Competition be damned! Matt Joslyn, Live Arts‘ new executive director, and Boomie Pedersen, Hamner Theater‘s co-artistic director, announced this afternoon an alliance that looks to share resources among area theaters, including marketing and promotional resources, as well as sets, actors and—most of all—audiences.
“It’s really dire right now," says Pedersen. "The financial bottom line is killing theaters across the country, and it’s having a bad effect on people’s willingness to share—or their ability to share.” But these local theater leaders think that sharing is essential to coexistence. The group will move forward in the spirit of what Joslyn calls coopetition: “cooperating to grow the competitive pool," a growing trend among strapped companies nationwide.
The ongoing discussion between theaters in the five country area—Albemarle, Nelson, Greene, Louisa and Orange—may result in collaborative marketing efforts, including a centralized box office, and shared sets. With new calendar sharing arrangements, similar productions may be staggered. “Seven or eight years ago,” says Pedersen, “there was Live Arts and there was Offstage, and Four County, and that was basically it. But they were so spread out and there was no communication.” That also meant that there was no "artistic cross-pollination."
Over three meetings since March, the group, called the Central Virginia Theatre Alliance, has established a firm membership that includes 11 founding organizations. Among them are Hamner, Play On!, UVA’s Dance and Drama departments, the Performers Exchange Project and Live Arts.
The response from the local theater community has been positive, Joslyn and Pedersen agreed. “We’re all mindful that we all have our own identities and brands that we need to protect," says Joslyn. "We have our own donor pools. But we also can’t succeed without talking. It’s not going to happen.”
Does Central Virginia have the resources to float a growing theater community?
