Arts Professional Story: Brian Golden, Artistic Director, Theatre Seven of Chicago

In our limited experience at Theatre Seven, I think I've found the most difficult challenge is achieving a balance between planning for growth and success and realizing that you've never done this before, and haven't the faintest idea of how things are going to go. We created Theatre Seven believing, as I still do, that the reason so many companies fail is that they look at their first production as the finish line, gearing all their operation around just "getting the first one off the ground." Then, once that's over, they seem to come to a dead stop for a while. I have no idea how true that is, but operating under that assumption has helped us incorporate a vision for the future in everything we do, even with the awareness that we're not quite sure where we're headed. The confidence and awareness that we're going somewhere, so we'd better accommodate it and be ready for it, has helped us tremendously.

We struggled for months, literally, at the beginning of our process, worried about the minutiae of our mission statement and our charter code, and things like that. We worried about certain mission statements precluding us from doing much of the work that we wanted to do, and felt like a lot of the things we came up with were too general to be effective. I'd encourage other new companies to let go of a lot of those worries; your company is going to change, grow, develop with time, location, new members, economy, etc. Even in our second year, we're already honing in on new interests and points of focus for our work. I think because people look at the great theatres, the Steppenwolf's, the Chicago Dramatists, the Victory Gardens, and see this snapshot of excellence, they don't consider the necessity of evolution. As we've gotten going, we've had the most success when we've allowed the work to define itself, in a way, and reported the results.

What are the challenges of promoting and marketing a show in Chicago? How do you overcome those challenges?

Talk about a market of over-saturation. Who knows how many companies there are, exactly, producing things in Chicago right now, but it's a lot. We know that we're nowhere close to having name recognition that makes someone just come in off the street to see the show when they see our poster, or hear our name. Most of the marketing work I do for the company operates under the assumption that getting people to come to the show, the fundraiser, the reading is about building a relationship. So, instead of just buying 1000 posters and trying to get them all over town, we really target specific groups that we think we can build a relationship with: fellow Washington University alums; work groups; writing classes. We also have special discounts and "nights" for everything imaginable.

We know that we're in a position to sell community more than product, and everything we do aims to achieve that. Lastly, we believe that everything we do is marketing, in some way, so there's not a word that goes out on behalf of our company that isn't proofread, analyzed, rewritten and scrutinized. We're always looking for another way to get our name in Performink, the Reader and other places. We're on Facebook and MySpace. Any one that ever gets an email could be a show patron, a lifelong subscriber, or the future head of your board. You never know

What are your specific challenges as a new/emerging arts company and how are you facing them?

The hardest thing of all for us has been, unequivocally, finding time and energy to make the art while having to do all the often not-so-pleasant work of producing and manufacturing the play. Its a lot of sweaty work, emailing back and forth, arranging rehearsal space, dealing with actors, talking to press, in the midst of actually attempting to be a creative person. You've got to build your ensemble around people that are accountable, and can be counted on to have your back when things on your plate get really hairy. It doesn't matter one bit how brilliant and talented someone is in the rehearsal room. If you can't count on them to run an errand or take out the trash when it's your turn to be the artist, they're going to kill your company.

Brian Golden is the Artistic Director of Theatre Seven of Chicago. His plays have been produced in Chicago, New York, St. Louis and Philadelphia. He has directed at the St. Louis Rep, Speaking Ring Theatre, Prop Thtr, Cast n' Crew, Curiously Strong Theatre and Theatre Seven. He is a two-time winner of the A.E. Hotchner Playwriting Contest, winner of the Leota Diesel Ashton Playwriting Prize and the John J. Jutkowitz Award in the Performing Arts. Brian is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis.