BELLOWS FALLS — A new policy will make the Bellows Falls Opera House more viable and more attractive to a wider range of performers and events - a goal that offers significant promise for financial return to the local economy and creative stimulus to the community, organizers say.
At a recent board meeting, the Rockingham Selectboard accepted a proposal put forward by incoming Event Coordinator Howard Ires, who worked as a technical director on stage in New York theater for 20 years, to improve the way the Opera House does business.
Under the new policy, the events coordinator will supply promotion, lighting, stagehands and ushers for shows and concerts. An agreed-upon, guaranteed split of ticket sales would go to the performer. Ires said ticket sales online will soon be handled by a vendor through www.bfoperahouse.com.
Under the former business structure, the theater was rented “as four walls,” meaning that an act had to provide or rent everything needed for their show, essentially paying for the privilege of performing at the Opera House.
“Obviously, that's not a very popular way to get performers and events to come to the Opera House,” Ray Massucco, of Vermont Festivals LLC, which produces Roots on the River, told the board. “Performers don't want to pay to perform.”
“Most acts will agree to a guarantee of a split of box office,” Ires explained.
The policy change “does more than allow the theater to start making money, said Interim Town Manager Francis “Dutch” Walsh.
“It changes the manner in which we will be marketing, selling tickets, and booking events,” he said.
“Yes, hopefully, revenue can start to be generated,” Walsh continued. “More importantly, we can stop withdrawing money from the Enterprise Fund for operations of the theater.”
The theater's cash balance has dropped “a little over $100,000 over the past five years” in the Enterprise Fund that supports the Opera House, Finance Director John O'Connor said.
But, O'Connor also noted, “the theater is a resource for the community. Because it is not 100 percent able to support itself does not mean it's failing its purpose.”
“Prices there are much lower here than other places,” O'Connor said. “It's here to provide entertainment for the community, not unlike the recreation center.”
Renovations in 2007
The Opera House underwent $3.7 million in renovations to accommodate both movies and live performances, O'Connor explained. The project was partially funded in 2005 with a $2.85 million bond. The theater now boasts state-of-the-art movie projection, sound, rigging and lighting equipment.
With the new business model, “there's a potential of $1,000 to $2,000 per event” going back into the Enterprise Fund, Ires said.
Ires' background taught him “everything from lighting to stagehand to props,” and he worked as “even a roadie,” he said.
So when he books acts for the Opera House, “it's pretty hard to put anything over on me,” he said. “I know what they should be providing and what we should.”
Massucco said he supports Ires' new business model. “The more activities we can book [in the Opera House], the better it is for the town,” he said. “Business owners tell me their best business is done during events at the Opera House. Everyone benefits from having more events.”
Old model not working
Massucco said he has produced more shows at the Opera House than anybody, but the theater was still not making the money it could and has been underused.
With the former business model, the theater made more money on a good movie night than it did booking live events - even big-name acts, on which “it was barely breaking even,” Massucco said.
Former events coordinator Kali Quinn, who worked in that role from November 2007 until she resigned this summer, was not involved in promotion or booking events. Quinn has relocated to New York City to pursue her performing career full-time.
Right now, the theater stands empty on Wednesday and Thursday nights when, Ires and Massucco said, they could book events “and, maybe once a month, pre-empt a Saturday night movie” for a bigger event, Ires said.
Economic stimulus
This summer, “I came to open the theater for the Sandglass Theater [children's puppet show], and there were people standing outside who had driven up from Connecticut and Massachusetts wondering where they could get a bite to eat,” Ires said.
Ires told the board that people will drive from northern Vermont and out-of-state to see some shows.
“People often want to plan ahead,” Ires said. “This way, a series of monthly Saturday events could be booked, and people can buy the series, for example.”
Massucco agreed, but pointed out that, while the best booking seasons will run from December through April, the weather creates an economic risk, as it does all over New England.
He also described July and August as a not-great time to book indoor events.
Massucco noted that putting together a long-term schedule takes a lot of work, communication and coordination.
“We don't want to be conflicting with any event within a half hour to 45 minutes from us,” he said. “It does us no good to do that. It's good for everybody if we can provide variety [of events] locally.”
The Stone Church in Bellows Falls, the Green Mountain Festival in Chester, the Colonial Theater in Keene, N.H., and the Latchis Theatre in Brattleboro all produce events, and Massucco said their respective scheduling needs have to be considered.
Ires said one has to beware of some agents who will not disclose when their performers are scheduled to work nearby in a different venue the night before, thus compromising potential ticket sales.
“It's in their best interest to tell us [for ticket sales], but some won't,” Ires said. “You have to be careful.”
The town is providing seed money for promotions of $5,000, which Massucco predicts will be recouped within a year.
“With the new business model, an event can bring in between $1,500 and, with a big name, $5,000 a night,” Massucco suggested. “The risk to the town is less with this model.”
For a nonprofit, underwriting grants are available that would not be available to a for-profit business, Ires pointed out to the board.
Massucco said he looks at the Bellows Falls Opera House as a promotional tool for the town.
Historic theater
A tour backstage revealed a “full-height fly-space with rigging grid and catwalk” - the original wooden structure from when the theater was built in 1926, Massucco said.
The theater “has really great acoustics” Ires points out. “Rusty DeWees [a comedian and musician who recently performed] doesn't use a sound system, and you could hear him perfectly throughout the theater.”
Ires noted the vaudeville acts for which the theater was originally built didn't use sound systems, either. “Performers just love coming here because they don't need them,” he said.
The theater can seat 553 guests - 372 on the main floor and 181 in the balcony. It accommodates small-to-medium-sized entertainment acts, and provides the audience with a more intimate experience with the performances than larger venues.
Ires pointed out thoughtful architectural touches, like the stage floor, with its 2-degree cant toward the front, which allows people seated anywhere to see the feet of performers on stage.
But Massucco says the town and the theater still face strong challenges to the Opera House's financial success.
“People who come for theater want a place they can eat either before or afterwards,” he said. “We're in short supply. We need more restaurants.”
Massucco admitted this is a conundrum, but not having places to eat can influence whether someone from away chooses entertainment in Brattleboro, Keene, White River Junction or Hanover, N.H. over performances in Bellows Falls.
He said restaurant owners in town generally look at more restaurants as a good thing. One owner told him, “People generally don't eat at the same place when they come to town. They try out different places. If someone is sitting across the street eating and looks out the window and sees my place, they are going to say, 'next time, we'll try there,'” Massucco recounted.
But new means of marketing, combined with a diminishing supply of similar venues, could bode well for the Opera House.
“Live theater outside of Vermont is dying out because theaters are being torn down,” Ires said. “That means [with the new business model], people from outside of town can buy tickets online to see live theater or a concert here.”
Plus, “if we get more interesting performers, people from out of town, we could actually start making money,” Ires said. He said he would pair local performers with bigger names. “It's good for everybody that way.”
“From the moment I got the job, people who knew about the theater asked about getting a gig here,” Ires said. “It's a gem of a theater. They did such a good job renovating it, and it even retains the original sandbagging and wood gridiron,” he pointed out. “It was on the Vaudeville circuit for 20 years.”
“My goal is to see the theater utilized to its greatest potential,” Ires said.