studio – although Equity has called me and seems to want to make a deal.

Tell us about your philosophy of play selection.
When I became artistic director, we backed off on doing original material – I felt we didn’t have the marketing to sell it. To do new works, you need both people power and cash flow. We settled on doing between 10-12 shows a year. We are one of the few theaters in town with two spaces, which gives us diversity. That means not just a balance of musicals, dramas, and comedies – but also a mix of gay plays, black plays, experimental work, chestnuts. We try to have “something for everyone”. We know that no subscriber is likely to want to come to 11 shows, so let’s play off that. That way we can have the likes of Cinderella and M. Butterfly in the same season. Cinderella was our only Rodgers and Hammerstein since I’ve been here, by the way. I have tried to avoid the shows you could see at any high school or community theater.

I concentrated on chasing new titles coming in from NY. We were the first area theater to do Lend Me a Tenor. When Peter Hackett was at the Play House, he was extremely gracious in helping me secure new titles. He’d write letters to the licensing agencies, saying “The Play House isn’t going to do the show, let Beck have it.” We got Sylvia – then they saw it, and thought, “Hmm, we WOULD like to do that show.”

What’s your budget now?
The theater budget is $350,000 a year. But you have to realize the theater program is only one wing of the Beck Center. We are a full-fledged civic arts center, with 16-20 full time employees and hundreds of part-time teachers. Our Education Program budget is nearly four times bigger than the theater department: it’s $1.2 million. We have classes for age 3 and up in dance, fine arts, music and choral, adult drama (Greg Violand runs that), and a kids’ drama program. We also have a conservatory for college-bound kids – all but one of the kids from the first graduating class has been accepted into major college conservatories. On Saturday mornings we have a 4-hour program for kids 4-18, plus conservatory classes.

We merged with Riverside Music School four years ago, which gave us a huge music component, including private lessons. This year Verb Ballets will do a residency and a world premiere here. I’m very excited about that -- Hernando Cortez is fantastic.

How has all this growth affected your board? I remember hearing Karl speak at a state theater conference talking about logging the most volunteer hours in the state, and talking about how his behind-the-scenes board got you that fabulous complex you’re in.
There are always trade-offs. With growth comes the demise of grassroots. For example, we used to have a “drama production wing” – where the committee would find you a stage manager. We don’t need that kind of involvement anymore – I can do that with a couple of phone calls. We professionalized the board, although we still have a cadre of people from the Mackey era who bring a historical reference. But I’m one of the luckiest A.D.’s in town. They don’t micromanage, and I don’t hear all that “but that’s the way we used to do it.” We still have plenty of volunteers – our front of house is still totally volunteer-based. I have a great board – a combination of hands-on folks and the connected factor for the fundraising. You don’t want to get too heavy on bean counters, but with an overall budget of nearly $3 million for the center, you need professionalism and accountability. We just put together an audit committee – going through an audit is a huge undertaking.

And your building is paid off.
Yes, a donor paid off the rest of our mortgage a couple of years ago.

Which means you own your two theater spaces. You have a pretty big main auditorium. Sometimes it seems daunting to fill.
Yes. The mainstage is just under 500, which is very difficult to fill for a non-musical. We averaged about 140/night for A Raisin in the Sun...

A fabulous production, too...
Yes. But that size audience looks very small in there. This year we’ve gone from 11 to 9 shows. There has to be a saturation point for every venue. No matter how successful, that’s a lot of seats to fill. I thought it was important to do a Moliere last year, and I felt that it needed a big proscenium stage for the farce to work, but – Imaginary Invalid on our mainstage? (rueful laugh)

I would love to be able to do more special events, but the theater is an awkward size – not big enough for a big event – the tickets would have to cost too much with only 500 seats.

This year we’re being a little more careful, we’re programming a lot more musicals. I don’t feel we’ve made compromises in quality, though. Urinetown and The Full Monty are two of the best shows in the last 10 years, and Beauty and the Beast is a popular title. And if you didn’t see Bill Roudebush’s original production of Lies and Legends, you have no idea how incredible that show is. We’re bringing back the original cast. I’m a huge Harry Chapin fan.

You’re opening with Urinetown: The Musical, a gutsy move that should tell everybody that you’re miles away from being the old Lakewood Little Theater.
I did Brecht’s The Threepenny Opera as my directing thesis in college, and that’s of course one of the inspirations for Urinetown. I was so fortunate to see Urinetown when I saw it –the very last show in New York with the original cast. It was a kind of theater epiphany for me. Urinetown is my kind of musical – stylistic, refreshing, new, cutting edge. I could have sat there for 10 straight performances. It really worked in the intimacy of the Henry Miller theater, which seats 800. The Broadway tour had to become a totally hokey cartoon to reach the back row, so it lost some punch and some heart. It’s going to work wonderfully in our space.

We have a great cast -- Sandra Emerick, who does leads everywhere, is in the ensemble. Our Officer Lockstock is Matt Wright -- I adore him. Greg Violand is the villain Cladwell. Colin Cook is Robert and Maggie Stahl is Hope. Betsy Kahl is playing Little Sally.

This is my third musical in a row as a director, which I never do -- Moby Dick The Musical, then Aida this summer, and now Urinetown. But I love it so much that I’ve forgotten how tired I am.

You’ve got a hell of a season in the Studio, too. Top Dog/Underdog! That’s a coup.
It’s a big one-two punch to open the season – a Tony winner, then a Pulitzer Prize winner. It’s an amazing piece. And one of our two actors, Ed Blunt, is fresh off the Broadway production of Julius Caesar with Denzel Washington, after 2 years in the main cast of The Exonerated.

How’d you get him?
Through our director, Dale Shields. Dale’s a former Clevelander who made a career in New York City – now he’s back in Cleveland to take care of his folks. He has been teaching with us since he came back. He’s the third person with Broadway credits to come back to the Beck Center to work. Ed told his agent to clear his calendar in October so he could do this show. Our other actor is Jimmie Woodie, who is wonderful, too.

I’m really happy that we got the rights. I was worried that either Karamu or Dobama would take it. Joyce [Casey, Dobama’s A.D.] and I often chase the same plays.

And you’re finally doing a new play this season.
In November, Eric Coble’s conspiracy comedy T.I.D.Y. will be the first world premiere under my tenure. We were able to do it thanks to an ACE grant from Cuyahoga County. Any credible theater needs to look toward new work. But doing them successfully is all about connections. It would break my heart to start an original production that wasn’t everything that it could be. Roger Truesdale is coming back from Chicago to direct T.I.D.Y. -- he’s done a lot of Eric’s work. There are a lot of former Bad Epitaph folks in the cast -- Sarah Morton, Nick Koesters, and Ali Hernan. That gives me a lot of confidence in doing a premiere.

Then you’ve got Dorothy and Reuben Silver, doing Mrs. Warren’s Profession.
We’ve got a deal with them that they’ll do something here every other year. Four years ago Reuben directed Dorothy in Master Class, two years ago they directed each other in the Alan Bennett monologues Talking Heads. Scott Plate is directing both of them in Mrs. Warren’s Profession. We’ve had great success with Equity actors turning their hands to directing. We hired Carol Dunne to direct when no one else would take a chance on her -- now Scott. Some of the local Equity folks who have an MFA behind them turn into some of the best directors – they treat actors with great sensitivity.

Let’s talk about audiences. How much is Lakewood still your base?
It’s still a big part. There are 74 years of history here. Adding new audiences is a slow process. There’s a cadre of theatergoers who still think it’s 1965. Getting people across the river is a challenge. I’ve called it “the Berlin river” since I came here.

What, the Cuyahoga is our Berlin Wall?
Yes – even recently I heard somebody on the radio, almost bragging, [imitates an upper crust accent]: “I haven’t been on that side of town for 35 years.” And I’m thinking, this is something to be proud of?

It’s a slow change, getting people to recognize the kind of work we’ve done. It hasn’t been splashy news that the Beck Center has evolved. And of course now everybody is faced with single ticket buyers. People ask me about presale – I say, “what presale?” Presale doesn’t happen until 10 days before the show – getting audience is mostly word of mouth plus the reviews.

What’s missing in the equation for you?
I hate the cliché about the MTV generation – but it still represents where we’ve come as a society. People seem to want to get their info in 1.5 seconds bits and bytes, wanting to be spoonfed and told where to go. It’s a national trend – we expect to be told what to do, and rely on sound bytes and color and images. Advertising is so expensive – including radio. What’s the creative way to get the word out? Word of mouth sounds great – Playhouse Square has gotten great word of mouth for Menopause: The Musical -- but then again, they can afford to run it for 2 years and they advertise all the time.

We need to get people in here, to trust that we’re doing quality work. I’d love to have the kind of reputation where people would come no matter what the title. I have no doubts about how great and quirky Urinetown will be. How do you deal with the argument “I won’t go to that because of the title”? At least people are familiar with it because of it running at Playhouse Square.

How do we let people know what we’re doing and that they should come? There are many places in town that deserve an audience and we’re one of them.

Now that you’ve been here 15 years, any cool places you’d like to recommend to our Cool Cleveland subscribers?
It’s funny – I’m a terrible audience member myself, because I’m not as out as much as I’d like to be. I’ve always been a workaholic, but now I’m spending a lot of time being a dad, with a 9 year old at home. My wife Rachel & I are on a great wavelength on the comfort of our couch because we share the same weird sense of humor. I will not let anyone tear reality TV down because it can be so fabulously bad. And my new frivolous passion is poker. It’s a theater guys’ game, all that bluffing and pretending.

So the secret life of Scott Spence is that he plays online poker and watches reality TV?
Yeah. What horrific comic values are we passing along to our kid, I wonder?

Urinetown: The Musical by Mark Hollman & Greg Kotis runs through Oct. 9 at the Beck Center for the Arts, 17601 Detroit Avenue, Lakewood. 521-2540. http://www.BeckCenter.org.

Interview and photo by Cool Cleveland’s theatre correspondent Linda Eisenstein LindaAtCoolCleveland.com (:divend:)