Feature: INNOVATIVE VISION FUELS KC PROFESSIONAL THEATER COMPANY

What is it that goes into the process of making art? That is the question that the five founding members of the Forge Repertory Theatre hope to answer with their re-invented approach to funding and transparency as a professional startup project here in Kansas City.

The Forge Repertory Theatre notion was hatched by five, remarkably credentialed artists meeting up at a local watering hole and ending with the decision to form the Forge Rep in August of this year. All have been associated with one or more of Kansas City's small professional theater companies.

The five founders are Co-Artistic Directors Coleman Crenshaw and Todd Lanker, Executive Director of Business and Development Bailey Rose, Director of Business and Marketing Ryan Fortney, and Director of Communication Elaine Clifford. Between them, the founders bring more than a third of a century of theatrical experience and multiple Master of Fine Arts degrees to the creative table.

Their discussions centered on several generalized subject areas. The group will create a platform for emerging talents to take root in a talent competitive theatrical marketplace to include one on one coaching experiences. Forge will engage in the offer of affordable, live, quality theatre experiences to ever wider audiences. As important to enduring success is finding an innovative source of financial support that provides value to its audiences and an eventual living wage to its staff.

The ambitious goals embrace some pretty heady stuff. Art ain't cheap to create and the professional creative process seems to run in direct opposition with the idea of that it should also be affordable to all individual theater goers. A vision that achieves the stated goals must be simultaneously innovative and may be financially risky to the fledgling producers. Research into means and methods landed on a successful "living ticket" model being utilized at New York's Flux Theatre Ensemble.

The financial success of the new company rests on a three tiered foundation to include a quality product, total transparency, and the largess of friends and those soon to count themselves as friends.

Tickets in the small, originating theater space will be available for advance reservation at what would be a normal price for a similar professional production, at whatever price the audience member feels affordable, or free. The hope is that high value productions will encourage significant numbers of audience members to pay full price while being inclusive of fans with various levels of financial wherewithal. The hope is that ticket payments, donations, and grants will sufficiently fund the project into the future. Time will tell if the founders have cast their hopes on a sustainable model.

Each production will offer three publicly viewable budgets. What does it really cost to put on a show? Budget one describes the out-of-pocket expense. Budget two shows the cost assuming all participants earn minimum wage. Budget three explains the cost of production if everyone involved earns a living wage. The vision is that by sharing the true operating costs, funders and audiences will, overtime, support the company.

Forge's inaugural season encompasses three productions. They are Eric Overmyer's "On The Verge or The Geography of Yearning," Mary Zimmerman's "The Secret in the Wings," and an adaption of John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath."

The first production, "On The Verge" directed by Ryan Fortney, opens this week on December 5 and will continue through December 15. It tells the comic story of three, Victorian era, female explorers who find themselves in an uncharted land at the entrance to a time traveling adventure.

All 2019-2020 productions will be produced at Fishtank's Black Box Theatre in the West Bottoms at 1060 Union Avenue in Kansas City, MO. Tickets can be reserved by telephoning 816.226.7154 or by accessing www.forgerep.org.

Photo provided by Forge Repertory Theatre.

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