Downtown D.C. BID seeks arts director to mold a theater, entertainment district

Warner Theater.

Article in the Washington Business Journal. 

The Downtown D.C. Business Improvement District hopes to mold the city's arts, culture and entertainment community into something akin to London's West End theater district, playing into a larger effort by the Bowser administration to recast the perception of D.C. as more than just home to the nation's capital.

The BID began accepting applications last week for a new director of downtown arts, culture and entertainment, with an advertised salary range of $105,000 to $125,000 and a start date as soon as Dec. 22.

The selected candidate will be charged with helping to position downtown D.C. as the region's premier destination for arts, culture, entertainment and sports, a move it hopes will boost visitation and position downtown as an appealing backdrop for companies looking to attract and retain workers. The individual will also be responsible for coming up with funding sources to sustain the effort, which could take the form of a dedicated fund, grants, sponsorships or even the creation of a stand-alone nonprofit to lead those fundraising efforts. In short, it's a big job, and somebody's got to do it, said Gerren Price, the BID's president and CEO.

Building and sharing audiences.  Interestingly, 20 years ago or so I applied for a marketing position at the Warner Theater in Downtown DC. 

At the time I didn't realize they were/are managed by LiveNation, the international arts management group, so I had no chance.

One of the points I made in my cover letter is that even if they compete nightly against the National Theatre for audiences, the reality was they needed to work together to build the audience for theaters in Downtown DC collectively. (E.g. + Landsburgh Shakespeare Theatre, Ford's Theater, Wooly Mammoth, etc.)

I later repeated this in my talk to the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs national conference in DC in 2009, summarized in my entry, "Arts, Culture Districts, and Revitalization." 

The overall point that it was up to theater as a discipline "to make their own plan(s)" that they shouldn't rely on real estate developers and even culture planners to do it for them.

And I made the point they need to share audiences and build the overall audience of people willing to go to Downtown DC to see theater.

Playhouse Square.

Pittsburgh and Cleveland as models.  For years, I've made the point that the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust and the Playhouse Theater Foundation in Cleveland are models for how the city could address development and operation of cultural facilities.

-- "The Howard and Lincoln Theatres: run them like the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust/Playhouse Square Cleveland model," 2012
-- "Pittsburgh Cultural Trust maintains diverse real estate portfolio to support arts," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
-- "How the Arts Drove Pittsburgh's Revitalization," The Atlantic

London's National Theatre.  The recent entry, "Theater Roundup," about theater developments around the country, mentioned the trials and tribulations of the Kennedy Center, comparing it to the great success of the National Theatre in London.  

Director Indhu Rubasingham leverages the national and international place of London in the theater discipline ("National Theatre director Indhu Rubasingham: ‘If I wasn’t scared, I wouldn’t be doing my job’" "Indhu Rubasingham: the National Theatre’s new artistic director takes centre stage," Financial Times) and focuses on innovation and providing a diverse array of programs in part to reach a variety of demographics.  Also see "How to get National Theatre tickets for £10," IanVisits.

 “You can’t be all things to all people, but you can try to offer as broad a range as possible — whether that’s a western classic, an international classic, international new writing or promoting the brilliance we have around the country. The National is a flag-bearer as well as an innovator. It’s a provoker as well as populist. It’s brilliant when it’s doing all those things at once.”

The Kennedy Center hasn't really taken on this kind of role vis a vis the national theater ecosystem in the US. 

Graphic from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Theater as presentation versus theater as production.  The roundup piece also references discussion in Pittsburgh about the difference between theater companies that actively produce plays, versus organizations that present plays from the national circuit, like Hamilton, Cats, etc. 

-- "'Cultural coffin': Pittsburgh's thespians and universities react to theater woes," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
-- "Survey Shows Chicago Small Arts Sector Thriving," American Theatre

Theater production companies contribute to the development and maintenance of the local arts ecosystem, by hiring and paying playwrights, actors, musicians, and back of the house production. 

A showing of Cats does not have the same kind of local impact.

If local colleges and universities have active theater programs, all the better.  For example, in Pittsburgh Carnegie-Mellon is particularly well known.  But DC has a great program and on campus theater at Catholic University too.

The Washington City Paper has reported on an element of this in how cutting back on house staff reduces the pool of local talent and economic benefits to the local economy ("What’s Lost When Theaters Lose Production Crews?").  

Tourists as an element of the market.  Like NYC and Chicago, at least in the past, tourists, not having access to the same array of programming back home, often took in a show as part of their trip to DC.  Of course, NYC has tourists who come to the city because it is a theater destination.  DC is not quite the same.  Except maybe regionally.  

A dissertation on DC's Arena Stage makes the point that it is the closest theater in the city to playing the kind of role National Theatre does in London ("Performing (Non)Profit, Race, and American Identity in the Nation's Capital: Arena Stage, 1950-2010").  

Another dissertation argued that the city's National Theatre played a more national role, when the city was more of a premier tourist destination, and there was less opportunity to consume theater in their own locales ("National theater or public theater: The transformation of the theatrical geography of Washington, D.C., circa 1970–1990").

In region visitors will matter a lot.  But tourists or DC residents aren't enough to fuel the creation of a larger theater ecosystem in Downtown DC.  Metropolitan area residents will have to make up a big proportion of the audience day in and day out in order to be successful.

London.

Peer cities review.  It behooves the BID to do peer case studies, on cities like London, Manhattan (Broadway Theaters: An economic engine for New York, Broadway League), Chicago ("Loop economy boosted by theatre and investment during fall and winter 2022," Chicago Loop Alliance, "Driven by arts and culture, pedestrian traffic in Downtown Chicago exceeds pre-pandemic levels, report finds," WBEZ/NPR), and Hamburg wrt musicals ("Broadway on the Elbe," New York Times), and figure out if the initiative, even though focused on Downtown, will provide assistance and marketing support to theaters and university programs outside of the core of the city.

Similarly, New York City's segmentation of theater productions as Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Off-Off-Broadway is a useful rubric for recognizing that all "theater" is not the same.  Again, presentation of programs in DC that were originally on Broadway has a different economic impact than locally-produced theater and building the audience for it ("Studies Show Big Impact of Small Theatres in NY, Chicago," American Theatre)

More examples of cinemas

This article in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, "Uptown movie theaters were once about facades, ceilings. Now they are about luxury chairs, cocktails," makes the interesting point that the focus of modern cinemas has shifted from a focus on the exterior of the building, to the experientially-oriented benefits package offered to the movie-goer or the interior experience.  Also see "Is there a future for neighborhood theaters in the Twin Cities?," which makes the point that if you don't patronize local theaters they can't survive.

The Los Angeles Times writes about the rise in retro movie showing and going ("Retro movies are hitting big at the box office. Why cinephiles and theaters are going back in time").

1.  In the past, I've written about multi-site nonprofit groups running cinemas in Seattle and how this is a model to keep places open ("Seattle preservation: Pike Place Market, Neptune Theater, and the Cinerama," 2021).  Apparently, it's not working out for the Seattle International Film Festival, which bought the historic Cinerama from the Paul Allen estate ("SIFF lays off staff amid financial challenges," Seattle Times).

I think it's partly because of a post-covid drop in people going out more generally, plus past problems with order in Downtown.

2. "Saving the Garden movie house in Greenfield," Boston Globe


The cinema, a key anchor of the community's downtown, is owned by a resident couple and run as a for profit. Necessary renovations and the $500,000 cost to accommodate digital delivery of movies have been significant costs.

3.  Expansion of the Coolidge Corner Cinema, Boston ("Coolidge Corner Theatre unveils $14m expansion that’s nothing short of cinematic," Boston Globe).

These are just some of the expansion’s marquee features: a pair of theaters that offer an additional 200 seats, an indoor lobby where moviegoers can buy popcorn and beer at the same time, and a third-floor education and events center with sweeping views of Brookline and beyond. 

All told, the $14 million, three-story addition to the rear of the original structure gives the Coolidge six working theaters. The generously proportioned lobby, with sly Art Deco nods to the original building, houses the new box office, so guests no longer have to wait outside in bad weather. Plentiful bathrooms offer amenities on every floor, the education center doubles as a screening room, and projectionists no longer have to clamber up the fire escape to bring film cans to the upper booth. 

Less obvious, perhaps, is that the 14,000-square-foot expansion is the brick-and-mortar embodiment of the Coolidge’s twin ambitions: It promises to secure the art house’s financial future by strengthening its earning potential, while also burnishing the theater’s reputation as a leading regional center for film and culture. 

“This really brings us into that next level,” said Katherine Tallman, executive director and chief executive of the foundation that operates the nonprofit Coolidge. “There won’t be a better place to see a movie.” 

The theater leaned into its repertory programming after it reopened during the pandemic, showing old classics, foreign films, midnight movies, and more. The result: The Coolidge is less dependent on new films than most theaters, last year garnering some 30 percent of revenue from this type of programming. 

But people will only pay so much for a movie ticket. And with four theaters, the Coolidge could only fill so many seats, even as demand (and expenses) continued to rise. “We’re revenue-capped in the current space ... Two additional theaters will not only mean more seats, she said, but will also allow the theater to offer more diverse programming, enabling it to fulfill its daily screenings obligations to distributors, while also beefing up its repertory offerings. 

The Noyo Theater’s neon is a mainstay of Willits’ evening ambiance. Photo taken in December 2024. Matt LaFever/SFGATE

4.  The Noyo Theater in California's North Coast ("A movie theater clings to life in California's 'Gateway to the Redwoods'," San Francisco Chronicle).

Hutchins laid out the theater’s financial reality six months into the endeavor: “We paid $650,000 for the theater. Right now, we’re losing about $9,000 a month. The building’s old and expensive to heat and cool, plus California’s minimum wage is $16.50. What people don’t realize is 60% of ticket sales go directly to the studios. Hard to make money under that model.” 

Devine has bold ideas for boosting revenue. In October 2024, they hosted a successful John Carpenter horror film festival and plan to organize more. Last fall, the theater proved its potential for live events by hosting a comedy show, further expanding its entertainment offerings. With its versatile space, the venue could become a hub for concerts, theater performances and community events.

The Guild 45th Theatre, in Wallingford across the freeway from the U District, closed in 2017. (Peter Liddell / The Seattle Times, 1982)

5.  U District Seattle as a hub of cinema on the decline ("Seattle’s U District no longer the moviegoing hub it once was," Seattle Times).  From the article:

Of course, movie-loving University of Washington students these days don’t need to go out to see “Moonstruck,” or any other title, like we did in the ’80s and ’90s, and that’s in large part why these once-magical spaces are gone. We stay home and stream, where it’s comfortable and there aren’t strangers sitting next to us texting at inappropriate moments. And for most of us that works just fine. I thought it worked fine for me, when I stayed home watching movies for 15 months during the pandemic — but when I finally saw a movie in a theater again, I suddenly remembered why I’d missed it: the bigness, the darkness, the place where I could lose myself and once again be that very young woman dazzled by movies. In a column I wrote in 2021, after that first screening back, I noted that there isn’t a practical justification for going out to the movies, “except that it’s wonderful, and maybe that’s enough.”

6.  A mayor threatened a local cinema for showing a film from the Palestinian perspective ("Miami Beach mayor drops proposal to evict O Cinema for ‘No Other Land’ screening," Miami Herald).

7.  "Classic movie theaters are making a comeback around Philly," Philadelphia Inquirer.  Like the article from the LAT, retro programming is a point of differentiation in a declining market.

Single-screen movie theaters in urban downtowns and on small town main streets began closing nationwide in the late 1940s with the advent of television. This cultural shift also was driven by competition from new theaters near or inside suburban malls and shopping centers. 

“In the 1980s and ’90s, movie theaters helped generate foot traffic for suburban malls,” said Daniel Loria, a senior vice president at the film trade publication Box Office Pro. The launch of online movie streaming platforms — Netflix was first in 2007 — as well as the pandemic kept away people who otherwise would have watched movies in theaters. 

According to the most recent data available from the Cinema Foundation, the number of screens in the United States declined from 41,172 in 2018 to 39,007 in 2022. 

The 2004 opening of the nonprofit Bryn Mawr Film Institute in the former Bryn Mawr movie theater in Lower Merion preserved screens and demonstrated that a mix of classic films, film series, classes, and current movies could breathe life into old theaters. ”We’re not simply taking what Hollywood is giving us, like a Despicable Me 10,” said Collier, whose theaters are in the center of Doylestown, Jenkintown, Ambler, and Princeton.

“Movie theaters are now boosting foot traffic for restaurants and coffee shops in local downtowns,” said Loria.

The Gap Theatre opened in 1949 in the town of Wind Gap. It shut down in January 2020, reopening in March. Photo: Stephen Silver

8.  "The hottest ‘new’ movie theater this summer is a two hours’ drive from Philly," 

In a Northampton County town of fewer than 3,000 people — about two hours’ drive from Center City — a newly restored movie theater is drawing crowds with an ambitious programming schedule that rivals many urban repertory cinemas.

The Gap Theatre, in the town of Wind Gap, first opened in 1949. After operating as a first-run theater for a time, it closed its doors in January 2020, shortly before the pandemic. Revived in March, it now shows all kinds of older films, from acclaimed classics to genre films to rarities, six days a week, with more than 50 films a month. And that includes plenty of double and triple features.

... “What Harry, Michael, and Kaitlyn have done is not only bring NYC-style repertory programming to a nonurban space, but also revitalize a small-town cinema — giving it a second life when it might easily have sat vacant, eventually sold off to developers eager to turn it into a parking lot or something equally soulless,” said Santelli, who long worked at Ardmore’s Viva Video and now programs at the Colonial Theatre in Phoenixville.

Eltrym Theater.

9.  When traveling to the Oregon Coast, came across this cinema on a street parallel to the main street.  

Photo in the daytime.

I'm sure it's well known to residents, but would be missed by travelers unwilling to explore ("Secret Screens: Your Guide to Oregon’s Best Unsung Movie Theaters," Willamette Week). 

They offer a loyalty program which provides various types of awards, including free admission, based on patronage.

10.  "Reinvigorated as Row House Hollywood, an old Dormont theater is almost ready to 'bring some energy'," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

With the former Hollywood Theater’s grand reopening only two months away, Dormont businesses and residents are gearing up to once again have a cinema in the heart of their community.

The theater on Potomac Avenue has shuttered a few times in recent years, including in 2008, again in 2010 and, most recently, in 2023. Rebranded as Row House Hollywood, it is slated to open to the public on Nov. 6, with a film nearly as old as the theater itself — Fritz Lang’s 1927 silent classic “Metropolis.”

Owner Brian Mendelssohn, who also runs Row House Cinema in Lawrenceville, estimated the theater will bring anywhere from 300 to 1,000 people to Dormont daily, and that has some residents and surrounding businesses excited for the expected impact on the area’s vitality.

The tough thing about cinemas and commercial district revitalization is that a lot of the patrons only want to do one thing, see the film.  Perhaps the cinema could work with restaurants to provide meal + cinema promotions and deals.

Fitting in with the LAT article on retro cinema, the operator, Row House Cinemas, says it's focused on providing experiences, not just a film showing, so there is potential.

Theater roundup

My entry on arts districts and arts as consumption versus arts as production is about how "the arts" contribute to "local urban revitalization" and "economic development" addresses cultural organization development as an element of local cultural and economic development planning.

I wrote it up as a talk at the national conference of the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs ("Reprinting with a slight update, "Arts, culture districts and revitalization"," originally 2009, revised 2019).  The entry discusses arts as production versus arts as consumption, relying on the writings of John Montgomery, the components of arts districts, and facilities as infrastructure.

Because the conference was on theatre I laid it out in terms of how the discipline of theater, at the metropolitan scale, needs to "develop its own cultural plan," including various elements like facilities, support organizations, and audience development.

My most recent related writing was around the sale of the Source Theatre in DC to a restaurant group.

-- "DC's Source Theater sold: cause for a cy pres review?"

Note: the elimination of arts funding by the Trump Administration has crippled many arts groups across the county ("Pittsburgh's theater community reacts to Trump administration's anti-DEI measures, gutting of the NEA," Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)

1.  Pittsburgh theater companies look to merge. A post-covid drop in attendance and therefore revenues is affecting theater groups across the country, many of which are closing.  To prevent some of this in Pittsburgh leading groups are looking at merger as a way to reduce costs ("On the brink of ‘financial failure,’ Pittsburgh’s three largest theaters explore a merger," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette). 

2.  Seattle too, but linking a facility with a theater company ("5th Avenue Theatre and Seattle Theatre Group form alliance," Seattle Times).

The 5th Avenue Theatre and Seattle Theatre Group have forged a strategic alliance in which STG has taken over the lease of the historical downtown theater space, owned by the University of Washington. STG will also present arts programming in the space, in cooperation with the longstanding musical theater company.

The 5th Avenue Theatre — which will now be known as The 5th Avenue Theatre Company to differentiate it from the physical space — will remain as the building’s resident theater company and present work for approximately 26 weeks of the year, roughly the amount of time required to produce a five-show season. (In recent years, The 5th has usually produced six- or seven-show seasons.)

3.  Theater presentation versus production as an element of arts as production.  The PPG coverage has made an interesting point distinguishing between the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust and the Pittsburgh City Light Opera, Public Theater and City Theatre .  

I've written about Pittsburgh and PCT as a best practice.  

-- "The Howard and Lincoln Theatres: run them like the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust/Playhouse Square Cleveland model," 2012
-- "Pittsburgh Cultural Trust maintains diverse real estate portfolio to support arts," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
-- "How the Arts Drove Pittsburgh's Revitalization," The Atlantic

But I missed a subtle point.  They operate the facilities but they don't produce home-grown shows, instead scheduling plays and musicals developed elsewhere, traveling shows with their own crews.

By contrast, companies like produce their own shows, and employ local actors and production crews in a way that contributes to the local economy more broadly than putting on a Broadway play ("'Cultural coffin': Pittsburgh's thespians and universities react to theater woes," PPG).

Ten years ago, the Steel City was widely regarded as a destination for actors and backstage workers, thanks to a vibrant theater ecosystem offering numerous paid opportunities to perform for multiple companies each season.

... As costs rise faster for performing arts companies and acting jobs diminish, Pittsburgh is finding itself at a crossroads. Do residents — and, crucially, donors and funders — care whether the local theaters hire local talent, or are they content to see touring shows from New York, like those put on by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust?

Already there are far fewer paid professional jobs for actors and musicians than in previous years, and local theaters and universities are sounding an alarm. The CLO in recent years has reduced the number of shows it produced in the summer from six to three due to budgetary reasons, for example. 

A merger or consolidation of any kind could lead to a further reduction in jobs and opportunities in the city’s creative sector, and that would have economic ramifications that echo outside the theaters themselves. “This is a big threat to our whole ecosystem,” said Chris Brussalis, president of Point Park University, which has ranked in a national “Big 10” list of performing arts schools based on the number of graduates it has sent on to Broadway.

In Seattle, the STG still places a high value on local production despite expansion to and the need to fill other venues ("Seattle Theatre Group remains community-focused despite expansion," Seattle Times).

4.  Cutting back of the house staff at theaters reduces economic impact of "local" theater and reduces the pool of local talent ("What’s Lost When Theaters Lose Production Crews?," Washington City Paper).  Another way that arts as production ceases to better contribute to the local economy is with cutbacks of highly trained back of the house staff.

5.  Massachusetts offers tax credits for theater production, comparable to film credits ("ATG celebrates big win with launch of live theater tax credits," Boston Globe).

Take a bow, ATG. Your yearslong quest to bring live-theater tax credits to Massachusetts has finally paid off. The idea started with Joe Spaulding, the now-retired president of the two Boch Center theaters, around 20 years ago. He saw how the state’s film tax credits were bringing in business, and wanted something similar for theaters. ATG started putting resources behind the push after leasing the Emerson Colonial Theatre in 2017.

By the time the concept gained traction on Beacon Hill in the past two years, independent theater managers around the state had joined the crusade. They pointed to the money and prestige that show launches can bring, and to the fact that so many shows were starting in places with tax credits. Finally, the Legislature in 2024 included tax credits worth up to $7 million a year in a wide-ranging economic bill known as the Mass Leads Act, to help offset production and personnel costs for Massachusetts launches of Broadway, off-Broadway, and touring shows. (In New York, the opposite is happening: A tax credit program worth $100 million a year, designed to help the city’s theater sector rebound from the pandemic, is about to run out of cash.)

Addams Family theater production, community theater in Davis County, Utah, at Syracuse High School.

6.  Youth theater.  I haven't thought much about K-12 delivery of theater productions.  Salt Lake's East High School is the model for the Disney film and tv show "High School Musical."  Even middle schools produce plays that are marketed to the public.

I never claimed that the points in my original "Arts, Culture Districts" entry covered every element that should be in a discipline-focused arts and culture plan.  A key missing element was education, which is not my forte.  

A couple pieces from the Seattle Times illustrate this, "Where are Seattle’s stages for teen artists and leaders" and "Theater education takes center stage in new program."  From the second article:

For students ages 13–20, the Young Rep program offers training, creative exploration and deeper engagement in theater. This fall, young artists can explore stage management, playwriting and comedic improvisation, and for those eager to take center stage, Seattle Rep is launching a new production intensive. Culminating in two weekends of performances of the play “The Outsiders” — based on the classic novel by S. E. Hinton and adapted by Christopher Serge — this inaugural intensive will be Seattle Rep’s first-ever all-youth production to perform on its Leo K. stage.

... “Then Young Rep — tailored to youth ages 13-20 — offers both shorter themed classes (like playwriting or improv) and immersive experiences such as the 10‑week Production Intensive staging of ‘The Outsiders.’ Students work side by side with professional teaching artists in rehearsals and classes to build acting technique, ensemble collaboration and stagecraft in a fully produced environment,” says Martinez.

Although, just as local theater companies close or cut back on staff, resources made available to K-12 theater programs are diminishing as well.

7.  Pivoting to children's theater in the face of audience decline.  Salt Lake's Plan-B Theatre Company has a traveling theater company ("Utah arts organizations look to the future by inviting and educating young audiences," Salt Lake City Weekly).  After the GFC, the Salt Lake Acting Company started a children's program, including teaching theater, which is something they had to learn to do, out of the belief it would add new energy and audiences to the company.

8. National Theatre of London director Indhu Rubasingham ("National Theatre director Indhu Rubasingham: ‘If I wasn’t scared, I wouldn’t be doing my job’" "Indhu Rubasingham: the National Theatre’s new artistic director takes centre stage," Financial Times).  The artistic director is focused on innovation and providing a diverse array of programs in part to reach a variety of demographics.  Also see "How to get National Theatre tickets for £10," IanVisits.

 “You can’t be all things to all people, but you can try to offer as broad a range as possible — whether that’s a western classic, an international classic, international new writing or promoting the brilliance we have around the country. The National is a flag-bearer as well as an innovator. It’s a provoker as well as populist. It’s brilliant when it’s doing all those things at once.”

Her packed first season, opening next month, certainly teems with exciting possibilities. Classics rub shoulders with world premieres, new voices with famous faces, international work with homegrown talent. The most eye-catching prospects include Lesley Manville and Aidan Turner in a revival of Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Letitia Wright in the British premiere of American Tracey Scott Wilson’s The Story, and a return to repertory (once the staple of the National Theatre), with Paul Mescal leading a company in two complementary plays — Death of a Salesman and A Whistle in the Dark.

We’ll see transatlantic partnerships with Brooklyn Academy of Music and The Shed in New York. And, down the line, there’ll be new work from immersive giants Punchdrunk plus a world premiere — as yet undefined — from Stormzy. Stormzy! How much can she tell me about that?

9.  No national theater in the US.  The articles on Indhu Rubasingham made me realize that the US doesn't have a national theater complex functioning the same way. 

Even before the Trump Administration purge at the Kennedy Center ("Trump Takes Over the Kennedy Center," Atlantic Magazine, "Trump Official Gave Free Tickets to GOP Group to Heckle Black Artist," New Republic, "The Future Looks Bleak for Jazz at the Kennedy Center," Washington City Paper, "Kennedy Center cuts dance programming team, as top producers depart," Washington Post, "Kennedy Center’s New Dance Director Criticized ‘Woke’ Ballet Culture," New York Times), it didn't seem positioned as a "national" unifying center of performing arts in the United States.  

Instead it is more of a presenting organization ("At a changing Kennedy Center, the NSO gets back to business," Post), with theater relegated to showing road theater companies, while holding some national events like the arts awards.

A dissertation on DC's Arena Stage makes the point that it is the closest theater in the city to playing the kind of role National Theatre does in London ("Performing (Non)Profit, Race, and American Identity in the Nation's Capital: Arena Stage, 1950-2010").  

I recall a similar argument about the city's National Theatre and how it played a more national role, when the city was a premier tourist destination, and there was less opportunity to consume theater locally ("National theater or public theater: The transformation of the theatrical geography of Washington, D.C., circa 1970–1990").*

* the memory comes from attending DC Historical Studies conferences in the past.  The sessions are definitely a must see, and cover a wide variety of topics.

10.  The lack of a national theater makes the work of Seattle's Living Voices theater company ("Seattle theater company uses one-person shows to tell America’s history," Seattle Times) even more relevant.

Art that connects us to our past — not just intellectually but emotionally and empathetically — is hard to come by. For more than 30 years, Living Voices, a Seattle-based educational theater company, has been creating multimedia solo shows that blend a compelling fictionalized narrative with rigorous historical research, and presenting them all over the country.

Each show, performed by a single actor/teaching artist in front of on-screen materials compiled a la Ken Burns documentaries, is designed to spark curiosity and conversation about the people and events represented. Living Voices can pack a lot of story into these bite-sized shows, all around 30 minutes, which allows time after for a Q&A session between audience and performer.

In 2025 Living Voices is on track to present more than 600 shows, and this sort of access point to clear-eyed historical narratives, conscientiously crafted with a focus on voices underrepresented in history — not to mention performance opportunities for actors including, once upon a time, future Oscar nominee Lily Gladstone — feels more important than ever.

Prince George's County Film Festival: developing an ecosystem supporting digital media production

Compared to Sundance, Cannes, or the Toronto International Film Festival among others, hearing that Prince George's County, Maryland has launched an annual film festival might sound like a joke ("With film festival, Prince George’s makes a bid for the silver screen," Washington Post).  

I think it's a great idea.

From the article:

Prince George’s County didn’t feel like a place to make movies when actress Kike Ayodeji grew up. She loved film festivals, but she had to drive to D.C. and Philadelphia or fly to Los Angeles to reach them. The first film to represent Prince George’s that came to mind for her was a 2020 documentary about the county’s long list of accomplished basketball players.

By the time it debuted, a once-modest local community of directors and performers had grown considerably, backed by the county’s film office, which opened in 2013. The documentary film dubbed Prince George’s a “Basketball County.” Now, these artists think Prince George’s can be a county for filmmakers, too.

They will make that pitch at the Prince George’s Film Festival, the first county-sponsored film festival running this week from Thursday to Sunday. To the county’s filmmakers, it’s an underdog story fit for Hollywood. Next to the iconic scenes of the District, Prince George’s traditionally attracted little attention from large film and TV productions.

Creating a media production community.  In "Revisiting stories: cultural planning and the need for arts-based community development corporations as real estate operators" (2018, original piece 2009) I distinguish between between arts as consumption (going to museums to see art produced by dead people) and arts as production (people producing art and design products), and quote from a paper by John Montgomery on the development of multifaceted arts districts (Montgomery [2003], "Cultural Quarters as Mechanisms for Urban Regeneration. Part 1: Conceptualising Cultural Quarters," Planning, Practice & Research, 18:4).

As pointed out in the Post article, if you want to develop a functioning if not thriving film community, you need to support its development, and a film festival is an element that does.  

Another way to think about this is in terms of what the book Strategic Marketing for Not For Profit Organizations calls publics. The author says all organizations have three publics:

the input public that gives you resources; the throughput public that does that work; and the output public to whom your efforts are addressed.

In terms of media production (film, television, digital), the throughput public is the group of people: writers; producters; directors; production staff; actors; etc., that do the work.  

It's also a way to promote local theaters and spaces within the county ("Mount Rainier aims to recapture the Kaywood Theater as a cultural anchor," 2018) and even open air community film events ("Utah Film Society Summer Film series a deep dive of documentaries on public lands issues") that don't have to exclusively focus on fun entertainment type films.

 

Although that's not what the festival is doing, at least initially. It's only showing films at National Harbor and Bowie State University. National Harbor provides some glitz whereas the Publik Playhouse does not...

Montpellier France trams, livery design by Christian Lacroix 

Creating a community that is design forward.  In my series of articles on how to leverage the Purple Line light rail program, I suggest that the Purple Line can be utilized to "to rebrand Montgomery and Prince George's Counties as Design Forward."

This film festival can be an element of such a strategy.

Leveraging community cable and other public facilities to support digital media production.  In "What would be a "Transformational Projects Action Plan" for DC's cultural ecosystem" one of the points is that DC could way better leverage its community cable networks, the way that New York City does.  No reason why PGC can't do it, even if DC won't.  From that piece:

29.  Reposition and relaunch city operated cable channels as a network comparable to what NYC does with "NYC Life" which has great programming, and a locally produced equivalent of CSPAN's BookTV and "American History TV" programming on weekends.

There are tons of great presentations all the time in DC.  By capturing them on film they can reach broader and bigger audiences.

Boston Central Library broadcast studio.  Image from Boston Magazine.

30.  Create broadcast studios for tv and radio at the Central Library.  WGBH-TV does this in Boston ("WGBH studio and cafe to open at Boston Public Library," Boston Globe).

Separately, I've argued that public radio stations like WPFW-FM could be co-located at the Central Library, comparable to  KCPW-FM in Salt Lake City.

31.  Add broadcast capabilities to cultural facilities around the city including library branches and university auditoriums.  This would support programming on a "DC Life" channel comparable to NYC Life and CSPAN.

BRIC has created a studio at the Coney Island branch of the Brooklyn Library system.  A radio station and recording studio is located in the Montreal North cultural and community center library facility. 

 

From "Neighborhood libraries as nodes in a neighborhood and city-wide network of cultural assets":

 

The Chicago Public Library has a teen recording studio called YOUmedia.  The renovation plans for the South Shore Branch include a YouMedia studio and recording facility ("South Shore Library Set To Get $2.5 Million Upgrade With New Recording Studio And More," Block Club Chicago).

 

The Helsinki (Finland) Library System has two especially innovative programs. Library 10, a special library focused on music and culture, started as a program located in the city's multi-functional  CableFactory arts center, but has since been relocated to a different site. In addition to its book and media collection, the library provides space and equipment for the production and presentation of independently-produced work.

Meetingpoint is an experimental library without books, which provides technical assistance and guidance for digital communications and living in a digitally-connected society. Meetingpoint also develops digital communications platforms for organizations, with a focus on civic participation. 

Both programs have extended hours, open as early as 8am and close as late as 10pm. Both programs are seen as models for helping to develop new ways of developing programs, organizing space, and serving patrons for the new Central Library.

Another media specific but non-library program that should be reviewed for ideas includes the Podcast Garage in Boston ("The Podcast Garage celebrates a year," Boston Globe)

Utah Film Society Summer Film series a deep dive of documentaries on public lands issues

Salt Lake City is fortunate in having at least two film organizations:

•  the Salt Lake Film Society, which owns and operates two cinemas, a modern one Downtown, and the art deco? style Tower Theatre in the 9th and 9th neighborhood, alongside a wide variety of public programs around town.  The Tower is also noteworthy for having a video rental operation in the foyer.  Although both theaters were impacted by covid.  For a time SLFS shifted to online viewing.  The modern Broadway Centre Cinema is open, but the Tower remains closed.
  
• the Utah Film Center, which focuses more on film programming at a wide variety of venues with a great number of partners.

UFC is known for its Summer Film Series, which moves around town to a different venue each summer.  

This summer it's at Liberty Park, one of the city's premier large regional parks.  I missed the first film, last Friday. 

And this year, the series isn't solely focused on "fun" featuring films like "Casablanca" or "Cars" but includes a number of documentaries on public lands issues, which is particularly important and controversial in Utah because many interests across the state believe that the Federal Government, which owns not quite 67% of the state's lands, is over-involved, over-controlling, and stunts the development of the state.

-- Friday June 24th's film is on land art, including Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty in the Great Salt Lake

-- Friday July 1st is on the public lands debate

-- Friday July 15th on roller rinks as public recreational spaces

-- Friday August 24th on reviving a declined and barren farm 

Along with some family films and "Summer of Soul."

It's a great example of how public spaces can promote civic engagement and knowledge building.

 

Seattle preservation: Pike Place Market, Neptune Theater, and the Cinerama

AP photo by Ted S. Warren.

Just a couple weeks ago was the 50th anniversary of the saving of the Pike Place Market, which is one of the signature public markets in the U.S.  

The market district is known for sparking the creation of Starbucks as an international chain as well as the national Sur La Table kitchen store retail chain.

And it's one of Seattle's most visited tourist attractions, which is a strength and a weakness, in that tourists tend to not purchase food to be prepared for meals later, making it harder for fresh-food businesses to survive.

Sadly, the signature Pike Place News magazine stand closed in 2019 ("Newsstands closing in San Diego and Seattle: revisiting cultural retail planning for books and periodicals").

In the 1960s, like many other inner city landmarks, Pike Place was on the decline, and the city proposed an urban renewal project that mostly would have eradicated it.  

Councilman Sam Smith. left, and Councilwoman Mrs. Phyllis Lamphere were among the pickets at City Hall yesterday. Virtually all were protesting the Pike Plaza urban-renewal plan. Mrs. Lamphere, who supports the urban-renewal plan, was in a sense picketing pickets. At center was Victor Steinbrueck, architect and a leader of Friends of the Market, an organization backing preservation of the Pike Place Market area. Eighty to 100 persons picketed the building yesterday noon. Friends of the Market contends urban renewal would destroy the market's spirit and result in mistreatment of market-area residents and businessmen. Some city officials contend the market is in disrepair and cannot be saved without the investment of public money. 4/2/1971 (Greg Gilbert / The Seattle Times)

A community campaign to save it, comparable to similar campaigns at the time, across the country (like the one in DC that ended up saving the Old Post Office building, see "Old Post Office: This iconic building played an important part in preservation history in DC," DC Preservation League), culminated in a citizen-initiated referendum where a majority of citizens voted to save the market by rejecting the urban renewal proposal.

They created the Pike Place Market Preservation and Development Authority which owns, manages, and operates the market, but also operates low income housing as a way to help keep people off the streets.

-- Inside Pike Place Market: Building a Model Public Market into the 21st Century, digital book

In October, the Seattle Times published two articles on the anniversary ("How Seattle pulled together 50 years ago to preserve Pike Place Market — and the soul of the city" and "The Save the Market campaign taught Seattle how — and why — to fight").

2.  The Neptune Theater.  The ST also has an article about the 100th anniversary of the Neptune Theater, which opened as a movie house but today is a live performance venue ("Seattle’s Neptune Theatre, celebrating 100 years, is full of memories and magic").  

The Neptune was a movie theater for most of its 100 years, becoming a performing arts venue only in the past decade. After the movie screen was taken out, a stage was built for the live performances. The chairs on the floor, at center, can be taken out so the crowd below can stand during shows. (Ellen M. Banner / The Seattle TImes)

It's operated by the Seattle Theater Group (" Behind the screens at century-old Neptune Theatre," MyNorthwest), which also operates the Moore and Paramount Theaters.

3.  Cinerama.  A current Seattle preservation matter is how to save the Cinerama theater ("Seattle needs a hero to save beloved Cinerama," Seattle Times).  The building isn't historically designated and there is a petition to "save it."

Cinerama opened in 1963, fell into disrepair as the center city declined, and then was revived.

While it has been closed since the pandemic, you'd think it wouldn't be a problem "saving it" since it is owned by the heirs of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. 

But according to the paper, it's no longer of interest to the firm, which spearheaded the creation of the "SoDo district," attracting to it Amazon's headquarters and other signature tenants.  From the article:

In May 2020, Vulcan announced that it was closing its Arts + Entertainment division, as well as its filmmaking entity, Vulcan Productions. Cinerama, which was closed for renovations, was suddenly shuttered “for the foreseeable future.”

It's also an illustration of my point that community cultural master plans should incorporate broader guidance on private facilities, in case conditions change, and create city/county-wide initiatives that can buy, hold, build (if necessary), and operate cultural assets such as these.

-- "BTMFBA revisited: nonprofits and facilities planning and acquisition," 2016
-- "Revisiting stories: cultural planning and the need for arts-based community development corporations as real estate operators," 2018
-- "Reprinting with a slight update, "Arts, culture districts and revitalization" from 2009," 2019

It is interesting though on the juxtaposition of the "new" issue of the Cinerama in contrast to the anniversary of the saving of Pike Place Market.

Option 1.  What the "save" campaign should do is petition the Allen Family and the Vulcan firm to donate the building to a new nonprofit to run the theater, ideally with a tie-off grant to put it in a secure financial position.

Seattle already has an example of this, the Grand Illusion Theater in the University District ("Explore Seattle’s romantic — and vanishing — historic moviehouses," ST).

DC has a related but somewhat dissimilar example, but there are many across the country.  In 2001, Loews Theaters closed it and to make it harder for a competitor to use, they stripped out the seats and equipment.  Residents, fearing it would close, created an initiative that successfully bought the building and they continue to operate it today ("The Avalon Theatre Birth – and Rebirth," Historic Chevy Chase).

Option 2.  Work with a larger nonprofit entity, such as how the Penn Avenue Arts Initiative in Pittsburgh has supported the development of arts related anchors in their arts district ("Artists bring flourish to Penn Avenue," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, "A Transformed Penn Avenue," Pittsburgh Magazine, Vacancy to Vitality in Pittsburgh’s East End: Penn Avenue Arts Initiative, case study, Metris Arts Consulting). and how the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust and the Playhouse Square CDC in Cleveland operate multiple venues ("The Howard and Lincoln Theatres: run them like the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust/Playhouse Square Cleveland model," 2012).

Seattle has analogues to Pittsburgh and Cleveland with the Seattle Theatre Group, a nonprofit operating three theaters, and the Seattle International Film Festival, which also operates three theaters.

Another option could be working with the Grand Illusion Theater.  But it seems to me like SIFF or STG would be stronger options in terms of experience in operating multiple properties.

Option 3.  Work with a for profit entity.  For me, the McMenamins Group comes to mind ("The McMenamin Brothers," Northwest Travel & Life).  Originally focused on Portland, today they operate cinemas, brew pubs, and inns throughout the Pacific Northwest. 

They are super focused on historic preservation ("Preserved in alcohol: Case studies of adaptive reuse projects by McNenamins, Inc.," PhD thesis). 

One of their signature properties is the Baghdad Theater in the Hollywood district of Portland, to which they added food and drink.  

The firm's interest in preserving cinemas--not all in historic buildings--has been key to the maintenance of neighborhood-based cinemas in Portland.

But the Puget Sound region has its own local cinema-focused firm, Far Away Entertainment, which is focused on preserving the operation of cinemas in smaller towns and historic buildings, including two in Seattle, the Admiral and the Varsity ("Growing Big by Sticking with Small Theaters," Kitsap Sun).

Conclusion.  Unlike many communities it seems as if there are three potentially viable options for preserving and operating the Cinerama as an ongoing cultural venue.

I would find it hard to believe that Vulcan Realty would be against exploring these options.  

Here's a way to better promote independent movie theaters: INTERVIEW: Ethan Hawke to screen his film 'Blaze' at the Byrd Theatre on Oct. 6, followed by Q&A session

Years ago, then Mayor Gray somehow managed to get rights for the Lincoln Theatre in DC to show, when it was still first run, "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," starring Rooney Mara and Daniel Craig.  It was awesome to go there and see it.

I've written about the Byrd Theatre and other independent theaters (cinemas) elsewhere across the country.

Image from Richmond Style Weekly.

Because of how the distribution of new movies works, it's very difficult for independent cinemas to show the newest movies, unless they are part of a chain ("The Scale of the Screen: Auditorium Size and Number in the American Movie Theater," Media Fields Journal).

I guess there are two types of independents: (1) one-offs, like the Avalon Theater in DC, the Silver Theatre in Silver Spring, Maryland, or the Byrd Theatre in Richmond (and of course, many others); and (2) small chains that focus on specialty films and documentaries, "auteurs," etc. as opposed to the "blockbuster" films produced by the big studios.

With the latter, there are small chains, like the Cinema and Drafthouse Group or Icon, and even big ones, like the Landmark Theaters owned by Sony.

Anyway, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that Ethan Hawke will be screening and talking about his movie "Blaze," at an event at the Byrd Theatre in Carytown (on it's own Carytown is one of the best independent commercial districts between Philadelphia and Atlanta), on October 6th.

Hawke didn't star in the movie, which is about an obscure country music artist, he produced and directed it ("Ethan Hawke's beautiful Blaze feels like flipping through an old album," National Post).

What a great way to attract attention to the theater and to Carytown commercial district.

The theatre somehow has leveraged the fact that Hawke is in Richmond, currently filming "The Lonely Bird."

What a great idea to try to leverage going forward.  When movies are being shot in your community, as part of the "community benefits" negotiated with the production firm over tax credits and other inducements, they should include the provision of events like this, at independent theaters, as a way to promote the artists involved in the production, their ouevre, and the local independent cinema ecosystem.

Shakespeare ... in the park and elsewhere

In preparation for moving, am going through myriad boxes o' stuff, for filing and culling and better organizing.  One of the articles I came across was from last summer, about DC's Shakespeare Theater and its seeking of a new artistic director ("Alas, poor Shakespeare," Washington Post).

The article discusses how audience numbers are down for classic theater. Even at outdoor festivals. Among others the article mentioned the Stratford (Ontario) Festival and the Utah Theater Festival.  It didn't discuss the various Public Theater programs in Central Park in New York City.

Maybe the issue is aiming to reach new audiences in different ways.

It reminded me of a few months back, we happened to catch a documentary on one of the Maryland Public Television secondary channels--they mostly run the DIY public television Create Network on this particular channel during the day and at night, programs range from repeats of regular programs ("Time Shifting" from the main channel) and documentaries that they might be capturing from the public television World Channel, which unfortunately no PBS station in the area distributes.

Anyway, the documentary, "Bard in the Backcountry," was produced by Montana PBS and is about a fascinating program in Montana, based at Montana State University in Bozeman, "Montana Shakespeare in the Parks," which is a traveling program putting on various Shakespeare plays in mostly small towns mostly in Montana, although they dip into some venues in Idaho, North Dakota, Washington, and Wyoming as well.

-- full video, via PBS

After a run of performances in Bozeman, they are on the road for just over two full months straight, performing every day!--doing everything, driving between shows, setting up, breaking down, maintaining costumes, etc.

Outside of the big productions in New York City's Central Park, and similarly concerts in urban parks (e.g., years ago went to a cool flamenco concert in Park La Fontaine in Montreal and it was cool to picnic while listening), I was thinking after seeing the documentary about how cool it would be to do this kind of program in a city park system, like DC.

Seattle Shakespeare Company photo.

Apparently, the Seattle Shakespeare Company does something similar in the Puget Sound, although it's a pretty tough schedule they aren't traveling nearly as far as the Montana project, and the Chicago Shakespeare Company does this too, but mostly only in Chicago.

I'm sure there are others.

And such public performance programs wouldn't need to be limited to Shakespeare necessarily.

BTMFBA: The Old Town Theatre in Alexandria, Virginia

-- "BTMFBA: the best way to ward off artist or retail displacement is to buy the building," 2016

Not much to say here.  If you want a theater/cinema to continue to function, because of the way the regional and national real estate industry is organized and because of the way that the movie distribution is organized, small independent theaters can't compete "in the market."

Speaking of "the market", I was struck by this description of it in a recent entry, "No spring in the UK air," in the Mainly Macro blog:

The political economy of modern Conservatism is extreme laissez faire in the following sense. The belief is that if you let businessmen (they are usually men) get on with things, and take away red tape, regulations, and reduce taxes, all will be well. There is no need to help with public sector investment and R&D initiatives, or worry about rent extraction: the private sector can always do things better itself. The public sector does not support the private sector, but just gets in the way.

Once the ownership of a theater-cinema building shifts to a real estate development firm it's about 100% likely that the building will no longer be used as a theater-cinema.

Asana Partners purchased the Old Town Theater, located at 815 1/2 King St., for $4.4 million in January. WBJ photo by DREW HANSEN.


The Alexandria Gazette-Packet ("Marquee Property in Alexandria: Asana seeks tenants for Old Town Theater") and the Washington Business Journal ("New owner of long-shuttered Old Town Theater is searching for a tenant. Will it remain a theater?") are reporting on how Asana Partners, the North Carolina-based real estate firm that now owns the building, is marketing the property.

Obviously, a NC-based firm isn't likely to prioritize "cultural" and community goals.  Furthermore, the firm's purchase of multiple buildings is evidence that the company is active in the Alexandria property market because it is a regionally/nationally important submarket ("Charlotte retail investor buys six more Old Town Alexandria buildings," WBJ).

Just as Rock Creek Property Group didn't as it related to the Takoma Theatre, which will soon become a clinic for Children's Hospital.

These firms aim to maximize the economic returns of its property portfolio.

In "Art, culture districts, and revitalization," I made the point that artistic disciplines need their own plans, including elements on facility ownership, management and access, and that they can't expect real estate developers to do this for them, putting cultural goals ahead of private benefit.

Relatedly, as discussed in the recent entry, "Mount Rainier aims to recapture the Kaywood Theater as a cultural anchor," if you want the building to remain a theater, you need to extract the building from the market.

There are hundreds of examples across the country, and even here and there in the DC and Baltimore market, most notably with the Avalon Theatre in the Chevy Chase neighborhood of DC, and small for profit businesses may own small theaters too, but usually it's their only business, like the people who own the Charles Theatre in Baltimore ("A Fan Saves an Art-Movie House in Baltimore," New York Times)..

However, having such a theater would be a natural complement to the Torpedo Factory art center (The Impact of the Torpedo Factory Art Center on the City of Alexandria, GMU) and would be important to the continued viability and competitiveness of Alexandria as a regionally significant retail and entertainment destination, which justifies the involvement of government and other stakeholders.

It's also an indicator of the need to have a business improvement district to better plan, manage, and advocate for the business district.  Although this course of action was recently rejected ("Alexandria abandons its Old Town BID quest," Washington Business Journal; "City manager advises against Business Improvement District in Alexandria," WTOP-radio).

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Note that wrt "cultural plans" and "facilities elements" therein, privately owned cultural-entertainment assets need to be inventoried and listed, as well as monitored, to ensure their continued use as cultural and civic assets, even though they are part of the private sector but functioning more broadly.

Then with scenario planning, the local government has the plans in place to be able to act, if extraordinary involvement is required. In this particular case, I'd argue there is extranormal value in maintaining the use of this property as a cultural asset, because of its ability to draw patronage to the entire district.

The Grand Illusion cinema in Seattle's University District is one example ("Saving the Last Picture Shows," Seattle Times, 2003).

Laurelhurst cinema in Portland, Oregon.

Neighborhood-based cinemas still function in various Portland neighborhood commercial districts ("We Visited Every Neighborhood Movie Theater in Portland—Here's a rundown of the best cheap seats," Wilamette Week).

I think the New Hope Cinema Grill in Suburban Minneapolis is a great example too ("Outtakes Bar & Grill opening in New Hope," Sun-Post).

It would be useful to have a master list of such facilities, both public and private, across Virginia, to aid in developing such a proposal for Alexandria. I know of at least two, the Byrd Theatre in Carytown, Richmond and the soon to reopen Ashland Theatre in Ashland.

Etc.