About Face and the Big Ask

Just months into their tenure at the helm of About Face Theatre, Bonnie Metzgar and Rick Dildine are in crisis mode. Last week, the company announced it was postponing its upcoming show, the world premiere of Ann-Marie Healy's What Once We Felt, to focus on a $300,000 emergency fund-raising campaign.

Doomsday pronouncements have cropped up at theaters across the country in recent months; as I mention in this story (which will appear in print next week), two of the most prominent "emergency campaigns" have come from Shakespeare Santa Cruz and San Francisco's Magic Theatre. Those companies asked for (and received) $300,000 and $350,000 from donors, respectively, ostensibly preventing them from having to shut down. SSC's host, UCSC, had apparently been underwriting the theater's budget shortfalls for some time; of the Magic, the Chronicle's theater critic wrote that "the theater has been almost as well known locally for recurrent budget problems as it's become famous nationally for developing new works." SF critic Chloe Veltman noted that both theaters' asks had come on the heels of leadership changes. As arts marketing consultant Adam Thurman told me earlier this week, "I wonder sometimes if people aren’t using the recession as an excuse to reveal large-scale problems that have been going for a while."

That doesn't seem to be the case for About Face, where Metzgar and Dildine have been remarkably candid and transparent about their situation, with both their supporters and the media. Metzgar makes clear, for instance, that about a third of the $300K goal is intended to establish a cash reserve and line of credit for the company—a good-steward business practice that too many nonprofits don't do.

About Face likely won't be the last Chicago theater to enter crisis mode in the coming months, but even companies not in imminent apparent danger are likely to use the recession as a fund-raising ploy. Consider the urgent opportunism of the plea letter [PDF] sent out by Chicago Dramatists last night: "You have undoubtedly heard from arts organizations of all shapes and sizes asking for your support. Many are companies in desperate need. We hope you will help those companies survive, and by giving to us NOW, help us avoid their fate." In other words: We're not in desperate need, but others are, so please give to us. How's that again? As we all struggle through these Tough Economic Times™, I hope we see a lot more About Face–style transparency and a minimum of crying wolf.