This summer, while I was interning for a theatre company that was in the process of reestablishing themselves in the world of the arts, I was required to do a lot of administrative work to enable them to get back on their feet and moving forward in the right direction. One of the tasks I was required to do was conduct research on all of the LORT theatres in order to understand each theatres mission, how they dictate their season, if they offer any sort of educational or schooling benefits, and how they deal with their status as a non-profit organization.
One of the theatres I became particularly interested with was the Intiman Theatre which is currently based out of Seattle, Washington. When I was researching, I couldn’t believe what I was reading. The theatre had actually temporarily closed down and brought its season to an abrupt halt due to a complete lack of funding and support. It was incredibly frustrating as a theatre artist who, ultimately, would like to work with a company of this nature and magnitude.
You can imagine my excitement when I came across a small article on the Arts Beat blog that was tracking the theatre’s financial growth and plans to reopen. The theatre is in the process of trying to raise $1 million dollars in order to reopen its doors next summer for a completely new season that will showcase the theatre as a big, bad wolf on the West Coast Theatre Front. So far, the Intiman has successfully raised $100,000.00 in pledges from the board AS WELL AS a $100,000.00 donation from an anonymous source.
Despite this progress, the Intiman is true to their word. They have stated that they will not touch the money until they have completed their goal of raising $1 million. With growing anticipation and excitement, The theatre has announced their proposed summer season in the hopes that it will generate excitement and help move them farther along in the fundraising process. They have decided upon “Romeo and Juliet” set against the backdrop of the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict, Ibsen’s “Hedda Gabbler”, and a new work that has not yet been released.
The Intiman Theater in Seattle may be down, but it’s not yet out. After suspending its operations the financially struggling regional theater is trying to raise $1 million to stage four productions next summer, and the board announced on Monday that it had so far raised $100,000 from board pledges and $100,000 from an anonymous donor, according to The Seattle Times.
“Whether someone has committed $20 or $5,000, we only will spend it if we reach our entire goal for the season,” said Andrew Russell, the theater’s consulting artistic director. The proposed summer season includes Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” staged in the context of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Henrik Ibsen’s “Hedda Gabler” and a new work that the theater characterized as “outlandish” by the author and activist Dan Savage.
