Hello from Beyond Broadway!
This month, we’re speaking with Ben Moore, Managing Director of Seattle Repertory Theatre in Seattle, WA. Mr. Moore has over 40 years of experience in Regional Theatre, and was part of the team that lead SRT to win the 1990 Tony Regional Theatre Award.
AKR: You’ve chosen to spend your career in Regional Theatre, and it’s been quite a remarkable career. Why did you choose to do this rather than head to New York?
Photo by Alan Alabastro
BM: Well, I had the option of considering commercial theatre, as did many of my fellow students at Yale. Many of my fellow students were trying to go to New York, but it was something that didn’t appeal to me, because I wasn’t really interested in the hit-or-miss project-to-project way of doing business. I was more interested in belonging to a community and developing an organization that would be a resource to that community in a variety of ways. [I wanted] a home, if you will, a place where I could develop a body of work with a partner in art. Partnering with an artist at an organization was very appealing to me. I don’t know WHY that was so appealing, because it is not easy work. But it is always drawn me forward, it’s always allowed me to develop a good relationship with an artist, it’s developed my skills as a partner, polished my ability as a collaborator, and so I eschewed the commercial sector in New York and took a job at ACT, the American Conservatory Theatre.
AKR: So, what makes your community, what makes Seattle’s audiences unique?
BM: I find that, in general, the audiences here are very intrigued with new work, work they do not know, titles they never heard of. For whatever reason, that appetite has grown, and that’s good because we have a big initiative here, that’s is now really at the core of our mission, which is to develop new work, not exclusively by any means, but as part of what we do. And that’s in part because the audiences seem to be attracted by that.
AKR: I’m very intrigued by SRT’s Yes Project and the thinking behind that. Was the idea of cultivating a younger audience the impetus behind that program?
MB: Absolutely. I think the origin of this idea came from a philanthropist in town who wanted to give us a good, generous amount of money to do something that would increase the opportunities for young people to be exposed to the theatre, to be engaged by the theatre, and to ignite a life-long interest in the theatre. And so we set about to build a program that, in large part, is focused on recognizing writers who can write new plays that a young person could be drawn to. We wanted to build plays for a demographic that’s high school into college age. We also have used this program to support productions that may be beyond our means that are maybe woven into the curriculum like some of August Wilson’s work, or Of Mice and Men. Work that includes things that either the students are studying in school or that speak to them in one way or another. So, it isn’t just about new plays, it’s about filing that space in the dramatic canon that speaks to that demographic.
AKR: To that end, what new or emerging playwrights are you excited about?
MB: There’s a writer here in town by the name of Elizabeth Heffron. Elizabeth is not unknown in this community; she’s been around quite a while. We’ve produced some of her work over the years, and she’s been produced elsewhere here in town. She’s recognized here but she doesn’t yet have a national profile. We’re premiering a play of hers [in October] called Bo-Nita. I think Elizabeth is going to experience some national exposure very soon.
AKR: So what keeps you passionate about doing theatre in such a challenging economic environment, when it is so difficult to balance that budget?
BM: Well, in my case, it’s all about the people who work here. I’ve always been interested in the process of picking the best people to do the jobs that are necessary. I’ve worked very hard over 28 years to make that possible. I’ve never had a better group here. It’s hard to think about not spending every day with all of these fabulous, fascinating, and very different people with very different things to contribute. It’s really rich and infinitely variable, and, if you study human nature, it’s constant entertainment. Sometimes it’s very fun, sometimes it’s difficult. I actually like that. I’ve always liked a mix of sweet and savory, and so a mix of smooth times and rough times keeps you sharper. There’s always some tension or some interesting and often unexpected challenge that keeps me engaged, but it’s mostly the people who keep me going.
AKR: You’ve announced that you will be stepping down as the Managing Director of SRT this June, so what new challenges are you looking forward to in your life?
BM: Well, it’s all sort of a continuation, just not working day-to-day in this environment. I hope to do some fundraising for the company to address some specific needs, mostly capital needs, fixing the building here and there. I also expect to work on a public funding initiative that I’ve had my hands on for the last five years which is all about setting up the opportunity for the public to vote on establishing a cultural district that will generate revenues that could then be efficiently passed out to all the arts and culture organizations in this region. If there could be another stream of revenue, it could make up for the fact that Washington State ranks 45th in the nation in per capita funding for arts and culture. That’s a situation that needs to be corrected because the public funding is the most anemic stream of revenue that we have in our revenue ‘blend.’ So I’m going to work on that, which brings me into lobbying or advocating. I’m going to teach at Seattle University starting 2015 and maybe do a little bit of consulting here and there, but mostly take some time for myself to do a little traveling, reading, and maybe some writing.
AKR: Who is or was your greatest teacher?
BM: It really is somebody who worked with me here for fifteen or sixteen years as our Director of Education, a brilliant young lady who, unfortunately passed away from a dreadful cancer almost a year ago now. I’m looking at her photograph now because I use it every day to kind of talk to. I find myself talking to Andrea on a regular basis because she was my very most valued colleague, somebody who I never realized how important she was in my life until she wasn’t there, and somebody who taught me probably more than any other colleague I’ve worked with. (Learn more about Andrea Allen here.)
AKR: Who is your favorite playwright?
BM: I think it’s Tennessee Williams, and I have a special relationship to one of his works, because I produced it in San Francisco [at ACT]. He was alive and with us at the time. We did an amazing thing with Tennessee Williams while he was in residence. We were able to actually cast a little segment from all of his great plays and have them performed by the kids at the Conservatory. We had them all together onstage with Tennessee watching from a wing backed wicker chair in his white linen suit and his Panama white hat. It was an experience I will never forget, and as a consequence I’ve got an emotional relationship to Tennessee. It was fascinating to produce his work. He was older and just not quite steady on his pegs, but it was a joy to have him in our midst.
Thank you, Ben for joining us Beyond Broadway, and best wishes on the future for you and SRT!
Live, Love, Learn,
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