This dynamic theater couple are Co-Artistic Directors of the Ohio Shakespeare Festival, one of Northeast Ohio's professional theatre companies – but with a difference. Founded in 2000, OSF performs a summer season of shows on the grounds of Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens, the historic Seiberling estate, in nearby Akron. Cates' superb production of Side by Side by Sondheim runs this Wed 8/11 thru Sun 8/15. Enthusiastic and candid, they gave an exclusive, free-wheeling interview about their philosophy of theater and how it’s affected their company’s work to Cool Cleveland's Linda Eisenstein. OSF show info: http://www.stanhywet.com

NC = Nancy Cates; TB = Terry Burgler

What made you decide to found a new company here in Northeast Ohio?
Nancy Cates: We said, "Let’s see if we can redefine the mold" – how do we put this diplomatically? "How can we do theatre, which we love, without some of the nonsense that comes along with it?"
Terry Burgler: There are some core ideas behind what we’re doing. I was so excited, as a raw kid out of college, to get into the regional theatre movement in the 1970s. I worked in LORTs (League of Resident Theatres) for 20 years and ran a successful LORT theatre in Richmond, Virginia, which was about the size of Great Lakes. Over the years, LORT theatre was changing and being institutionalized, not staying true to its original passions and visions. As growth happened, all kinds of new “musts” happened: you must tour, you must get a show to Broadway. All the wonderful groups that supported the expansion of the LORTs - TCG, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Ford Foundation – began to develop “formulas for giving." Suddenly you were no longer doing what you wanted, but responding to formulas so you could get funding. Regional theatre today is going up against the wall and I decided I needed to work in different venues. As LORTs went through their crisis, the university-based theatres seemed to be keeping the spark going. So I worked at Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, then at Porthouse Theatre that's affiliated with Kent State. Theatre needs to be a celebration and that includes the company, the acting company; bureacracies don’t help that. At OSF, our concept of “company” includes actors, directors, designers, and staff, all of whom are providing multiple services. Our brilliant lead in Twelfth Night was our lead carpenter. All of the money is going to the actors, so the actors do everything. 95% of OSF’s budget goes to the production expenses.
NC: That leads to another part of our philosophy. Our company is the most important part of us, so we want people who enjoy being part of an ongoing company. Giant temperaments and bad dispositions are not to be indulged.
TB: Collaboration doesn’t allow for self-indulgence. What some people call “artistic temperaments” we think is a synonym for personal attitude problems. We’re a professional company, and we pay, but we have lots of people who work for the joy of the work.

What makes doing theatre at Stan Hywet special for you and for audiences? I was at your Saturday performance, and there’s no question that the atmosphere lends an extra magic to the proceedings.
TB: It sure does! It adds to the joy of the preparation work to be building, preparing, and working in an environment that is lifting you while you work. Last year during The Tempest, the actors were working against that gorgeous cliff. We had two full moons and the breeze would be blowing. The actors would sneak off to watch each other work whenever they could – not just to see the performances, but because it was so beautiful to see the place.
NC: On the other hand, doing the O Coward musical involved crawling on a cliff face in heels and satin! You have to have a company member that loves you in order to do that.
TB: Stan Hywet has a long tradition of performing Shakespeare on their grounds. The Seiberlings were avid fans of Elizabethan times. Not only did they model the looks of their home on Tudor architecture, but they had Elizabethan theme parties. They would hire professional New York costumers who would create costumes for all their famous guests; Shakespeare is very much part of their heritage. There had been been live amateur Shakespeare at Stan Hywet for some years, but they wanted to change how they were producing it. At the time we had just founded our company, and we approached them.
NC: We hit them up and said, “We think you have a beautiful enough place that you should have a professional company here.”
TB: I have to mention Hank Lynch, the CEO of Stan Hywet. He’s a man of vision, an enthusiast who cares about quality work. I’ve been impressed by him – that in difficult times when all non-profits are struggling on a national scale – he’s managed to make the place grow and improve. He has a personal commitment to the Shakespeare element, and he’s not just a suit – he’ll roll up his sleeves and pitch in. During the Great Blackout last year, he was the guy who ran out and got the portable generator which powered the keyboard for O Coward. We got an SUV and two vans with headlights to light the stage. We ran Act 1 with no mikes and no lights, then the power came on, and we had Act 2 fully powered up.

So how does your deal with Stan Hywet work?
TB:We call it a partnership. Many partnerships are tough, but in this case, we have a synergy that has a natural life of its own. They appreciate our corporate philosophy.
NC: We’ve been respectful to the grounds, and polite to the guards, and all that matters.
TB: That meant we could grow. The first year, we had one show and 8 performances. The next year, we did 23 performances of 2 shows. With Stan Hywet, we have a collaborative planning process, not a negotiation. They budget a fee that they can give us, and we base our productions on that. We don’t believe in deficits. We take the money we have, and it goes to the next production. That means we’re not fiscally dependent on a subscriber base. We believe that a script and actors feeding an audience are essentially what theatre’s about. All the rest is extra. We don’t spend our subscriber money upfront; as we go, we have revenue sharing to fund the next productions. We do our own fundraising. But Stan Hywet takes care of administrative tasks like box office, and tickets, it's a huge contribution. Eventually they or we will get around to looking at foundations for some upgrading. For example, we’re renting our lighting equipment every year, which is money down a hole. We’d like to get funding for basic lighting equipment for next year.

You’re now one of several theater couples running theaters in NE Ohio. How does that work for you?
NC: We came up with a formula that has worked for us. The decisions are made 50/50 but if one of us is directing, we have 51% of the input. The others will have to “gracefully bow to the demands of the difficult director.” (laughs)
TB: I never expected to be writing manifestos. But the good thing about having a new company and two Artistic Directors is having to articulate exactly what we mean. As we formulated our principles and premises – we realized our commitment included the historically proven model of the actor/manager.

You’ve directed and acted in all 3 Shakespeares.
TB: Yes, that was intentional. I wanted to use the actor/manager model, because it worked for many centuries, but it’s been ignored in modern times. The idea of the non-acting director is a modern idea. In the first season’s show (Taming of the Shrew), I played Grumio – a nice little cameo. Some people see it as an ego thing, but there’s a different dynamic when a lead actor is also the director. As Prospero (last season’s Tempest) or Sir Toby (this year’s Twelfth Night) I found I rarely had to give notes on "faster pace" – I could manage the pace from on-stage. I only have to give diction notes now and then, so I can model what’s needed instead.
NC: It also means you’re out there with the actors. You’re not asking them to do what you wouldn’t do. Terry is up there in the rain, combating the frogs. There are all kinds of things we get used to here, because it’s a gorgeous environment. One cast member who was watching the show felt something – a raccoon was cuddling his boot, and our lighting designer had to deal with bats...
TB: Nancy isn’t just directing, she’s designing costumes, making repairs...
NC: Hell, I take the laundry home every night. It’s so glamorous running your own theatre.
TB: But it’s so joyous to go back to being part of the process from top to bottom. Our leading man, Jason Marr, is one of the best actors around the country and he loves to work with his hands. He told us, “I’ve never felt like I’ve owned a stage like I’ve owned this one.” He and Joy Marr are both terrific folks who happen to come from New York. Jan [Guarino, choreographer & performer in Side by Side by Sondheim] came from Virginia to work with us, and others happen to be local. One blessing we have as we’re growing, is that a classical theater company needs enough mature men to fill out the roles. We have a great component of “geezers” here – I include myself in that designation – who have become hooked on the company. Having enough mature, professional-quality actors who don’t happen to be Equity takes some of the pressure off extra Equity contracts.

How did you get to Cleveland and how do you keep afloat financially? I don’t expect that OSF can manage to keep you both solvent.
NC: Terry came to take the job as associate professor as Kent State University and Director of Porthouse Theatre. He still teaches at KSU. I’m a professional freelance director who does several shows a year around the country. When I don't direct, I substitute teach, I work at our company member Tim Champion’s law office, and I do makeup for commercial projects. All those put together make an income.

Maybe having those other incomes allows you to take more artistic risks.
TB: That’s true. We didn’t just want to recycle the popular plays, ad infinitum. In our second season, we wanted to try more challenging work like The Tempest, knowing it was a risk both for audiences and ourselves. That expanded the parameters of what we did.
NB: Our other risk was deciding to give Mr. Shakespeare some good company on the bill. We were very happy to see how Akron audiences came to adore Noel Coward.

Are your audiences mostly Akron-based?
TB: Our audience zip codes are expanding very quickly. The first year, our mailing list – partly created by Stan Hywet -- was very much anchored in Akron. In subsequent years, new audiences seem to be coming from the larger Northeast Ohio region. WCPN has been nice about getting us on their show a couple times each year. When I listen to people leaving the show, people say they heard about us on WCPN, or that friends sent them. We get terrific repeat business. One thing that keeps our optimism up are folks who say they’ve been to Stratford or Shaw – and clearly, they have resources that we don’t have – but their enthusiasm and enjoyment of the evening here is as much or better.

That doesn’t surprise me. There’s this confluence of your philosophy, the production values, and the beauty of the outdoor setting that is just magical.
TB: Maybe it’s just a 2nd childhood, but when Nancy and I were young...
NC: Hey, speak for yourself, bub, I’m still young!
TB: When I was younger, we used our enthusiasm and passion to make work that might have had flaws, but the enthusiasm helped polish them over. Now we’re professional artists with a lot of polish, but the raw enthusiasm for the work is back, too.

Interview by Cool Cleveland theater correspondent Linda Eisenstein Linda@coolcleveland.com (:divend:)