Arts Alive San Antonio

BY JASMINA WELLINGHOFF, Editor —

You and your team came up with the idea of having just one-person shows for the entire 2020-21 season as a way to reduce the risk of infection on stage and in the theater. Did you have any problems finding good solo shows to fill a season?
They are not exactly plentiful but there are a lot of amazing one-person shows. The difficulty in getting and selecting titles was making sure that we are balanced with our choices. Balanced in the sense of providing opportunities for diverse talents and interests. Then, you look at one group of shows, and another group of shows, and another group of shows. The question becomes, can we actually get the rights to them legally? That last part is truly a challenge. When you are trying to do live productions with an option to stream, you run into complications. In some cases, (copyright owners) were looking to make a movie or a book deal, so their lawyers said, “No, we don’t want anything to be out there on a video.” Still we were pretty lucky. The majority of the shows are what we were hoping for, but there were a few titles that we had to wait on or change.

Any response from your patrons?
We are doing that survey right now. But everything looks pretty positive. We have a pretty good rapport with our patrons here at the Public.

Will San Antonio actors and directors be included in the upcoming productions?
People don’t seem to realize that we are about 90% local. Early on when we first started going into the Equity (hiring professional members of the Actors Equity Association) we were looking out of market quite a bit. But in this coming season and in the current season, the majority are local performers. One actor has actually moved here because he fell in love with the city. You can anticipate that 90% of the creative teams will be from San Antonio in the new season.

Does San Antonio have a substantial number of professionals, meaning Equity members?
Well, you know, the professional theater culture in San Antonio is still relatively new…  The companies like the Classic Theater and Attic Rep that have been working toward creating professional theater, are only about a decade-or-two-old. I would say we are still in our infancy regarding a professional environment in our city. That doesn’t mean that the talent isn’t “professional.” We have some really outstanding performers in our community.

How has the Public Theater stayed afloat during the past five months?
We don’t have an endowment. We are a 100-year-old organization (started as San Antonio Little Theater in 1927) without an endowment! That’s another lens to look through at the situation. But we were prudent with our expenditures, and we also had an amazing start to this year. When we had to close our doors in March, we were exceeding our budget expectations and trending to exceed budget extensively. But without the generosity of our donors and patrons, we would not be afloat today.

You grew up in San Antonio and, I believe, you had a connection to the San Antonio Little Theater. Is that correct?
Yes, that’s was the first place where I saw live theater.

How does it feel to be the big boss in the same building?
Exciting and overwhelming at the same time. It’s a huge responsibility and an emotional roller-coaster. The place is grounded in what it has been for so long. Change in any way is extremely difficult. To try to implement change and a new strategy – you have to be cautious.

Where did the resistance to change come from?
It depends on what it is you are trying to promote. When we changed the way we sold tickets, patrons were in an uproar. It went from a voucher system to a subscription-based annual-owner-seat process, which is fairly standard. We had a rough year of being told ‘This is not the way to sell tickets.” Also, the choices that had to be made at the time of my hiring were very difficult choices and emotional for everyone involved. (He fired most of the existing staff.) That’s going to be a scar on me for a long time.

But you felt you needed to do it?
I certainly hope so! (laughs nervously). If you look at the organization in roughly 2012, it had a budget of $800,000 to $900,000. Going into 2016, when I walked in the door, we were met with a $300,000-plus shortfall. But we ended up with $1.1M budget that year. That was a very difficult maneuver; would be for any business. And we had a substantial financial growth over three years before COVID-19 hit.

What worries you the most at present?
Keeping this theater open. And I don’t mean open immediately. I mean making sure that the decisions we make today will allow us to continue to produce in 2021-22 and 2022-23.

You are the father of five children. There’s a big controversy right now about children returning to school for in-person classes. What decision have you made for your own children?
My personal opinion is that school should stay closed. My wife is an educator. We have elected to do online learning with our children. But I am also aware that schools provide resources to families that go beyond education. That’s a deeper conversation. Many kids depend on the school building and relationships outside of the family. So, it’s a difficult question to answer in general terms.

This is a stressful time for everyone. How do you nurture your own peace of mind?
In nature. About a month ago I was going on a hike and a climbing research trip, and my daughter said, “Daddy, you look like your old self!” My wife and I both like climbing and we go climbing together. I like backwoods-camping, not being around campsites. In September, I’ll have a 9-day hiking and camping vacation in the Grand Canyon with my best friend Justin.

What do you cherish the most from your years of growing up in San Antonio?
I grew up on the Southside, out in the country, almost in Pleasanton. I cherish learning so many different things. I was an athlete, I was an artist, I was a Dungeons & Dragons kid. I was allowed to explore and do so many things… But being a Southsider, you just had to grind a lot harder. And I think that part of my youth is what I cherish more than anything, because I don’t know who I would be today if I didn’t have to work since the age of 14.

How important is friendship in your life?
Extremely important but I have always been a shy introvert. You’ll be surprised how many theater professionals are actually introverts… I don’t make many friends because I am very shy and I don’t allow many people into my personal life. I have one dear friend, Justin, whom I already mentioned. He knows me extremely well. He lives in the Northwest where I was. In fact, I have several friends up there.

What was the most rewarding moment of your career?
I don’t know… I haven’t given that much thought. I focus so much on my failures because those are the things that I have to find ways to improve upon… It’s difficult to answer this question. There were so many challenging things from both the business aspect and the creative aspect. I guess I can talk about having a tiny little theater (in Spokane) create Les Mis without needing to alter anything. That was a huge creative moment. Doing Newsies here in San Antonio in collaboration with Ballet San Antonio, was also a very beautiful creative high for me.

Have you ever done something of consequence that you later regretted?
Yes, of course. (But he was not willing to share it with us.)

What’s your pet peeve?
Being late. Actually, that’s my second pet peeve. My number one is being late with an excuse that’s not relevant. I have seen people being late for interviews, late for rehearsals, late for work. I believe promptness is an important quality. Being on time speaks to the person’s ability to plan and be respectful of other people’s time.

Besides your job, what else are you good at?
I am really good at chess and I am really good at dominoes. My dad’s best friend taught me how to play chess.

Here’s a quote from Mark Twain: “Good friends, good books and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.” Your reaction?
I understand the intent of the statement. So, I would agree with that. As a restless individual wanting to be as active as possible with my life, I would say that being able to rest easily is extremely important.

(To see the new season lineup go to “Public Theater Announces New Season,” Aug. 5, 2020, on this site.)