The Price of Theater
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The Price of Theater

Expensive royalties and limited rehearsal space play major role in deciding which productions to choose.

Last year, the theater department at West Springfield High School spent $5,800 on the limited rights to perform the musical "Les Misérables." Funded mostly by ticket sales from the previous year, Mary Jo Levesque, head of the theater department at West Springfield, is now faced with a problem — what happens when box office revenue doesn't reach expectations.

"Right now I am scared to death because I did not make the money on ticket sales from 'Les Misérables' that I thought I would," said Levesque. "Maybe in the future we are going to have to scale back on the glitz and glamour."

On top of buying the rights for "Les Misérables", Levesque said that the department also spent roughly $2,000 on lumber for the sets and another $1,000 on costumes. "And that was just for one show."

But West Springfield isn't the only school that has to take financing into consideration before producing a show. Leslie Jones and Hope Bachman, both in charge of theater at T.C. Williams High School, also feel the burden of expensive price tags that publishing companies charge for the copyrights of their material.

"We pay for the rights ourselves — we are a self supporting entity," said Jones. "We don't get money from the school, county or state so we are hurting."

Jones went on to explain that through fund-raising and play bill advertisements, the department is able to make enough money every year to perform a fall play — which is relatively inexpensive — and a spring musical in the $2,000 range. But even that requires students to raise a mandatory $100 each for the fall production and $150 for the spring musical.

"I think people in the community think the public schools pay for everything, but they don't," said Levesque. "You know who ends up the biggest loser — the kids. I would like to see a community that puts as much emphasis on the arts as they do on sports."

ONE CONVERSATION with Levesque and it's evident that a theater director's position is not confined to the stage.

"There is just a lot more involved in producing a show than people realize," she said. "We have to be lawyers, production managers, directors and producers."

"I'll have lawyers calling me up about contracts during class while a kid is delivering a monologue for a grade," she continued.

And negotiating contracts with publishing companies is no simple task. Based on projected profits, royalties are typically more expensive for shows that have a high level of popularity.

"Musicals are more expensive," said Ed Monk, head of the theater department at Chantilly High School. "How much you pay is based on the size of seating and how much you are charging. The more popular, the more expensive. They know you will draw a huge crowd — so they charge a lot."

Sometimes it can be difficult even to convince publishing companies to sell you the limited rights. According to Levesque, she attempted to secure the rights to "Chicago" this year, but the publishing company refused because they thought it wouldn't make enough money. Because of contract stipulations that usually won't allow neighboring high schools to perform the same musical at the same time, it is often the one that has the highest projected profits that gets to perform the show.

Should a school become nominated for an awards program, organizations like the New York-based publishing company Music Theater International (MTI), require extra royalties to showcase part of the performance.

"We have a set royalty for competition," said Jesse Johnson of MTI. "It allows them to cut it down to 45 minutes. It is a much reduced rate but they are not allowed to do the performance outside of the competition."

Some playwrights, such as Neil Simon, cause difficulty by not allowing schools to cut their plays for awards programs. But Glen Hochkeppel of Stone Bridge High School in Loudoun County doesn't see that as much of a problem.

"What people do in that case is be very creative with talking about the show and poke fun at the publishing company," he said. "Your biggest concern is the show. If you are going to be performing at the awards show — that's low on the totem pole."

COMPLICATIONS SURROUNDING what shows schools can perform is not just limited to price. While student talent is often the deciding factor in choosing a production, the possibility of limited rehearsal time and space can also dictate what a school can perform.

Carol Cadby, head of the theater department at Yorktown High School considers herself lucky.

"We have access to our stage pretty much all of the time," she said. "After school I have full access to the facility. At Yorktown we are very lucky."

A closer look at schools like Stone Bridge, West Springfield and T.C. Williams shows a more difficult arrangement with high school theater departments. While there are plans to expand the theater space at T.C. Williams, the department has seen their space dwindle due to the major ongoing renovations over the past three years.

"In the course of three years we have lost our make-up room and our scenery shop," said Jones. "They keep hitting the arts and athletics haven't given up anything. By next year we are told we will have our own black box theater, theater offices and box office."

Levesque has also experienced difficulty securing rehearsal space for her productions.

"I have to choose shows based on how long I can have the rehearsal space — that has been a real problem at our school," she said. Levesque went on to explain that West Springfield's rehearsal time for last year's production of "Les Misérables" was only three weeks due to lack of space — even though the adequate time is usually eight weeks. She says that this is largely due to other groups, both in and outside of the school system, using the school's auditorium.

"It's not intentional, it's just that a lot of people are trying to grow programs," she said. "I don't want to sound like I am complaining. I am a team player and I want this to be the best school system but I am having a harder time year after year because of these outside forces."

"Fairfax County makes money when they lease out our space and the school gets a very tiny, tiny amount — enough to pay the custodians, student technicians and a couple of hundred dollars as a pad," she continued. "If I had chosen a play that had huge sets, I never would have been able to have done it successfully without it being a nightmare for everyone."

Hochkeppel at Stone Bridge High School has experienced the same problems in Loudoun County, but he is adapting.

"The first half of my spring rehearsal show I can never get on the stage," he said. "It's a very popular piece of real estate. You just work around it."

"It does affect the design — almost everything moves," he continued. "Usually it's a bunch of stuff that moves around at 100 miles an hour, but it doesn't really affect the shows I do now."

ALTHOUGH EVERY SCHOOL theater group encounters their own unique problems with financial or spatial shortcomings, the real success of a school play comes down to the students.

"99.9-percent of success of a theater program — you have to choose a show for the right mix of kids," said Levesque. "We want our children to be successful and enjoy the trip because its fun. Teenagers like to have fun."

Cadby at Yorktown agrees.

"I think the selection of material is one of the hardest and most important things to be done," she said. "I first think of what the kids will get out of it."