Be moved, be bold, be theatre - Starting A Professional Theatre Company in Rural America

Janek Liebetruth

Contents

Summary ... 4

Foreword ... 6

INTRODUCTION ... 8

CHAPTER 1: Corn, Kettle and the Prairie – Introducing the State of South Dakota ... 10

CHAPTER 2: Broadway. Regional. Community. Theatre in the United States ... 13

CHAPTER 3: Stage Art for the Prairie – Building Bühnenkunst Theatre ... 16

3.1. Prelude: The Preconditions For A Theatre Company in Rural America
    3.1.1. The Sioux Falls Theatre Market – An Analysis ... 17
    3.1.2. The Audience in the Midwest ... 20
    3.1.3. Theatre Artists in the Midwest and Sioux Falls ... 25
3.2. Rising Action: Starting the Company ... 29
    3.2.1. Creating a Legal Entity ... 31
    3.2.2. Getting on Board – The Company and its Structure ... 34
    3.2.3. Starting the Theatre Company as a Business ... 36
    3.2.4. Bühnenkunst Theatre as a Performance Arts Institution ... 41

CHAPTER 4: Debut Production – Spring Awakening

4.1. The Play and its Appeal to the Sioux Falls Audience ... 44
4.2. Gathering A Team ... 50
4.3. The Production Design ... 55
4.4. Marketing The Show ... 62
4.5. Practice Makes Perfect Rehearsals ... 69
4.6. ‘Breaking a Leg’ – The Show’s Run ... 71
4.7. Wrapped up and Archived – Spring Awakening on Record ... 74
4.8. PostProduction ... 76

CHAPTER 5: The Future of Bühnenkunst Theatre Company – A Conclusion ... 77

APPENDIX

A) Certificate of Incorporation ... 79
B) Articles of Incorporation ... 80
C) Bylaws ... 83
D) Article by Jay Kirschenman (Argus Leader May 29, 2008) ... 86
E) Theatre Companies in South Dakota ... 87
F) Works Cited
    i) Print Sources ... 87
    ii) Electronic Sources ... 88
    iii) Pictures and Figures ... 90

ATTACHEMENTS

Program for Spring Awakening

Foreword

“I regard the theatre as the greatest of all art forms, the most immediate way in which a human being can share with another the sense of what it is to be a human being.”
Oscar Wilde

Creating art and especially stage art has become the driving force in my life. A journey that essentially began in 2004 is now starting to unfold itself to a full degree.
While studying abroad in Sioux Falls, South Dakota in 2004-05, I became acquainted with the local theatre scene through the Augustana College Theatre Department. Over the course of the year, I was introduced to many local theatre artists and became an active member as an actor, scenic artist, stage manager and assistant director. The passion and dedication of the few performing artists in Sioux Falls was infinite and aspiring.
During the last four years, I have participated one way or another in fourteen theatre productions of various kinds in Germany and the United States. The experiences I made in both quite diverse and sometimes contrasting theatre scenes gave me a unique perspective on functioning and daily operations of a theatre, as well as the lifestyle of artists and factors that influence the financial and artistic decision-making.
While I am finishing this thesis I am not only a full‐time Assistant Director at the Hans-Otto-Theatre in Potsdam, and the Founding Artistic Director of the Bühnenkunst Theatre Company in Sioux Falls, SD.
The exciting and life-changing journey how I became the latter and what it took to create a theatre company in the rural Midwest of the United States will be the central focus of this thesis.
While this is still an academic paper, it approaches the subject matter in an unusual, more practical than theoretical way.
It can also be seen as some sort of a guideline and inspiration for professional theatre companies to form and grow in the Midwest. Its potential in the creative energy of its artists, the eagerness, curiosity and zeal of its audience, combined with the generosity of donors and sponsors, is incessant.
This paper is supposed to inspire theatre artists in the heartland and shall give them hope and new faith in the capability of their region and to further enrich the cultural studies of literature on the Midwest and its sundry theatre landscape.

I would like to thank the Augustana College, Sioux Falls, South Dakota for their support, Dr. Julia Bennett and her husband Tom, for their hospitality, assistance and advice. A special thank is directed to all people who supported the company financially.
Further, I would like to thank all individual participants in the two surveys and the managing directors who made them available to all their artists
Last, but not least I would like to give a special thank you to my business partner and good friend Andrew Erickson for being part of this thrilling journey and my personal life.

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