Advertisement
For one, they’ll be paying a lot more to sit in the best seats. The festival has introduced a new tiered seating arrangement that means some seats will cost nearly 60 percent more than they did last year. Festival directors acknowledge it’s a risk, but say it also reflects the festival’s need to become more self-supporting.
This year, weeknight and afternoon shows cost $20 to $30, weekend shows $25 to $35.
While ticket prices rose only $1 for some seats, those who want to sit close to the stage will pay as much as $11 more this year.
“I think it’s a risk,” said festival co-founder and producing director Paul Barnes. “I don’t think there’s anybody on the board or in the company that doesn’t agree that it isn’t a risk.”
Barnes and General Manager Jeff Stevenson emphasize that people can still find tickets in the same range they paid last year because of the tiered seating. “Like any good business, you do have to keep an eye on the bottom line,” Barnes said.
Barnes said that raising prices earlier would have been a mistake since the festival was still trying to establish itself.
He said an established regional theater should earn 60 percent of its income. That means for every $2 in grants and donations, it needs to bring in $3 from ticket sales.
So far, those numbers have been reversed for GRSF, which Barnes says isn’t unusual for a theater in its first years. In 2005, more than 75 percent of the festival’s income came in the form of donations, according to its tax filings.
“The great news is we’ve had remarkable increases in ticket sales each year,” Barnes said.
Attendance rose 23 percent from season one to season two. The festival’s third season ended with record ticket sales up more than 15 percent from the previous year.
Barnes hopes to see ticket sales rise another 15 percent this year.
“We think that demonstrating that kind of growth in terms of attendance is going to inspire some donors who haven’t gotten on board yet,” Barnes said.
Now that the festival is established, Barnes said they will be reaching out for funding beyond Winona.
While donations for the non-profit group are still strong, Stevenson said, the festival needs to start making its own money and to reexamine expenses.
No Wild, but free concerts return
The popular free Prelude concerts are missing from season four brochures, but Stevenson says the music will go on. The festival has partnered with Theatre du Mississippi to put on the outdoor concerts, thanks to a $2,500 grant from the Seattle-based Winona Foundation.
It will kick off June 30 with blues musician James Armstrong giving a free concert at the Lake Park Bandshell. In past years, the opening weekend concert has been at Levee Park. The schedule so far includes folk musician Cam Waters and Celtic/folk duo Curtis and Loretta.
Stevenson says that the past concerts haven’t been a big a draw for tourists but are important to continue because of the number of local people who attend.
Another change is in the director’s seat. Doug Scholz-Carlson, a company actor and past director of the festival’s apprentice project, will direct “Macbeth.” Barnes will direct the second play, “As You Like It.”
Festival co-founder and producing director Alec Wild will not direct a play this year. Wild announced in September that he accepted the position as head of the Masters of Fine Arts Directing Program at Illinois State University and artistic director of the Illinois Shakespeare Festival. He will return for a teachers workshop July 10-14.
Barnes says Wild remains a producing director and expects him to return to direct in the next couple of years.
As for ticket prices, Barnes says he doesn’t expect them to go up significantly in the near future.
“I think if there are increases, they won’t be enormous,” Barnes said. “We want Shakespeare to be accessible to anyone who wants to come see it. We very much believe he’s the people’s playwright.”
Contact Käri Knutson at kknutson@winonadailynews.com or (507) 453-3523.
Not good for everyone wrote on May 17, 2007 10:50 PM: