Cabaret events in grand lobby and national acts attract patrons
By Malcolm X Abram
Beacon Journal music writer
Published on Sunday, Nov 22, 2009
In these tough economic times, companies are getting creative to survive.
For some, that means finding new ways to use your facility and entice people to spend what's left of their discretionary cash.
The Akron Civic Theatre, which was in pretty dire financial straits even before the economy tanked, has begun the AkronNites Series — small, intimate performances in the grand lobby that also double as fundraising events for the theater. The space only holds 118 people, in a cabaret-style setup with tables instead of rows of seats, and it allows the Civic to have smaller events and still get bodies into the building.
''We were thinking of ways to use the building a little bit differently,'' said Howard Parr, executive director of the Civic.
''A lot of the programming that we have done has been community-based, showcasing local artists, and that doesn't work that great on the main stage . . . We wanted to do a
cabaret setup, and all those things kind of came together.''
He added, ''We're learning what works and hopefully we'll refine it.''
The lobby shows are purposely scheduled on off-nights for the theater and there have been four shows so far: homegrown singer/songwriters Rachel Roberts, and Ryan Humbert with Emily Bates; the Musical Theater Project, a Cleveland-based troupe that performs songs from Broadway and Hollywood musicals; and the one-woman show Six Ages of Woman, the new venue-within-a-venue's first sellout.
The next performance in the lobby will be Dec. 17, featuring Canton-based improv troupe Scared Scriptless, which performs a two-hour, 18-or-older comedy show.
In addition to the AkronNites Series, the Civic has been reaching out to promoters to get more national and commercial events. These have included recent successful shows by Todd Rundgren, kid-friendly group Imagination Movers, Rob Zombie and Gary Allan, which Parr said are signs of the relationships the Civic is trying to build with promoters.
''We are making a concentrated effort to use the assets of this building, and to say to Live Nation and other promoters, 'Come in and let's try to figure out a way to make it so that everybody has the least opportunity to have a problem and the most opportunity for everyone to do well,' '' Parr said.
To that end, he said, the traditional promoter-venue business model has been transformed. Whereas usually the promoter takes the bulk of the financial hit of an unsuccessful show while the venue can still make a profit, the Civic has been making deals that pose less of a risk for promoters.
''We don't want a situation where the promoter comes in and loses money, because when that happens it only happens once. The building makes money once and the promoter doesn't come back,'' Parr said.
''What's happening now, we try to structure the deal so that it lays a foundation for long-term relationships. So the shows that do extremely well, everyone does well, and the shows that don't do well, nobody gets hurt too badly.''
Parr also said filling up the Civic schedule with national acts has the secondary benefit of helping to fill the streets of Akron, pointing to the Rob Zombie show that brought 2,000 people to downtown Akron on a Tuesday night.
''Who was the crowd and where did they go to eat or drink before or after the show? I couldn't tell you, but they went someplace that they wouldn't have gone otherwise,'' Parr said.
''It's one thing when we do that on Friday or Saturday night and certainly that has impact, but Bricco may already be busy. But on a Monday or Tuesday when we do something, that's when you can really see the impact . . . Things are happening on Mondays and Tuesdays as much as they are Fridays and Saturdays,'' he said.
Another potential benefit of the increased traffic is that Parr hopes to inspire local philanthropic foundations, boards and/or individuals to take note of the venue's importance and see it as an asset to the community worthy of donations.
As the Civic works to build relationships with promoters and the community, its overall financial outlook, which just a few years ago was very dire, has slowly begun to recover.
The theater had debt of more than $180,000 owed to Akron Thermal, and nearly a half-million dollars owed to the University of Akron, whose partnership with the Civic was dissolved in 2007. Though the theater did raise about $65,000 from a benefit concert featuring Chrissie Hynde in September 2007, the outlook was still grim.
But Parr said the Civic is in a better state these days. Though the strained relationship between the university and the Civic is ''still working its way out,'' he believes they and the University's E.J. Thomas Hall seem to have found a model that works, with the continued success of both venues good for everyone. He added the other debtors aren't beating down their doors demanding money.
''That part is substantially improved. We've handled a lot of our debt and continue to work on the rest. The Akron Thermal thing is still in play but it's winding down and it's manageable, and we've made tremendous progress.''
For 2010, Parr hopes to continue to refine what has been working for the past year or so and would love to expand the slate of international programming. He said the building had 117 public events in 2008 and expects to see a major increase for 2009. This is due in large part to the addition of the national acts — there were three in 2008, and this year the number has risen to about 15 acts able to draw from surrounding counties.
According to their recent statistics, it's working, Parr said. Most events draw about 60 percent of their audiences from Summit County and only 10 percent from Cuyahoga, Portage, Stark and Medina. But with the bigger shows, the number jumps to as much as 25 to 30 percent from the Cleveland area.
Parr hopes to expand on those statistics in the future.
''If I had to look at 2010 and say what's going to continue to change, I would hope that if we end up with 14 or 15 [national shows] this year, next year we'll have 20 or 25, and at that point I think we'd be in a pretty solid position.''
Malcolm X Abram can be reached at mabram@thebeaconjournal.com or 330-996-3758.
