The Playgoer: If you can't beat 'em: merge?

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Wednesday, April 09, 2008

If you can't beat 'em: merge?

The ever, um, evolving Seattle theatre scene now features a merger!

By far the larger organization, SSC (founded in 1991 as the Seattle Shakespeare Festival) has a current yearly budget of about $915,000 per year, compared with Wooden O's annual outlay of roughly $80,000. Neither company is carrying a financial deficit.

The joint venture will allow SSC "to take any administrative savings we get and pass it on to the actors and other artists," says Shine [Stephanie Shine of Seattle Shakespeare]. In addition to employing more actors, SSC also provides better pay and benefits than Wooden O could as a separate entity.

Maybe a good idea for others to consider?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

For years I’ve been supporting “Mergers & Acquisitions” as a tool for retaining institutional memory. Burn-out hits too many of us who then go running, screaming from the theater forever. The corporate world uses it to great effect, and I don’t think we should be afraid to steal from them just because it’s a capitalist concept.