BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEETING Nancy B. Hamn Hall, Winspear Opera Huse Tuesday, December 15, 2015 4:00 pm 6:00 pm Trustees in Attendance: Drew Alexandru, Jennifer Altabef, Jhn Bergner, Jeff Bragalne, Diane Brierley, Randy Brwn, Bill Custard, Terry Dallas, Lauren Embrey, Bess Enle, Curt FitzGerald, Dn Glendenning, Craig Haynes, Julie Hersh, Matt Hickey, Jhn Hwell, Suzan Kedrn, Jhn Levy, Rn Mankff, Debrah McMurray, Sctt Mre, Kevin Mriarty, Brent Nichlsn, Sctt Orr, Tracy Prestn, Terri Prvencal, Frank Risch, Deedie Rse, David Russakv, Shannn Skks, Hamiltn Sneed, Rbert Tnti, Dan Waldmann, Dnna Wilhelm, Jeff Wdward Other Attendee: Ken Bernstein, Chair f 3-Year Plan Cmmittee Staff in Attendance: Alfred Bulter, Rhealyn Carter, Barb Hicks, Rachel Hull, Martha-Elena Lpez, Brad Pritchett 4:08 pm Bard Chair called the meeting t rder and welcmed everyne. Chair s Reprt Julie Hersh Julie Hersh thanked everyne fr their transparency and cperatin ver the past cuple f mnths and cmmended Jeff and Kevin fr the cllabrative wrk in the three-year plan and seasn planning prcess. Als thanked Alfred Butler and Travis Ballenger. Cngratulatins t the staff fr getting thrugh the first half f the seasn. DTC has had tw wrld premieres, Mnshine and Clarksn, and has pened Muntaintp and A Christmas Carl starring Hassan El-Amin. Julie cmmended Hassan fr his prfessinalism and pwering thrugh his rle as Scrge while battling walking pneumnia. A Christmas Carl, directed by Brierley Resident Acting Cmpany Member Christie Vela, pened December 1 st and it runs thrugh December 27. Next year, the prductin will be directed by BRAC member Steven Walters. Kevin will sn be ging t Hustn with several Brierley Resident Acting Cmpany members t direct All the Way in cllabratin with the Alley Theater. Rme and Juliet starts January 27 th. Stage seating fr student will be available fr very perfrmance. Seats will be $15. At the last Full Bard we stated that financial versight, fundraising, and bard advcacy wuld be ur FY16 gals. There are sme updates fr these gals. A fcus n bard advcacy will begin in January and a tlbx will be created t help DTC staff share infrmatin with Trustees. The fcus since the last meeting has been in financial versight, planning and fundraising. The peple wh have wrked n the 3-Year Plan Cmmittee and the Finance Cmmittee have been giving sund advice and participating in a cperative way with the management f the theater. In regards t fundraising, there s been a lt f wrk if frming a campaign cmmittee and reaching ut t individuals regarding with specific ask that lk prmising. Als btained a $40,000 grant frm NEA fr Deferred Actin. It is a huge credit t Kevin and the artistic team fr their wrk. Justin Guarini has been secured fr Centerstage 2016. The gala has already been underwritten fr $70,000, mre than duble than what is usually the case this time f year. Jel Ferrell has stated that this will be the mst fun gala ever. Full Bard Meeting MINUTES December 15, 2015 updated 2/17/16 (apprved) P a g e 1
Bard Nminating & Gvernance Cmmittee Dan Waldmann Dan Waldmann stepped in fr James Waters, Chair f the Nminating and Gvernance Cmmittee, wh was called t a last minute meeting. The Gvernance Cmmittee has been undertaking a bylaw review and updating them. A revised and updated list f tpics will be taken t Executive Cmmittee and then t the Full Bard fr review and apprval. The Nminating Cmmittee has just finished having discussins with thse bard members whse term is abut t expire and are eligible fr renewal, and gauging interest in serving fr anther term. There is nw a defined number f slts available fr new Trustees. The Cmmittee is asking fr yur suggestins in bringing new Trustees in wh will bring value t the Bard. The cmmittee is giving a lt f weight t a cuple f factrs: Crprate representatin and membership; ethnic and gegraphic diversity; and financial capacity. Names f ptential prspects can be sent t Mel.Hward@dallastheatercenter.rg. Finance Cmmittee Reprt Curt Fitzgerald The financial utlk fr FY16 has imprved since ur previus meeting. Overall, the bttm line has imprved by $185,000. Significant changes in incme include a shrtfall in single ticket sales fr Muntaintp f (8,343), an increase f $45,402 in cntributed incme due primarily t a $40,000 NEA grant. In expenses there are prjected savings f $19,500 in ryalties due t shrtfall in ticket sales, $101,410 in develpment nn-payrll expense savings, and $50,000 in endwment / bridge campaign expense due t a reallcatin f a restricted gift. There is an verage f ($27,676) prjected in special events expense. The ttal net change frm the Octber financial reprt is psitive $185,000. The deficit fr this year is still ver $1.1 millin. The gd news is tempered by the verall psitin the theater is in. Ticket sales fr A Christmas Carl are tracking behind expectatin and may increase the deficit by at least $90,000. We have brrwed $800,000 n the bank line f credit. We have abut $500,000 in the bank and abut $150,000 utstanding checks. Net bk balance is currently $345,000. 3-Year Plan Jeff Wdward and Kevin Mriarty Jeff Wdward thanked the Bard fr making his transitin t Dallas smth and painless. A wrking draft f an FY17 budget was distributed. The perating deficit the theater is wrking with stems frm a miscalculatin f the develpment gal fr FY15, which was reevaluated when Jeff came t the theater. $1.5 millin was als in the budget fr bridge funding, s bridge funding is nw $2.8 millin. A cmmittee f current and past trustees was came tgether t frm the 3-Year Plan Cmmittee t assist the staff in making a 3 year financial plan. This Cmmittee was chaired by Ken Bernstein. The Cmmittee reviewed financial histry frm FY10 t present, and made recmmendatins at the previus bard meeting. The recmmendatins are: Create a balanced perating budget that allws fr a decline in bridge funding ver a several year perid; Build net assets, including endwment and repay existing debts; Build liquidity and create a cash reserve fund equaling subscriptin revenue; Build capital replacement funds fr things like equipment; Build risk-capital r pprtunity funds fr when exciting prspects cme alng, The capital campaign is still in the funding stage, develping a prspect list and a strategy, as well as mdifying the initial plan based n the abve recmmendatins. Full Bard Meeting MINUTES December 15, 2015 updated 2/17/16 (apprved) P a g e 2
The Cmmittee als recmmended evaluating prgrams based n a CTO cntributin mdel, which was dne with twenty-seven prgrams at the previus Bard meeting as well as with the staff. The results are listed in the minutes frm the Octber bard meeting. All f the prgrams were reflected as cntributing highly t Missin, Visin, and Values, s there were nt any bvius areas that culd be cut. Prducing cntingency in the budget is significantly dwn frm what it has been in the past. In the new budget, n full time staff psitins have been eliminated and there are n furlughs. The reasn fr this is that the wrklad has nt changed and the seasn is still year-rund with eight shws. If n plays were prduced, the theater wuld have an perating deficit f $757,000. A CTO exercise was dne fr every prductin under cnsideratin fr FY17, with numbers prjected fr ttal cst f every shw, layered with what wuld be gained via ticket subscriptin and single ticket revenue. Jeff, Kevin, and the staff are cmmitted t perating within the means f the theater. Kevin then came frward and presented the plays chsen fr the FY17 seasn, with the gal f the seasn being t generate $757,000 in revenue while als staying as clse t the missin and value. New wrks and large musicals shuld be cnsidered first. The initial shws chsen and presented t the bard (Prpsed Seasn-Versin A) were: Inherit the Wind: A classic American play that premiered in 1955 in Dallas. It tells a fictinalized versin f the 1925 Scpes Mnkey Trial, which brught the debate ver creatinism versus evlutin int the American curtrm. Directed by Kevin Mriarty, and featuring a large cast, this unique prductin will be prduced at the Kalita in an extremely stripped dwn, stark visual style, with n sets, cstumes, lighting r sund. Bella: An American Tall Tale: A wrld premiere, new musical cmedy written by Kirsten Childs (writer f Fly) and directed by the critically lauded playwright and directr, Rbert O Hara. Set in the Old West, it tells the tale f Bella, a yung black wman in the late 19 th Century America, wh has a vluptuus figure and a behind f epic prprtins. She bards a train west t reunite with her Buffal sldier sweetheart, and encunters the mst clrful and lively characters ever t ram the Western plains, including mail rder brides, Mexican cwbys, Chinese cattle barns, black flks escaping frm Klan terrrism and Native American spirits. Bullets and fists fly, heads and hearts get brken, but Bella breezes thrugh it all-blessed with a big heart and an even bigger behind! Bella will premiere in the fall in Dallas and will pen at Playwrights Hrizns in New Yrk in the spring. The Christian: Pastr Paul is much lved and much respected at the mega-church that he has built up ver the years. But ne Sunday he delivers a difficult sermn t his large, thriving cngregatin, in which he questins if hell exists. This deeply mving play invites peple f all faiths and beliefs t engage in a cnversatin abut the seemingly insurmuntable distance between us. Set in a cntemprary mega-church and perfrmed as a Sunday service with sermns, scripture, and a full chir cmprised f cmmunity members frm churches thrughut the regin, The Christians has quickly becme ne f the mst talked abut new plays in the cuntry and was picked by The New Yrk Times as ne f the 10 best plays f 2015. A Christmas Carl: The belved hliday classic returns! Directed by Steve Walters. Yellwjackets: When the schl newspaper publishes an insensitive stry, students at Berkeley High suddenly find themselves embriled in a vlatile cntrversy- and even their teachers seem unprepared t deal with the repercussins. It s a sting that s wrthy f the schl masct: the Yellwjackets. This new cntemprary, cmic-drama is written by Itamar Mses (writer f Back Back Back and The Frtress f Slitude) and directed by Full Bard Meeting MINUTES December 15, 2015 updated 2/17/16 (apprved) P a g e 3
Liesl Tmmy (directr f The Gd Negr and Les Miz at DTC)-in a c-prductin with the acclaimed ff-bradway theater, New Yrk Theatre Wrkshp. DTCity Acts: The Tempest: DTCity Acts is a majr new initiative that seeks t engage the peple f Dallas by making them artistic creatrs and nt just spectatrs. This new cmmunity engagement prgram at the Public Theater, and has received significant supprt frm SMU and its Ignite Arts Dallas initiative, as well as frm TACA. Wrking deeply with partner rganizatins in five neighbrhds acrss the city, DTCity Acts will invite members f diverse cmmunities t participate in wrkshps, take classes, attend perfrmances at DTC, and, mst imprtantly, jin in the creatin f an ambitius wrk f participatry theater: a 3-night prductin f Shakespeare s The Tempest, directed by Kevin Mriarty, and featuring a cast f 200 cmmunity members f all ages. DTCity Acts deliberately blurs the line between prfessinal artists and cmmunity members, creating theater that is nt nly fr the peple, but by and f the peple as well. Glria: This funny, trenchant and pwerful play- filled with bth biting cmedy and flashes f intense vilence- fllws an ambitius grup f editrial assistants at a ntrius Manhattan magazine, each f whm hpes fr a starry life f letters and a bk deal befre they turn thirty. But when an rdinary humdrum wrkday becmes anything but, the stakes fr wh will get t tell their wn stry becme higher than ever. Written by award-winning playwright Branden Jacbs-Jenkins, Glria has been named by the New Yrk Times as ne f the 10 Best Plays f 2015. Jesus Christ Superstar: The classic Andrew Llyd Webber hit Bradway musical is presented in a nce-in-a-lifetime, nly-at-the-wyly style: as a cntemprary pageant, in which the audience mves abut the space freely and interacts with the cast and a cntemprary rck band, while they sing, dance and re-enact the passin stry, climaxing in a deeply pwerful crucifixin that will spill ut f the Ptter Rse perfrmance hall and nt the grass utside the Wyly near Rss Avenue. In the Heights: Written by the cmpser f Hamiltn, In the Heights is a hit Bradway musical that tells the universal stry f a vibrant cmmunity in New Yrk s Washingtn Heights neighbrhd a place where the cffee frm the crner bdega is light and sweet, the windws are always pen and the breeze carries the rhythm f three generatins f music. It s a cmmunity n the brink f change, full f hpes, dreams and pressures, where the biggest struggles can be deciding which traditins yu take with yu, and which nes yu leave behind. Winner f the 2008 Tny Awards fr Best Musical, Best Scre, Best Chregraphy and Best Orchestratins, In The Heights is a family-friendly musical that large, diverse audiences will lve. The prpsed Seasn A ended up with a psitive CTO f $255,332. Hwever, the assignment was a CTO f $757,000. This gap was t large, s the tw largest negative CTO shws were replaced with shws that had psitive CTO numbers. First, the CTO numbers calculated fr each shw were evaluated and these deductins were made: Studi shws have a psitive CTO. Large plays and musicals prduced under cnventinal circumstances simply d nt make mney. Deficits fr any ppular musical wuld range frm $150,000 t $300,000. This is equally true fr large cast, famus title plays presented in the Ptter Rse. It is difficult t achieve a psitive CTO at the Ptter Rse versus the Kalita r Studi due t high rent csts as well as a $2.50 charge per seat sld. Certain shws (such as Bella) have a psitive CTO because f the grants brught in specifically fr thse shws, but there is n enhancements such as these available fr famus plays and established musicals. Initially, DTC had a gift given t ffset the cst f rent as well as an verall smaller rent fr using the Ptter Rse space. There are a cuple situatins like this that have shifted, changing the financial situatin and utlk f the theater. Full Bard Meeting MINUTES December 15, 2015 updated 2/17/16 (apprved) P a g e 4
In rder t get the negative CTO t flip t psitive, the number f seats available fr every perfrmance f a majr musical r play wuld have t increase. While this is a pssibility (shws are currently running at 80-92% capacity), but the seats are physically nt there. The exceptin t this is A Christmas Carl, because it is the same prject running every year- if anther majr musical DTC has dne were t run year after year, it wuld be cntributing t incme as well. Les Mis wuld have been an even greater negative CTO at a fur r five week run, hwever, at seven weeks plus an extensin, it ran a psitive. The risk is that ther shws might nt sell during the extensin and the negative CTO wuld nly increase. Jesus Christ Superstar was remved frm the seasn prpsal based n these learnings, and instead replaced with a studi play entitled Cnstellatins, cntributing a psitive CTO f $109, 216. Cnstellatins: This spellbinding, rmantic jurney begins with a simple encunter between ne man and ne wman. But what happens next defies the bundaries f the wrld we think we knw-delving int the infinite pssibilities f their relatinship, and raising questins abut the difference between chice and destiny. Thugh nly 70- minutes lng, this sphisticated play examines cmplicated ideas f higher physics in a deeply human way, and features nly 2 actrs, while requiring minimal scenery, prps and cstumes. Selected by The New Yrk Times as ne f the best 10 plays f 2015. In The Heights was replaced by Electra at a psitive CTO f $52,476. Electra: This legendary classical tragedy frm Ancient Greece, written by Sphcles in 400 BC, takes place a few years after the Trjan War. It tells the stry f Electra, a wman mired in grief, and the vengeance that she and her brther take n their mther and stepfather fr the murder f their father. In this unique prductin, building n DTC s recent experimental appraches t Greek tragedies in Oedipus el Rey and Medea, the small audience will mve thrughut the grunds f Annette Strauss Square, bserving intimate scenes between characters, while hearing cmmentary abut the play s meaning in individual headphnes that will be prvided fr each audience member, creating an experience that is simultaneusly bth public and private. With these tw changes, the new CTO cmes in at $746, 358. This leaves a gap f $10,742. The New Play Wrkshp was cut by $10,742. This made the CTO fr FY17 balanced. The new seasn is: Cnstellatins (Studi): $109, 216 Bella (Ptter Rse): $216 Inherit the Wind (Kalita): $169, 697 A Christmas Carl (Ptter Rse):$ 412,693 Yellwjackets (Ptter Rse): - $100,617 DTCity Acts-Tempest (Ptter Rse): $0 Electra (Studi): $52,476 The Christians (Kalita): $69,538 Glria (Studi): $33,138 Ttal Seasn CTO: $757,100 The subscribers will nly be in the Ptter Rse twice next year. There will be tw shws at the Kalita and three at the Studi-ne f thse being utside. Ging frward fr FY18, $2 millin has been taken ut f the perating budget. In rder t preserve the quality f wrk and ability t attract an audience, Jeff prpsed t hld expenses with a mdest grwth-spurt fr inflatin. The strategy t reduce the bridge funding will cme frm mdest grwth in subscriptin revenue, cntributed incme, and educatin incme. Brad Pritchett and Rhealyn Carter are cmfrtable with this mdest grwth f 5%. Full Bard Meeting MINUTES December 15, 2015 updated 2/17/16 (apprved) P a g e 5
It is als assumed that by FY18, $500,000 will be raised in Endwment. The numbers will be reviewed every year and reevaluated based ff f subscriptin revenue as well as mving frward with the campaign. A strategic plan matching this financial plan will be launched in January 2016. The budget presented is still in draft mde and will be fficially presented after being reviewed by the finance staff. Other Business Julie Hersh Julie thanked Rhealyn fr all f the mmentus wrk she has dne in the shrt perid f time she has been at DTC. Minutes frm the Nvember 3 rd Full Bard meeting were apprved as amended by Treasurer Curt FitzGerald. Amendments were given t Mel Hward. Meeting Adjurned Julie Hersh Full Bard Meeting MINUTES December 15, 2015 updated 2/17/16 (apprved) P a g e 6