I'll make it simple. This is just another fluff piece which many struggling theater companies like to float in order to deflect any real examination of their appallingly bad business and financial management practices. PCS is not at all explaining just how poorly they made expensive artistic decisions in order to maintain the artifice of status. On the rare occasions when they made their financial records public on line, anyone with some degree of accounting knowledge and analysis of financial statements could see that they've over spent and under sold productions for years. Like most regional companies, they make no effort to operate profitably, do nothing to reduce operating or production expenses or innovate to gain more sales - except to rely on hope and charity to balance budgets year after year.
I predicted their financial crises to local theater friends more than a year ago. Anyone paying any attention to their artificially keeping financially solvent the previous two years by leasing theater space to the now bankrupt ART company would have known the moment ART's term lease expired (or funds ran dry as they did) PCS was the next to come begging for public and private bailout.
And to be fair, what do you expect from a company managed by theater artists trained in acting and directing, but not educated in profitably managing a business? Anyone with a memory will recall that PCS carried tremendous debt that nearly shuttered them following Oregon Shakespeare Company's failure to make this Portland experiment profitable. (It was a financial failure.) The company was bailed out by the developers of the Brewery Blocks and with help of rich patrons and much well-managed fundraising. Of course, two years back, when theater professionals with no business training or experience decided they knew better how to manage as a board of directors, those well-placed patrons were coldly dumped from their directorial tasks and the funding fell off. (Come on, that wasn't the real reason - they took over so they could push expensive diversity training onto the company against the board's resistance to same.) Anyone who were to take a close look would see that PCS is managed by the artistic inmates of the asylum - few to none having serious for-profit business, finance or sales/marketing management training and experience. (ART is another of these locally precarious institutions. They managed to blow through millions in real estate sales income in no time.)
And, as for Marissa, as an artistic director (does anyone reading this article even know what the duties of the AD are?) has her degree in drama with graduate studies in stage directing. Naturally, that makes her an outstanding candidate to manage the business, financial and sales needs of a theater company that was near bankruptcy 3 months ago and currently operating on handouts. (Except she doesn't do that really - she has a: 1) a director of finance, 2) a general manager, 3) an accounting manager and 4) a staff accountant. to manage the business side of the company. That plus a staff of five on business development. And collectively they must be doing a swell job - to be bankrupt 3 months ago.
Yep, fluff is as fluff is wont to get. Too many uneducated reporters carry the lies forward to a completely uninformed public. But, see, that's the appalling standard we maintain - for the arts are exempt from critical scrutiny. Just don't act so damned surprised when the arts suffers from financial problems again and again and again and again..... Just get your checkbook ready and bail them out again.....ad naseum.
I'll make it simple. This is just another fluff piece which many struggling theater companies like to float in order to deflect any real examination of their appallingly bad business and financial management practices. PCS is not at all explaining just how poorly they made expensive artistic decisions in order to maintain the artifice of status. On the rare occasions when they made their financial records public on line, anyone with some degree of accounting knowledge and analysis of financial statements could see that they've over spent and under sold productions for years. Like most regional companies, they make no effort to operate profitably, do nothing to reduce operating or production expenses or innovate to gain more sales - except to rely on hope and charity to balance budgets year after year.
I predicted their financial crises to local theater friends more than a year ago. Anyone paying any attention to their artificially keeping financially solvent the previous two years by leasing theater space to the now bankrupt ART company would have known the moment ART's term lease expired (or funds ran dry as they did) PCS was the next to come begging for public and private bailout.
And to be fair, what do you expect from a company managed by theater artists trained in acting and directing, but not educated in profitably managing a business? Anyone with a memory will recall that PCS carried tremendous debt that nearly shuttered them following Oregon Shakespeare Company's failure to make this Portland experiment profitable. (It was a financial failure.) The company was bailed out by the developers of the Brewery Blocks and with help of rich patrons and much well-managed fundraising. Of course, two years back, when theater professionals with no business training or experience decided they knew better how to manage as a board of directors, those well-placed patrons were coldly dumped from their directorial tasks and the funding fell off. (Come on, that wasn't the real reason - they took over so they could push expensive diversity training onto the company against the board's resistance to same.) Anyone who were to take a close look would see that PCS is managed by the artistic inmates of the asylum - few to none having serious for-profit business, finance or sales/marketing management training and experience. (ART is another of these locally precarious institutions. They managed to blow through millions in real estate sales income in no time.)
And, as for Marissa, as an artistic director (does anyone reading this article even know what the duties of the AD are?) has her degree in drama with graduate studies in stage directing. Naturally, that makes her an outstanding candidate to manage the business, financial and sales needs of a theater company that was near bankruptcy 3 months ago and currently operating on handouts. (Except she doesn't do that really - she has a: 1) a director of finance, 2) a general manager, 3) an accounting manager and 4) a staff accountant. to manage the business side of the company. That plus a staff of five on business development. And collectively they must be doing a swell job - to be bankrupt 3 months ago.
Yep, fluff is as fluff is wont to get. Too many uneducated reporters carry the lies forward to a completely uninformed public. But, see, that's the appalling standard we maintain - for the arts are exempt from critical scrutiny. Just don't act so damned surprised when the arts suffers from financial problems again and again and again and again..... Just get your checkbook ready and bail them out again.....ad naseum.