Ashley Turner Kendra Mitchell ENC 3310-12 December 2, 2013 After the Curtain Falls Theatre in the Tallahassee community, while not dead, has not necessarily been thriving. Local theatres must mitigate the threat of declining interest in the performing arts while combating the constancy of financial recession. However, recent efforts have changed this reality, bending the narrative in order to appeal to a wider, wired—hyper-busy and cyber-fixated — audience. Change in the local arts community has already endured relentless rehearsals and attempted run-throughs in light of these challenges. Now change is finally making its debut in the renovation of Theatre Tallahassee This fall, Theatre Tallahassee is just beginning its opening act after the curtain closed on its former name Tallahassee Little Theatre (TLT) this past summer. No longer “Little”, it has undergone an external and internal renovation. An innovative and revamped approach to promotion using old and new media sold a little over $3,000 worth of tickets for its current season’s first production, Monty Python’s Spamalot, marking the premiere of the show in North Florida and the new name of the theatre (Davis; Theatre Tallahassee, Monty Python’s Spamalot). Now serving as a relic of the evolving history of theatre in the United States, the original name Tallahassee Little Theatre was kept for sixty-four years before the “Little” was shed (Davis, Tallahassee Little Theatre Becomes Theatre Tallahassee). These numbers are not little, however, and neither are the plans for Theatre Tallahassee’s future, heralded by its executive director Theresa Davis.
After Davis accepted the position in the beginning of 2011, she scoured memos of past Executive Board meetings that detailed cyclical mentions and attempts to change the name of Tallahassee Little Theatre, but to no avail. Decisions made by the board at the time were decided by its members who earned their membership by purchasing season tickets or by paying a small fee. Each decision required a majority vote to be approved, and a majority vote from the widespread TLT membership was hard to attain. There was little consistency from year to year, decade to decade. Members were resilient to change and the board turned over and admitted new members at a pace in which no board member could remember what issues were resolved, discussed, or even addressed the previous year. A change of name initially seemed possible for Tallahassee Little Theatre following the renovation of the lobby in 1992, but its membership remained stubborn. Loyal supporters of the theatre saw little issue with keeping “little” in the name. Others were more adamant, fearing any change. Another two years would pass before the status-quo would budge. In 2011, Theatre Tallahassee’s management dissolved its past membership-driven board and instated a self-perpetuating board of directors (Davis). This was significant in the context of the theatre’s history, accelerating change that was anticipated for years prior. The first meeting of the reorganized board of directors consisted of seven members and soon grew to its current count of fourteen members. Each member serves a two-year term for a maximum of six years, maintaining a balance between retention of history and past ideas with innovation and hopes for the future (Davis). Alongside the board is the administrative staff; Davis’s position as Executive Director acts as one of its core components. In addition, the staff includes, Artistic Director, Brian Davis; Member Communications Coordinator, Caroline Sturtz; and Marketing Manager, Melissa Findley (Theatre Tallahassee, Staff & Board of Trustees). The board is comprised of
native and new Tallahassee residents, primarily artists familiar with theatre and some that have participated on or behind the TLT stage before. All of its members place the goals of the theatre and the art-form above all other considerations. Changing the structure of TLT’s board ultimately changed the fate of the theatre. The history behind Theatre Tallahassee’s old name mirrors the stories of theatres that spread across the United States decades ago: each little in name, but not in practice. In the beginning of the twentieth century, the idea of the “little theatre” fostered a movement that “sought to raise the standards of theatrical productions by creating quality volunteer-driven community theatre companies that not only entertained, but also became an integral part of the local community” (Davis, Tallahassee Little Theatre Becomes Theatre Tallahassee). Theatre Tallahassee is a space that caters to a variety of audiences. Debuting newer theatrical works and reviving the classics, it offers five large mainstage shows, three intimate “coffeehouse” productions, and one special event staging each season (Theatre Tallahassee, About Us). Since its remodeling in 1992, which nearly doubled its mainstage capacity from 155 to 273 seats, Theatre Tallahassee’s stage has been used for all of Theatre A La Carte’s seasons, another local theatre company founded in 1990 (Theatre A La Carte). In addition to its regular season, Theatre Tallahassee also stages productions by various community organizations, one of which is Literacy Volunteers Leon County. Excluding the state-funded stages of Florida State University and Tallahassee Community College, Theatre Tallahassee is the biggest theatre in the capital city (Davis). Under Davis’s direction, affiliates and members of Theatre Tallahassee began to participate more in the surrounding Tallahassee area. On Saturday afternoons at the Downtown
Marketplace, a weekly event that offers an assortment of fresh produce, unique crafts, and locally-made knickknacks, TLT would set up a table and chat with interested locals. But even the most well-versed and knowledgeable Tallahassee resident was unaware of what exactly the Little Theatre off Thomasville Road was all about. Some assumed it was “a children’s theatre, either performed for or by children,” according to Davis. Others saw the term “little” as an indicator of poor quality (Davis, Tallahassee Little Theatre Becomes Theatre Tallahassee). After two years of listening to the community’s varied opinions, the theatre had its chance to not only confront these assumptions, but change the conversation altogether. There would be no more “little” part of the theatre to defend; there would only be Theatre Tallahassee. This past August, TLT officially became Theatre Tallahassee: a theatre built for the community and run by the community, now responsive to the reality of a new century (Theatre Tallahassee, 2013). Despite past gridlock between patrons and board members and the several attempts it took to change the name, the majority of the community was pleased with the theatre’s rebranding. To ensure a smooth transition, Davis sent emails specifying the details of the situation to season-ticket owners and subscribers that were at least five years old. Out of twentyfive respondents, only four emails came back with negative comments, some only slightly so (Davis). If these few were uncomfortable with the change in the theatre’s name, then any change would have shaken them. Others were more firm in their faith, believing in the decisions of the board and excited for the seasons ahead. The 2013-2014 season celebrates the sixty-fifth year since the founding of Theatre Tallahassee and sixty-two years of fulfilling its mission as a non-profit organization: “To further and promote a community understanding of the literary and dramatic arts” (Theatre Tallahassee,
About Us). Walking through the front doors you might find yourself in a lobby bustling with preshow murmurs and mumbles, or an intimate, black-box theatre setting, depending on the show. Inside the auditorium housing the mainstage, hundreds of blue, newly-renovated, plush seats fill the space, forming a gentle slope inches below the lip of the stage up and back, near the ceiling, next to the technician’s booth. The mainstage is modest in size and versatile. It adapts to whatever show is being staged at the time, appearing at once vulnerable and disarming, even stark, minimal; then, after several months, flaunting, brimming with commotion: donned in lavish costumes, props, and choreographed chaos. Following the debut of Theatre Tallahassee’s name, Davis and the rest of the board are initiating a four-phase renovation process for the theatre, and the name-change is only the first phase. One phase of the planned renovation will transform the pseudo-lobby-space-turned-blackbox-theatre, keeping it permanently as a black-box theatre to house all of the theatre’s coffeehouse productions. Plans to raise the ceiling of this area and expand seating to around 125 seats will retain the intimacy of those productions while also allowing for a larger audience (and larger ticket sales). The orchestra’s room, known as the Magnolia Room, will also be transformed and re-imagined as the newly-designated lobby space. Instead of simply being a place for people to idly pass by, pausing only for a brief moment during intermission, the goal is to create a space where people want to mingle and chat before a show and then stay at, far after the show’s curtain call (Davis). However, these renovations are not scheduled to be completed in any strict time frame. They are contingent on the theatre’s available monetary funds, ensuring its revitalization to be complete with determination and without debt. The genius behind Theatre Tallahassee’s external name-change is its careful maintenance of the internal, its preservation of the theatre’s traditions and history. Locals and loyal patrons
might let loose the occasional “TLT” when talking about the theatre, but the proliferation of conversation alone is progress. Others will address it as Theatre Tallahassee: that small theatre they stumbled on, noticed off the road, curious as to what they do and what they’re about. The first impression Theatre Tallahassee will evoke — its “little” days gradually receding into the past— will be as it has always strove to be: a mirror to the community of which it is an integral part. Its name will reflect its hopes for the future, instead of hindering it. And following the precedence Spamalot set after proving to be Tallahassee’s highest grossing show in history, these hopes are huge (Davis). The theatre just launched their Capital Campaign: an online fundraiser that is calling on the combined support of the community to raise $1.5 million in order to complete all of the theatre’s planned renovations (Theatre Tallahassee, Building Renovations). The community has already heard, endured the overture to change, slowly rumbling under the surface, building in a continuous crescendo. Now, after this overture’s final cadence, Theatre Tallahassee is implementing these anticipated changes for the coming season. The lights dim as the curtains are drawn back. Cue act two. Theatre Tallahassee is located at 1861 Thomasville Road with operating box office hours Monday – Friday from 12 pm – 4 pm and one hour prior to show time over the weekend. Upcoming shows include Coffeehouse production Love, Lose, and What I Wore (November 1524) and special event A Christmas Carol (December 12-22).
Works Cited Davis, Theresa. Interview. Ashley Turner. 5 November 2013. Document . —. "Tallahassee Little Theatre Becomes Theatre Tallahassee." Tally Connection . Tallahassee, 2013. Letter. <http://tallyconnection.com/2013/09/tallahassee-little-theatre-becomestheatre-tallahassee/>. Tallahassee Little Theatre. TLT Administrative Groups. n.d. <http://tltheatre.wikia.com/wiki/TLT_Administrative_Groups>. Theatre A La Carte. Organization: History. 21 October 2013. <http://www.theatrealacarte.org/history.html>. Theatre Tallahassee. About Us. 2013. <http://theatretallahassee.org/about-us-2/>. —. Building Renovations. 2013. <http://theatretallahassee.org/support-3/building-renovations/>. —. Monty Python's Spamalot. 2013. <http://theatretallahassee.org/staff/monty-pythonsspamalot/>. —. Staff & Board of Trustees. 2013. <http://theatretallahassee.org/about-us-2/staff-board-oftrustees/>.