A Moment of Truth

from Todd Eric Hawkins, Managing Director

This past week I attended a preview of one of the new musicals opening on Broadway this season. It was a Monday night, I wasn’t particularly excited by the star, nor was I really in the mood to sit in the theater. But...I had a ticket so off to the theatre I went.

One of the disadvantages of being “in the business” is that there is a tendency to
be hyper-critical of theatre, especially when you are not in the mood to lose yourself in the story. Admittedly, this was one of those nights. I will not mention the show, because I am sure that my impression of it is completely based on my own psychological state, not on the quality of the show, or the performances. However, even in my disgruntled mood, a single line, in the hands of an incredible actress, pierced through all of the crap that I was carrying around. With just a few words, she was able to deliver that elusive, magical moment of truth: an emotional connection so strong that the audience has no choice but to connect.

At that moment, everything in my otherwise unremarkable, slightly annoying day fell away. For the first time that evening I stopped looking at the lights and the set and wondering how much they cost. I stopped nit-picking every performance and every song. I stopped being an ass.

Of all of the shows I have seen, I can only think of two occasions when a member of the
ensemble delivered, in my opinion, the best performance of the night. I have always heard the adage, “There are no small parts, only small actors.” Both of these performers have proven that statement.

It is rare for actors—especially those in the ensemble—to hear how much their performance affects audience members. I think good work deserves praise, no matter how small the role. So, while I will not mention the show, I would like to thank that actress—in spirit here, and in a letter delivered to the stage door—for reminding me why I am in the theatre.

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We Are Family

from Todd Eric Hawkins, Managing Director 
 

In school, I was constantly bullied; I was ganged up on, beaten, and terrorized on a regular basis. Or at least that is how it felt at the time.

On my first day of sixth grade, I transitioned to a middle school in Norman, Oklahoma. It was the first time I wasn’t able to walk to school; I had to ride the bus.  This concept to me was terrifying. At 11 years old, I was already almost 6 feet tall and I was painfully shy—a combination that would prove to be a liability.

I sat on the bus that first morning, scared of the new experience. To soothe myself, I held my books to my chest, trying to make myself as small as humanly possible. I can only assume that I thought that if I stayed still, none of the other kids would notice me and, therefore, wouldn’t pick on me. My height made this impossible.

One of the boys on the bus asked if I was a boy or a girl. I, of course, told him that I was a boy. At the time I didn’t realize it, but the next move would be the beginning of my many encounters with bullies. He told me that he thought I was a girl, because I carried my books like one. Everyone laughed and that was all it took, I was called a fag for the first time in my life.  At the time I didn’t even know what the word meant, let alone whether I was one or not.

I consider myself one of the lucky ones. When I look back on that time and the events that followed over the course of the next six years, I am oddly thankful. Without that teasing I wouldn’t be the person I am today, nor would I have found a home in the theatre.

In the Drama Club, I found my allies, a merry band of misfits who were all looking for some kind of escape from the cruel, unjust world that we were forced to inhabit. In the auditorium after school, during countless hours of rehearsal, I felt like a valued member of the team. That feeling gave me the strength to ignore the name-calling and fight back when pushed.  I discovered who I was.

The theatre has always provided me with a sense of family. Whether it was high school, college, or Theatre East, the people who surround me when I am actively engaged in the art of making theatre are the best people I know. 

I think much of it has to do with the collaborative nature of the theatre. Nothing can get done without everyone involved doing his or her job. Success depends upon it.  Even when things don’t seem to be going well, the show, as they say, must go on, and the players must pull together and do whatever it takes to make it happen. That lesson may be the most valuable thing I have learned from the theatre.

I am honored to be a part of the Theatre East family, and as part of that family, I am committed to doing whatever it takes to make it a success. Thank you for welcoming me and above all for your continued support.

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Advocacy and Inspiration

from Todd Eric Hawkins, Managing Director 

“Before we sang, we spoke. Before we danced, we walked. Before we wrote, we told stories. Before we told stories, we lived.

Those songs, dances, writings allow us to speak to one another across generations. They gave us an understanding of our commonality long before the DNA told us we are all part of one glorious procession.

At any point on the timeline of human history, there are tales to be told, of love and loss, glory and shame, profundity, and even profound stupidity– tales that deserve retelling, embellishing, and, if need be, inventing from whole cloth. This is our story. This is our song. If well sung, it tells us WHO we are and where we belong.” 

These words come from the opening lines of Wynton Marsalis’s lecture “The Ballad of American Arts,” delivered on March 30^th, 2009 at the 22^nd Annual Nancy Hanks Lecture on Arts and Public Policy. Speaking to a sold-out audience gathered in the Concert Hall of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Mr. Marsalis’s lecture focused on the importance of arts and culture to the American identity. It was the most powerful speech on the arts in America that I have ever witnessed.  (View the entire speech here).

The lecture, held each year on the eve of Arts Advocacy Day in Washington DC, is named after the second Chairperson of the National Endowment for the Arts, Nancy Hanks. During her eight-year tenure (1969–1977), Ms. Hanks was able to grow the budget for the NEA from $8 million to $114 million—an unbelievable feat considering she was able to do so at time when members of Congress disputed any funding of the NEA at all.

Ms. Hanks believed strongly in the value of the Arts, dedicating her professional life to ensuring that the arts were a vital part of the American dialogue. It is fitting that the lecture is targeted to an audience of arts advocates from across the country the night before they meet with their elected officials to reinforce the value of the arts in their districts back home.

Arts Advocacy Day is the only annual event that brings together a broad cross section of America’s cultural and civic organizations, along with hundreds of grassroots advocates from across the country. Each year the event is instrumental in the advancement of key legislative initiatives, maintaining levels of funding for the federal cultural agencies, and influencing tax, international, and educational policies. (learn more about Arts Advocacy Day 2012 here)

We must ensure that every American has the same opportunities that we at Theatre East had growing up. Not to turn everyone into an artist, but to give everyone an understanding of what the arts make possible, and to capture the imaginations of those who will find it their calling.
Before we produced, we learned.

Each of us can share stories of teachers who saw something in us that no one else saw, or community theatres that gave us our chance to play and explore. People who encouraged us to major in drama, and continue to hone our crafts in graduate school.  Without that support system, how would any of us have had the courage to move away from home to put it all on the line in New York City?

Today we must remember that we were afforded those opportunities because someone before us fought to make the arts part of the American dialogue.  This year as I represent Theatre East in DC, I would like to take with me your stories of how the arts have impacted your life.  What about the arts has changed you? How would it have been different without the arts and why is it important to you? Please share your stories in the comments below, or email me directly at Todd@TheatreEast.org.

There is power in numbers, and together we will ask that the arts and arts education be a national priority.

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Skating to the Puck

from Todd Eric Hawkins, Managing Director 
 

I recently heard a keynote address by Ben Cameron, Program Director for the Arts at the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.  Mr. Cameron’s focus was the future of the arts. During the speech he made the following statement:

In looking to the future, I find inspiration in the words of two different thinkers: our 19th century American President Abraham Lincoln, who in his second inaugural address said, “The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. As our case is new, so must we think anew and act anew.”

And Wayne Gretzky, the Canadian ice hockey player who, when asked to account for his greatness, said simply, “I skate to where the puck will be.”

   
Mr. Cameron’s words struck me as profoundly relevant.

Theatre in this country faces a quickly changing landscape in which the consumer, that we all so desperately need to fulfill our missions, continues to change. From the emergence of the personally programmable electronic devices available in today’s marketplace, to television programs like American Idol and Dancing with the Stars, consumers are getting more and more accustomed to having the ability to choose what they listen to and watch.

We as theatre producers are being challenged to find ways of making future audiences experience theatre in a new way. This is not to say that theatre in its current form will cease to exist, but rather to suggest that new audiences will require new ways of thinking about what we do. It will challenge us to look at theatre, not as a performance in a dark room at a specified time, where audiences are required to sit still for the duration of the show. Instead, we will need to look for more integrative ways of telling our stories.

The benchmark of success set by our predecessors, the major nonprofit theatres founded in the late ’60s and ’70s, is a level of achievement that anyone in this business would aspire to emulate. The next generation of theatre companies that rise to take their place will need to provide an experience that appeals to a new generation of arts consumers; theatregoers who have different expectations.

To meet to this challenge, theatre artists and organizations need to “act anew”; exploring ways to present our craft that will keep it vital to a new kind of audience.



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Todd Eric Hawkins Elected to Americans for the Arts’ Emerging Leaders Council!

As Theatre East-ers who read this blog and/or follow our Facebook page know, Managing Director Todd Eric Hawkins was placed on the ballot for the Emerging Leaders Council at Americans for the Arts about a month and a half ago. Well, the results are in and we are excited to announce that Todd was elected to the Council! Read all about it in the press release below:

For Immediate Release

Monday, December 12, 2011

Todd Eric Hawkins Elected to Americans for the Arts’ Emerging Leaders Council

New York, New York — Theatre East today announced that Managing Director Todd Eric Hawkins has been elected to the Emerging Leaders Council of Americans for the Arts, the nation’s nonprofit organization for advancing the arts and arts education.

Todd brings more than 10 years of leadership and experience to the Council, which assists with developing programs and resources for emerging arts professionals nationwide.  In addition to his duties as Managing Director of Theatre East, Todd has been a project manager for Public Art for Public Schools since 2008. In this role, he has managed over 35 projects, taking an active role in the commissioning of artists, the development of designs, and the coordination of installations at public schools throughout all five boroughs. Todd received his Masters of Arts in Arts Administration from Goucher College in 2010.

The Americans for the Arts Emerging Leaders program works to identify and cultivate the next generation of arts leaders in America. It provides an ideal way for new leaders to share their interests with others as they continue to develop their skills and their commitment to the arts. New professionals are valuable to the arts community, and the 15 members of the Emerging Leaders Council are dedicated to ensuring that a bright and democratic future for the arts in America continues for generations to come.

“The Emerging Leaders Council serves an important role in helping Americans for the Arts carry out one of its primary goals of strengthening an informed leadership,” says Robert L. Lynch, president and CEO of Americans for the Arts. “Todd has been an exceptional leader within his own community, and we are thrilled to welcome him to the national council.”

Theatre East is a New York-based nonprofit theatre company that advances the dialogue of the shared human experience through works that utilize simple storytelling, providing our community with a platform to deepen its understanding of themselves, each other and the world we share. In October 2009 the company produced the New York premiere of Tim Blake Nelson’s EYE OF GOD and in March 2011 the New York premiere of GLAAD and Obie Award-winning playwright Daniel MacIvor’s THE SOLDIER DREAMS, both at Theatre Row on 42nd Street. Additional information is available at http://www.theatreeast.org.

Americans for the Arts is the leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts and arts education in America. With offices in Washington, D.C. and New York City, it has a record of 50 years of service. Americans for the Arts is dedicated to representing and serving local communities and creating opportunities for every American to participate in and appreciate all forms of the arts. Additional information is available at www.AmericansForTheArts.org.

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In Support of the Arts

from Todd Eric Hawkins, Managing Director 

It is hard for me to watch the news without spending a great deal of time with my head in my hands. I would think this is true for many viewers on both sides of any given issue. We have become an extremely polarized society and, in doing so, we are losing the middle ground.

I don’t claim to be an expert when it comes to politics. I don’t know the intricacies of the banking industry, or the factors that have led to our current economic crisis. I should know more, but it is difficult to wade through the talking points coming from both sides of any given argument. I am not sure when our world became so black and white and uncompromising.

Part of my confusion comes from how I was trained to view the world. I am and have always been a student of the Arts. In the fifth grade, I played the cello in the orchestra. I learned harmony and what it means to be a part of a group, each with their own individual part that makes a whole. In high school, I took Speech & Debate and learned how to present facts, debate issues and, in the process, form my own opinions. In college, I turned to playwriting and was taught how to tell a story, present differing opinions and allow disparate voices a chance to be heard.  The Arts...taught me how to think.

The Arts now suffers the same fate as other debated topics, it has been boiled down to a black and white issue. To one side, the Arts are a waste of tax dollars and less vital to the education of our children than math and science—an argument that has successfully led to the decimation of funding for public arts education. To the other side, the Arts are not only integral to a quality of life, but they have a positive impact on local economies and provide our community with a platform to explore ideas.

As a finance manager I understand that the arts can be seen as the easiest thing to cut in order to make ends meet. However, the very principles that art taught me are now missing from the way we as a society debate our most pressing issues.

As we approach the end of 2011, I want to take a moment to thank everyone who has worked so tirelessly and given so much in support of Theatre East. I am proud to be part of an organization that focuses so much of its time, energy and resources to arts education and community engagement.

Thank you for your continued support; I look forward to continuing the dialogue in 2012.

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original photo by cseeman

Emerging Leaders

from Todd Eric Hawkins, Managing Director 

As Theatre East-ers who read this blog and/or follow our Facebook page know, about ten days ago, I learned Americans for the Arts has nominated me to serve a three-year term on their Emerging Leader Council. My name, along with 11 other individuals, will appear on the ballot for this year’s council elections. The ballot, which will appear on the Americans for the Arts website (www.artsusa.org), will be open for all members of the Americans for the Arts to vote on from Monday, October 31^st to November 21^st. Six of the those nominated will be seated on the council.

Americans from the Arts is the leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts in America. To aid in this mission, the Emerging Leader Council assists in developing programs and resources to promote the growth, development, and sustenance of emerging arts professionals.

Webster’s dictionary defines Emerging as “to become manifest; to become known.” As a member of the Emerging Leader Council, if I am elected, I would be in a position to help emerging leaders, across all arts disciplines, to realize their potential and become the next generation of arts leaders.

When I stop and think of the titans of the nonprofit theater of today, Lynne Meadow & Barry Grove (Manhattan Theatre Club), Neil Pepe & Jeffory Lawson (Atlantic Theater Company), Andre Bishop & Bernard Gersten (Lincoln Center Theater), I realize that at one time they were all emerging leaders. Today, each one of them shapes, fosters, and cultivates nonprofit theatre in New York City. It makes me wonder who the next generation of titans will be, and how the nonprofit theatre of tomorrow will be shaped.

When I look back at the history of many nonprofit theatre organizations, the phrase “circles rise together” always comes to mind.  None of the current titans were able to establish their place in the theatre by themselves; talented individuals surrounded them all with one goal in mind: to produce the best theatre possible.

I am honored that Americans for the Arts believes I am a leader that is “becoming known,” and proud of the fact that Theatre East have accepted me as a part of their circle. I am confident that together we will realize our own potential and become one of the next generations of theatre titans. 

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