Artistic Director Michael Stevenson Shares the Magic and Influence of Capital Stage.

Michael Stevenson: [00:00:00] So we like to do conversation, starting pieces of theater, things that are relevant right now and that affect the community. We've done so many that it's crazy now I look back on, on the production history. We're looking to tell those stories that affect us or affect our community or on a larger, on a national stage as well.

We present things that maybe a little more offbeat. And really that you walk home and you think about it and then you engage in a conversation about it and it sticks with you. I've had people come up to me and say, Hey, I'm still thinking about this production. It's still affecting me, and this is like a year later.

The wonderful thing about theater is if you engage people emotionally, then their intellectual kind of. Guards go down a little bit, and so they're open to hearing things in a new way, and then it's because you're engaged with the characters. They'll say things and you'll be like, oh my gosh, that's, that's true.

Or I know that to be true.

Jeff Holden: Welcome to the nonprofit podcast Network [00:01:00] here. Our purpose and passion are simple. To highlight the incredible nonprofits that make our communities stronger. Each episode is a chance for these organizations to tell their story in their words, sharing not just what they do, but why it matters to the people they serve, to their supporters, and to all of us who believe in the power of c.

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I'm proud to welcome our newest partner, core executive leadership and comprehensive support services. Working in it so you can work on it. Visit cx OR e.com. In this episode, I sit down with Michael Stevenson, artistic director at Capital Stage to explore what makes one of Sacramento's most intimate professional theaters so compelling with just 127 seats and no microphones.

Capital stage puts you inside the story. Prioritizing crisp, nuanced performances and bold thought provoking plays that spark real conversation. We'll talk about the company's origins. Its risk taking repertoire from contemporary satire to award-winning dramas, and the [00:03:00] realities of keeping cutting edge theater sustainable in a post pandemic world.

Stevenson, welcome to the Nonprofit Podcast Network. Thank you so much. I'm so glad to be here. What we're going to talk about has such emotion and passion and, uh. Life involved in it to so many people because of the way they perceive and think about theater in all its ramifications. So I'm really looking forward to getting into some of the nuance of what we've got with regard to our performing arts theaters in the greater Sacramento region.

There really is a significant difference between each of you as we look at that and we're gonna discuss a little bit more about it. We have theaters on college campuses. We, we have independent theaters, we have small theaters, we have larger theaters, larger venues, but it's really that intimate community theater that.[00:04:00] 

Allows one to get a different experience and, and I think you probably agree with that for Capital Stage, right? 

Michael Stevenson: Yeah. One of the things that Marx us, we're professional theater. Uh, we have a small house that's about 127 people, so you're never more than four rows away from an actor, which is. Extraordinary.

And that changes the way you experience a play. It changes the style of acting, it changes a lot of the elements of the production, but we, you're literally inside the action when you sit at our theater. So that distinguishes us from other theaters along with our content and the things we choose to focus on, 

Jeff Holden: which you can't wait to get into.

Yeah. And I know when we've done New York and we do something off Broadway, that's those small theaters mm-hmm. With in many cases, big performers. And to think that's as close as you may ever get to that person ever. In terms of the star value and to literally see and feel the, you know, the voice project.

Yeah. You know, and the emotion or the sweat as they're doing their performance. You really [00:05:00] get a sense that's different. Then when you're 42 rows back looking down from the second balcony. 

Michael Stevenson: Oh yeah. And a huge difference is we're not micd at all. So that changes the quality of the voice and the voice that's required to be in the space and its effect on you and the timur and the vibration.

The the what? What hits you of what's actually happening just a few feet away from you changes the way you perceive the production. And that also makes it a much more intimate production. 'cause anytime you have. Amplification. It can be great. I mean, it really clears things up, but it removes some of the life and the voice in the space so it doesn't travel the way your ear would expect to hear it.

And so it's more like people talking to each other at Capital Stage, so that makes it capable of really. Really tiny, detailed acting that really you, you don't see often in other theaters. 

Jeff Holden: Have you performed? 

Michael Stevenson: Yeah, I was an actor for many, many years. I was at the B Street actually before this. My wife and I, Jamie, founded the B Street Theater Conservatory, and I was, I stayed acting, I went to New York and all the places, [00:06:00] San Francisco, Los Angeles.

Jeff Holden: I'm, I'm picking it up by just the articulation of the way that you're stating some things. Oh, okay. Which is a little bit different than most people who. Converse into a microphone, which we are amplified. Yeah. But as you were doing it, I was like, okay, wait, that's a little bit different. He's, oh, he's speaking that very crisply.

So it, it's, it's evident in terms of the theater itself, about 20 years old now. Mm-hmm. As I just found out, I knew you'd been there for 10 as artistic director, but you've been involved with it since the beginning. 

Michael Stevenson: Yeah. You know, I was a freelancer in the beginning. I, I wasn't a founder, but I've directed many productions there, and I was in a couple of productions there as well until 2015 when I took on the artistic directorship.

So I've, you know, I've known the, the players for a long time. Stephanie Ard, John Williams and Peter Mormon were the founders of the theater and they were. Asking the question, Hey, why do I have to go to San Francisco to see avant garde or more cutting edge theater? Why can't we see that right here? Now I bet there's demand [00:07:00] for it.

And they opened up the, uh, theater on the Delta King, which is, seems like a strange way to go. It's a 99 street, 99 seat house below decks. And there was a murder mystery theater next door and there was a restaurant up top. Sometimes people would bring their meals down into the theater, 

Jeff Holden: I remember. 

Michael Stevenson: And there was little folding school desk chairs.

So you, which really didn't really have any function for us. It was a crazy place. But the shows they did in the work they did was so compelling that they were a success even in Old Sacramento, which is wouldn't seem to be the natural place for it. And ultimately that led to seeking a larger theater to our home on Jay Street right now, which happened in 2011, 2012.

Jeff Holden: I'm sure when the thought was, we're gonna show you San Francisco. San Francisco looked and said, you go ahead on the Delta King. Yes. You're, you're definitely showing us. I don't think they knew 

Michael Stevenson: we were there. So yeah, it was really interesting dichotomy. But I think people, I. Wanna have a theatrical experience.

They want to have a live experience, and they also want to be engaged and [00:08:00] entertain, engage in challenge with bold, thought provoking theater was our mission. And that content, there's, there's an appetite for it. There's, there's desire to see issues that are affecting people today in the community.

Political issues, all kinds of direct relations to society and what's going on. 

Jeff Holden: And I think that really is the crux. The novelty, the nuance in capital stage is that you will take the chance on some of those shows that are coming through and the fact that they're meant to make you feel and think. Tell us a little bit about that, because when I speak to anybody that's involved with the theater Yeah.

Or attends the theater regularly, that's their response all the time. They never leave. Simply entertained. 

Michael Stevenson: So we like to do conversation, starting pieces of theater, things that are relevant right now and that affect the community. We've done so many that it's crazy now I look [00:09:00] back on on the production history, but shows like English or shows like the Nether or shows like Passover, which is a modern updating of.

Basically waiting for Gau in an urban environment. We do shows that cause bring unheard voices into the space as well. I had no idea for since then English, which was a story about three Iranian people trying to study English for the test of English as foreign language. And that was one of our biggest hits ever.

And there were, we make inroads into the. Persian community and look out to be ambassadors to other communities. So we're looking to tell those stories that affect us or affect our community or on a larger, on a national stage as well. We do a lot of satire. We do a lot of comedy, but it's a little more biting and a little has has a point to it.

For instance, Lehman Brothers is, Lehman Trilogy is a huge piece. It's a three act piece. It's like theater of old, and it's this fascinating. A history of these three brothers and their financial empire that they built on was lost in a day, which echoes still to us who lived through that. [00:10:00] Um, so we present things that maybe a little more offbeat and really that you walk home and you think about it and then you engage in a conversation about it and it sticks with you.

I've had people come up to me and say. Hey, I'm still thinking about this production. It's still affecting me. And this is like a year later. Mm-hmm. And we just did a show called King James. It was about LeBron James. It was actually about these two young men who were fanatics about LeBron James, and it was about male friendship and they followed him through four quarters of his career.

Like when he left Cleveland. And people are still coming up to me. The people wore jerseys to the show 'cause they were so caught up in that. And so, yeah, we're looking for shows that really engage people and things that. And what make you wanna have a discussion, maybe change your mind. We did a show called Viet Gone, uh, this incredible great comedy directed by Jeffrey Lowe, wrote the story and.

It was a story of, uh, Vietnamese aliens who came to this country during the Vietnam War to escape persecution, a group you've never heard from, and it was this incredible comedy. And [00:11:00] at the end of it, there's this extraordinary revelation. There's been a father and son, you've been following the son as he's trying to tell the story of his parents' life in America after they left.

And the father, basically, the son goes, you know, we, it was horrible that America was in Vietnam. And the father goes, he, he almost has a breakdown. And he says, well. They saved me, they saved us. They saved our village. Without them, we would all be dead. And I was like, I've never heard anyone take that kind of take on the Vietnam War.

Mm-hmm. And at this point, the wonderful thing about theater is if you engage people emotionally, then their intellectual kind of. Guards go down a little bit, and so they're open to hearing things in a new way, and then it's because you're engaged with the characters. They'll say things and you'll be like, oh my gosh, that's, that's true.

Or I know that to be true. There was another show called Heroes of the Fourth Turning, where this extraordinary show about these, uh, young college graduates are coming to for a reunion because their professor has been promoted ahead of the school in Colorado. It's an a Christian evangelical school. And [00:12:00] you meet these characters, you know, they're at a reunion and they're just acting like everybody would.

And then you're getting engaged with them and then slowly you start to realize they're really on the extreme right about what they believe about things. But too late, you're already in relationship with them, so you can't just shut that out anymore. Really an extraordinary play as well. So those are some, some of my favorites.

Jeff Holden: Is there one that you, since you've been there for the duration? Yeah. That particularly stands out as, oh my gosh. That was one of the most controversial things that, okay. 

Michael Stevenson: Easy. 

Jeff Holden: It's coming right up. I can't wait. I gotta list of them. 

Michael Stevenson: Yeah, there's a million of them. Sure. We'll start with another. The nether is this extraordinary story of the near future where people are basically experiencing their whole life in, in, in virtual reality, in the internet.

And in this world. There's a place that looks like a Louis Carroll kind of playground in 18 hundreds, kind of Alice in Wonderland, kind of, you know, nostalgic [00:13:00] reminder. And in this world of this particular place, everyone acts as either an adult or a child. And that basically. These are virtual avatars.

There's nobody real involved here. It's an avatar. You're controlling and they get involved in messed up sexual relationships with children. And so you're like, oh my God, what the hell is happening? And a cop comes in there to try and uproot the organization. The person who owns it has written code so beautifully, they're having a really tough time.

But it's this extraordinary story that gets you by the throat and it's really a story about First Amendment rights is are there consequences for things you do virtually in the real world? And as it turns out, there are no children involved whatsoever. There are are adults operating the children as avatars.

So it's the whole, the whole thing gets turned upside down. There's like three major reversals and that was a very controversial piece. It was amazing. We got a lot of response from that, but it's, people have come to expect kind of a little more challenge from us. There was another one called Passover, which is [00:14:00] about two young black men trying to get out of the inner city, and it's almost.

Terrible or a fable. It, it has a surrealistic thing going on and there's a lot of use of the N word, and I was very concerned about it. Mm-hmm. And the two actors we had were just superior. And the play itself is Antoinette Nand wrote it. It's extraordinary and he kind of cast a hypnotic kind of spell on the audience as we watched.

And it's also a tragedy 'cause one of the kids gets shot by the end by a cop. And this happened right near George Floyd. And that happens a lot where the incidents on stage, I think playwrights are, can read the zeitgeist. A little better than we can. There's been several times when we've chosen plays that at the time, there was, for instance, a huge university admission scandal about three or four years ago, and we were doing a play called admissions and it was about admission scandals, somewhat 

Jeff Holden: prescient in terms of to the, the environment.

Right. 

Michael Stevenson: Totally, totally unknown to me that this would happen, but uh, it's happened several times. It's really interesting. 

Jeff Holden: Yeah. Let me ask. [00:15:00] What is the role of the artistic director? 

Michael Stevenson: Yeah, so it's two major things. The first is choosing a season and working with directors and designers on that season, trying to make sure that the artistic content is up to snuff and you know, just helping the productions along and overseeing that stuff.

Hiring actors and designers and. The whole cab caboodle. Then the other half is fundraising and getting myself out into the community to meet people to look for new sources of revenue. 'cause as you know, it's a like a 60 40, 65, 30 5% split between earned income and donated contributed income. 

Jeff Holden: And we'll get a little bit more into that funding too.

Yeah. In just a minute. 

Michael Stevenson: Yeah. So you really 

Jeff Holden: have a split role. You have not only the creation of what's being seen by the audience for the the year, but you also have the development role, the. The fundraising role is, is part of the artistic director. 

Michael Stevenson: Yeah. 

Jeff Holden: Wow. 

Michael Stevenson: Yeah. And we have a development manager, Kirk Blackington, who's terrific at his job.

And we have a new managing director and Liz [00:16:00] Gray, and she's also got a big background in development. Mm-hmm. So I'm not alone at all. Good. In fact, I'm, I'm, they're giving me things to do and I'm going and doing them. But as face of the theater, I'm trying to get as many people to come to the theater Sure.

And become donors. Get involved in the theater at a, a really grassroots level. 

Jeff Holden: And especially if you have a an interested party sponsor who is into the theater 

Michael Stevenson: Yes. 

Jeff Holden: With you alongside of development director or or executive director. What a wealth of energy you can bring into that conversation to engage that potential sponsor or.

You know, anybody that wants to make the contribution. 

Michael Stevenson: Yeah. And as it turns out, Kirk has been involved with the theater for many years as well. He's directed, I've directed him, he's been cast in several things. So he was the founding I, artistic director of Big Idea Theater, which is a non-professional theater that he and his wife Shannon founded.

So he has tons of connections in the community as well. So we're very fortunate that way. Mm-hmm. And Liz is. Tons of experience with fundraising. Uh, it's a, it's a [00:17:00] big focus and especially as, as the times have changed, it's become something we lean on more and more, especially in this artistic environment.

At the federal level, things are basically disappearing, 

Jeff Holden: right? 

Michael Stevenson: And that's gonna have a huge effect. We're not directly on that path, but its, it hits other organizations that are in that path that do help us out. So 

Jeff Holden: let's bring the house lights up for a bit as we hear from those who make this programming possible.

I'm speaking with Darrell Tet, CEO of Core. Welcome to our Family of Partners. 

Darrell Teat: Thank you so much, Jeff. We are really excited to be part of the family and contribute to the work that you all are doing. 

Jeff Holden: What is Core all about? 

Darrell Teat: Core provides fractional and interim executive services along with comprehensive back office.

So. They go into our client sites and do the work to give them the capacity they need in order to move through transitions, whether that's planned or unplanned, or companies also work with our accounting and finance, back office solutions, human resources, technology, and administration. 

Jeff Holden: Why are these [00:18:00] services such a lifesaver for small and midsize organizations?

Darrell Teat: Great question, Jeff. The reason why our back office solutions add value is because we save them time and money anywhere from 20 to 30% of what they would spend on that back office solution. We work in it so they can actually work on it. 

Jeff Holden: I have to believe that there's somebody right now listening and thinking, I could use that kind of help.

What's the best way to get in touch with you, Darel? 

Darrell Teat: The best way is at our website, cx OR e.com, and contact me directly at DTE a t@cxoe.com. 

Jeff Holden: Darrell, thank you for your investment and commitment to supporting our messaging. And if you're interested in learning more about Core may help your organization, visit CXOR e.com.

Scott Thomas: Hello, this is Scott Thomas with CAPTRUST in our Sacramento office. I specialize in working with local nonprofits and associations annually. We survey private and public [00:19:00] nonprofit organizations across the country to better understand challenges they see in today's environment. In our more recent survey, we hear concerns about proper board governance, mission aligned investment, and how to implement alternative investments.

If you would like a copy of the survey or to discuss your organization, look me up, scottThomas@captrust.com. At Western Health Advantage, healthcare 

Jeff Holden: isn't just a service, it's a shared value. As a nonprofit leader, you need a health plan that understands the importance of mission-driven work. Western Health Advantage is a local not-for-profit health plan that supports organizations like yours with affordable, flexible coverage options for your team.

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It's a partner in your purpose. Explore your options today@westernhealth.com. Western Health Advantage, healthcare with Heart designed for those who give back. Let's pivot a little bit because that's a a great point to do it. You all have this integration into the community with X number of years, 20 at least for yourself.

Yeah. In involved with both the theater and the community. What do you look like when we talk about collaboration? Who are some of the organizations you might collaborate with that are really supportive and integrated and in integral to your existence? 

Michael Stevenson: Yeah, so, well, there's a bunch involved at different levels.

There's individual sponsors. Sometimes people will say, Hey, I wanna sponsor a show. We're very fortunate. We have a lot of those. There's also the government, the city. We've been fortunate enough to see the Creative Arts Award every three years. Congratulations. Congrats. Thank you. That's from the Office of Arts and Culture, and they've [00:21:00] supported us for many years.

Really incredible. There's not a lot of cities that do drive. Support the arts like that. We also have partners that we choose depending on the show. Oh, for instance, uh, we've had the Asian Bar Association as a partner at the Arian School of Nursing at Davis. We were doing a show about Alzheimer's caregivers and they partners with us and had displays in the lobby, and we had panels and talk backs about that.

Tachi Noal, we've. Richard FLCs Group. It's a Latinx theater company, a celebration arts, uh, really famous. James Wheatley. Founded this company many years ago and they, we've partnered with 'em in many instances. We also have some corporate sponsors. Occasionally. Those are harder to find, and so it's a mix of all those people that we interact with.

Jeff Holden: And then as I see from the website, you also have classes and teaching that. I'm sure integrates and uses the facility Oh, absolutely. To greater our use too. Tell us a little bit about that. 

Michael Stevenson: I should mention too, we're members of the National New Play Network and we've done several, what's called Rolling World Premieres, where a play opens in, say, Florida, and [00:22:00] then in the space of it production year, it'll move to two or three other theaters and the productive.

The creative teams keep in touch with each other. Sometimes the author makes changes. The idea is it's, it's easy to get a first production. It's really hard to get a second one uhhuh. So getting as many out across the nation as possible is part of the focus of that. We've done several of those. I'm sorry, what was the second question?

Oh, the theater. The school. Yes. So we have, uh, cap Stage Academy, which offers classes for adults and professionals looking for to further their training. And those take place at Clara, which is ecl Really? Mm-hmm. Center for the Performing Arts, which we're very lucky to be part of. We have our offices there and our rehearsal space there, which we didn't have for many years.

We would just. Drive around to warehouses or other theaters and wherever you could 

Jeff Holden: find a space that could Wherever, be willing, right, 

Michael Stevenson: wherever. Find, yeah. Which, when you think about it for rehearsal, you gotta load the props in, you gotta get the actors there, you gotta get set up, then you gotta break down at the end of the night.

It was just, it was really difficult. So we're very fortunate to be there. We also offer apprenticeships where it's a transition from school to the professional life. We just have a new class [00:23:00] of apprentices who've joined us and we're really happy about that. Then occasionally we'll have like one, one off workshops.

We've had casting directors come in and talk about the craft and getting a work and doing that stuff. So we're offering the apprentices classes year round. The idea is to give them a full experience of what it's like to produce a year of theater in every department, marketing and mm-hmm. Construction, and a lot of construction obviously, and finance.

And so they're fully prepared theater professionals when they leave our program. 

Jeff Holden: Which is a great segue to the next question. It's, it's the funding part of the theater. 

Michael Stevenson: Yeah. 

Jeff Holden: And. As you're addressing it, you say construction and I, you know, quiver because I just think a cost of construction, cost of materials.

Oh yeah. Cost of everything. At this point, how is the theater funded? And I know a lot of people will have the misperception that, oh, it's ticket revenue and that takes care of everything. And that nothing could be further than the truth. I mean, it's a, it's a percentage of it. Yeah. Talk to us about that.

Michael Stevenson: So there have been so many, so [00:24:00] many factors that have affected us as a theater. AB five has affected us. Um, which 

Jeff Holden: for the benefit of those who don't know is 

Michael Stevenson: it's a law addressing contractors and labor laws. Basically, it, it requires. Certain people would be classified as employees, which is important and people get paid, which is really important to change the landscape of theater world because we had a lot of volunteers before.

We also, COVID has had a disastrous effect because it took out our reserves and then the price of materials has gone crazy from that as a result. It's gone crazy. So wood and steel, they've normalized a little bit, but they're still way more expensive than they used to be. Mm-hmm. Cost of labor have gone up.

And then the shutdown we had to deal with, we were out of commission for a year and a half, so we went to video, we created. A radio play for the Christmas show. We did two other productions that we fully videoed. We didn't know anything about video to start with, so it was crazy 

Jeff Holden: as so many other people didn't either.

Virtual events, what's a virtual event? I can't. I know, my God. Yeah. Did my major fundraiser. Virtually it's How does that [00:25:00] happen? 

Michael Stevenson: It doesn't really do well. And Zoom came into our lives, which I can't stand Zoom, and it's the antithesis of what we do. Theater is not that, but so there was that, but there's also post COVID audiences have not returned to the levels that they were before.

So we could depend on more earned revenue before, and we can't depend on as much. It's slowly getting up there. Again, I was gonna ask, but it's not, it's not there yet. We're still probably 10, 15% off the peak. So all those factors combined along with people have left the business, it got too crazy in COVID, and people are just like, look, I just can't do this anymore.

So. We also people you mean performers? Yeah, performers, designers, creatives of all kinds, everybody. Stage managers. And then we lost a major theater in Sacramento. We lost Sacramento Theater Company. 

Darrell Teat: Mm-hmm. 

Michael Stevenson: Which was bad for everybody because there's an ecosystem of theater designers and professionals and technicians and actors that travel from theater to theater to theater.

Because there were three professional theaters up here ourselves, B Street and Sacramento Theater Company and, and occasionally music circus. They hire a little bit of local, not a lot. [00:26:00] You could scratch it together. If you were tough and talented, you could make it happen, but that's not really the case anymore.

Mm-hmm. It's just really, really tough. So there just, there's been just momentous change over the last Well, the time that I've been there. Right, right. I've watched most of it happen. So, 

Jeff Holden: so in the, in the funding process, it's what, 60% of it may come from ticket revenue. The additional coming from sponsorships and donors and 

Michael Stevenson: Yeah, so sponsorships, donors, grants.

The biggest slice of that is individual contributors. We are very fortunate to have some loyal patrons who are, have been very generous with us. It still doesn't change. The equation has changed. Basically, it's, it's, we, our earned revenue is still down and we're trying to figure out ways of getting people back in the theater and engaged.

Mm-hmm. But it's a struggle. I'll tell you, it's been a couple years. Uh, it's a little better. Part of the problem is I think everybody subconsciously became programmed if they went to work at all, go home, sit on the sofa, watch Netflix. 

Darrell Teat: Mm-hmm. 

Michael Stevenson: And [00:27:00] that became, that was a year of that, at least or two, for some people at least.

Right, right. And so subconsciously that becomes your habit. And I don't think that anyone's been able to address, there's gotta be an event that kind of unlocks that again, but that repetition and that isolation became America. And so we are struggling still to kind of break that and get people back into the civic ritual that is theater.

Jeff Holden: Do you see, as you look at it now, you said it's maybe 10 to 15%. Is the trend line still positive? Getting closer to and closer to as we eradicate some of that? It's 

Michael Stevenson: flat. Okay. It's been positive, but it's gone flat recently. I we're having some hopeful sales for this new season coming up our 21st season, 

Jeff Holden: uh, which as we speak, this is now, let's say September of 2025.

Michael Stevenson: Yes. Yeah, it'll be the end of this month. We'll open the show and we run September to August in terms of our fiscal year. And so sales have been good for Lehman especially, which is great. And subscriptions are pretty good. It's still not where it [00:28:00] was, and we're still, it's getting people into the theater to hack the experience.

You can't tell somebody about it, right? It's useless, it's intellectual information. But if you get somebody into the theater, that's a different story. Then they can be transformed by that, by just seeing the right play at the right time. But that's, that's our challenge. 

Jeff Holden: And then you do have some fee for service.

The the classes are are, 

Michael Stevenson: yeah. 

Jeff Holden: Coursework and things like that. 

Michael Stevenson: Yeah. We do, uh, have, we charge tuition. It, it barely covers the cost. Okay. Uh, it's more of a community service and us engaging in the community. I think it's more important. We do have some special events. Sometimes we'll have a band or a singer or a, a comedian come in to take an off night in the theater, but we do seven shows a year, which is a crazy number of shows to do.

So there's very little dark time in the theater. And we're trying to figure out more ways of getting people access to the space as a kind of reception area or conference area, which we had a little success with. And that's, that's a little better what? I'm here. Good, 

Jeff Holden: good, good. And I wanna make it clear for.

The listener again, when you say seven shows a year, they think, oh, it's only seven shows a year. What's a big deal? No, it's seven shows a year over X number of [00:29:00] nights. Oh yeah. That, that could be what, what? How many performances? It's 

Michael Stevenson: basically eight weeks to show 29 performances you go, and then the last week of the previous show and the first week of the next show, the rehearsal overlap each other.

So there's other considerations like housing actors from out of town. You can't always find the people you need in town. So sometimes we go, often we go to Los Angeles or New York and they've gotta live somewhere while they're here. Right? And so that's another of our struggles is finding actor housing.

We have generous patrons who have adu, who we were able to use once in a while, but it's always a scramble. It's always, and then the math of that is, so we've got actors housed from the last play, actors coming in for the new play, and there's a week there where everybody is on top of each other. Yeah. And, and to keep 

Jeff Holden: in mind, that's roughly 200 plus performances, you know?

Oh, yeah. Out the course of a year. Yeah. That's a lot of. Nights or Or days consuming the theater. 

Michael Stevenson: Absolutely. Yeah. 220, something like that. Yeah. Is that what your total is? Crazy? Yeah. Seven. Lemme see. 

Jeff Holden: Seven times 30 would be two 10 and then 

Michael Stevenson: plus. Plus. There you go. Math is not my thing. 

Jeff Holden: No. [00:30:00] Nor mine. 

Michael Stevenson: Yeah. Yeah.

So the theater is constantly occupied and we're building the next show while the next, this show is running and we're trying to keep, you know, you get plans early, so it's just a constant hive. Effectivity. Yeah. I think 

Jeff Holden: that's the part. People just don't realize the significance of. The activity that's taking place.

If you have two really disparate style shows, that staging is completely Oh my God. Yeah. Can be different. And I'm imagine probably everyone is like that, right? 

Michael Stevenson: Yes. I think other theaters do fewer shows, some in some cases, but the B Street were very similar to in terms of main stage productions, and they have their kid show, which is on, in addition to all that they do.

But yeah, I mean, it's a labor of love. Yes. It's never gonna be a cash cow, as it were. It's always gonna be. It's about being in meshed in the community. Sharing these stories together, which is this kind of ancient ritual that we've had since sitting around the fire. 

Jeff Holden: Right? I'm gonna ask you a fun question now, which I think you're gonna, oh, yay.

You'll enjoy. This is the one. This is one where we get away from it all and say you've, you've got this donor who's passionate about the arts, passionate [00:31:00] about the theater, says, you know what, Michael, I've got this blank check. I'm aging myself out. I wanna leave it as a legacy. But you gotta give me a good reason to do it.

If, if that was the case, what would the theater look like? What would you do? What would be different? 

Michael Stevenson: Well, if this was a truly blank check, I think the thing would be different. We would lower our ticket prices, pay our technicians, designers, and actors more, and then we would be very attuned to what's going on in the community.

And be able to choose shows nimbly that are really affecting things right now. And also we'd be welcoming to everybody. We want everybody to feel included, and we would probably send productions out into schools to bring people together. Love that. Yeah. Yeah. And. Maybe more partnerships with other theaters as well.

It's ironic when you do a co-production, you think, oh, it's gonna be, we're gonna save money. It's, we did a co-production, a triple co-production of the hard sellers, this wonderful Lloyd saw [00:32:00] play, and it pretty much just ends up being another. You get this wonderful feeling of accomplishment because of the creative energy that's gone to these three productions.

But it turns out to be, you've still gotta build it and make it work in your space, which is almost identical. So it's interesting. 

Jeff Holden: So no savings, not necessarily greater, just a wash. 

Michael Stevenson: Yeah. But also, you know, and a lot better feeling, great feeling you've had a lot, something to do with the life of this play, which is really good.

Yeah. 

Jeff Holden: Back to the reality of the situation today. What is the greatest need? 

Michael Stevenson: I would say we've gotta find a way to increase our earned and contributed income. It's, it's a different, almost a different business than it was sometimes. Way back in the early aughts, people, a lot of volunteers were on that stage and helping out or being paid fees for, you know, tons and tons of work.

And now we're paying people appropriately and we really. We've gotta figure out the post COVID business model. 

Darrell Teat: Mm-hmm. 

Michael Stevenson: And figure out what gets people back in the seeds. I think that's the most important thing. [00:33:00] Because before the, just before COVID hit, we were on just a roll. We had 2,283 subscribers. Wow.

Crazy number. Right? And now we're back down to like 1800. So we've lost a, a chunk of change there. And some of that is people aging out and they just don't wanna take the risk of being in COVID. 

Jeff Holden: Sure. 

Michael Stevenson: And then some of it people, kids have not experienced theater. A lot of kids went through a disruption in their high school or college education.

So we're trying to find ways to reengage and maybe there's a different model we need to look at. Maybe seven shows a year is too many. So we're looking at all the angles. 

Jeff Holden: Mm-hmm. I'm happy to see the receptivity to change. 

Michael Stevenson: Yeah. 

Jeff Holden: It, it, it's hard. It's really difficult to say, well, this is the way we've always done it.

This model's worked so well, but it doesn't work anymore. 

Michael Stevenson: Yeah. And, and 

Jeff Holden: it's really time to break it and look at something different and experiment. 

Michael Stevenson: Yeah. Absolutely. Have, 

Jeff Holden: have you done any of those that gave you a glimpse of something that looks like it could be fruitful? 

Michael Stevenson: I'll tell you something. When we're.

I would say we've tried, we've experimented with [00:34:00] flex tickets, which are tickets that don't have a date associated with them. You can just use 'em whenever you want in the course of the run of a show. And that's always been, that's been helpful in that also, when we're engaging in specific communities in.

For instance, English was an example of that, or Passover. Mm-hmm. You get a different audience, which that goes, okay. The more inclusive we are, the better off we'll be in terms of people actually coming to see the theater. He had gone, I'll never forget this, there was an elderly Vietnamese woman who'd come to the show.

It's a really, it's a just a gorgeous show and really a bullying, and she came to me and she took both my hands. She said, thank you for telling this story. And I was like, yeah. How long has it been? To see some, your story on stage is really powerful. It's a really powerful thing. And for many years, like for instance, we in English, there were, we had to find Persian actors and Iranian actors and it was extraordinary.

It was just this amazing new energy in the room. So I think there's some, some combination of those elements that make it work. 

Jeff Holden: Are the theaters at all Into [00:35:00] yet? I'm sure it's coming. Dynamic pricing. 

Michael Stevenson: Oh, that exists. Yeah. They're a ticketing system to do that. It's, it's a complex thing to do. It's possible to do, and we're starting to look at it, but we haven't, we haven't done it yet.

Like Music Circus for instance, has dynamic pricing. Okay. They use a program called Tessitura, which is kind of a, a database, and they're able to change ticket prices on the fly. We don't have as much inventory as they do, so it's a little more, a little more challenging. 

Jeff Holden: Mm-hmm. 

Michael Stevenson: Yeah. So we, we are looking at it, but we haven't started it.

Jeff Holden: And then with regard to. The individual performances, obviously there's days that have nuance to them because timing and everything sure may not, not as as demanded, but when you see that stable group, the people that are your staunch subscribers, what do they look like? 

Michael Stevenson: They're probably late forties, up to sixties.

They're probably professionals, [00:36:00] a lot of them high level education. I's been engaged with the theater for a while too. They really stick and they enjoy a good conversation. So I would say it's more women sometimes debate sometimes. Yes. That that's a special conversation. Extreme I would say there's more women than men.

Jeff Holden: Oh, interesting. 

Michael Stevenson: And 

Jeff Holden: yeah. 

Michael Stevenson: And that's, that's another one of our struggles is trying to diversify our audience. Trying to get more people in of different cultures into the theater. 

Jeff Holden: Well, I'm looking at that gap. 1800 to 2200, you know, high watermark, two current. Yeah. And thinking, okay, well four hundred's not that bad.

We have a city that's growing. We have a downtown that's getting more and more. Dense in terms of housing and, and lifestyle. Yeah. And you know, hopefully things like this will just continue to perpetuate and, and it's helpful actually for me to be aware because we have so many people that pass through the studio that may have a likelihood to align.

Michael Stevenson: Yeah, yeah. 

Jeff Holden: Yeah. And, and where I can reach out and say, Hey Michael, I think there's something here. Yeah, 

Michael Stevenson: that'd be 

Jeff Holden: great. I mean, if you, if you were to do a program in some [00:37:00] way, shape, or form, or a play that comes through that's based on life of a foster youth. I mean, what an incredible opportunity. Yeah. In, in, in our community.

Absolutely. So your day to day is, is hectic and crazy. Sure. And many of us seek entertainment in our relaxation. Yeah. So what does an artistic director do to relax? I'm assuming you probably don't go to more plays. 

Michael Stevenson: You know what I hike. Go running. I love the beach. I haven't been able to get there much. I am a pop culture junkie, so like we're watching the Guilded age right now and it's a blast.

And I, you know, my time is so full. I don't really think about that question all that much. 

Jeff Holden: Everybody says balance. I don't think any of us that love what we do. Yeah. Have balance in, in the, uh, you know, the traditional sense of it. Air quotes there. 

Michael Stevenson: I would agree. 

Jeff Holden: Yeah. The best way to find out about everything.

Michael Stevenson: The website, I think is the absolute best [00:38:00] way. There's tickets, there's calendars, there's all the information about classes, making a donation. Everything is there. So that's our main front door. 

Jeff Holden: And that is capital stage or cap stage.org. Cap stage.org. Okay. Perfect. Well, Michael, you mentioned having a player or, or a performance, you know, eliciting the response is really the.

The essence of it. That's what changes the dynamic. That's what makes it that much more visceral to, to the audience and the proximity in, in four rows and 127 people in, in the, in the audience period. I mean, that's enough to have a conversation with many of them in your. Section. Oh yeah. As, as things go on.

Michael Stevenson: And we host, uh, what we call cap chats after the shows, uh, several of the shows so people can talk about the show and ask questions of the actors and the director. I think there's this other thing that makes theater absolutely unique. There's never the same performance twice. Same actors, same production, but there's a different audience and the audience changes the way that the theater performs and the actors feel it.[00:39:00] 

And there's always this wonderful time where something happens on stage that's affecting everybody and the audience is not aware of their own reactions. And they go, oh, all together as a group. And I'm like, oh, we've done our job. 

Jeff Holden: Yeah. And I'm sure for the performers as well, where they realize there's something different about this one and maybe one performance out of those 27 or 29 is that one that was just pivotal.

It was unique where they really. Engaged and amongst themselves on stage and the audience. Oh, yeah. I'm, I've seen some of those too, where you recognize something's unique about this. Yeah. They're, they're different on stage in just their, either the, the comfortable, they're extremely comfortable mm-hmm. Or some of the comments that may come out, maybe you know, a little bit and, and that's not, that's not how I heard it the last time.

Yeah. Where that little bit, or you might see the smiles on the stage as they realize somebody changed something. To address the audience differently. 

Michael Stevenson: Yeah. Yeah. That's what makes it unique and you have this indelible, impermanent experience [00:40:00] that can really be effective. It's just we don't gather very much anymore, and so the theater is a wonderful place to do that and feel that shared humanity.

Jeff Holden: I love that line. There's, it's a wonderful line. It's a great way to, to wrap, you know, in terms of what a treasure we have with this incredible group of performers, with the incredible group of people committed to the theater, to bring that somewhat edgier, somewhat more controversial discussion on topics, whether they be global or if they be national, or if they be local.

Yeah. We have an outlet for that. Yeah. So to you and your team, thank you so much. Oh, thank you for giving that to us. Thank you for getting the word out. We really appreciate it as much as we can. Okay, Michael, thank you. Thank you, sir. Thank you for listening to the Nonprofit Podcast Network. We hope today's episode inspired you and gave you a deeper look into the work of our local nonprofits.

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