Honolulu Theatre for Youth turns 50
By Zenaida Serrano
Advertiser Staff Writer
As the popular children's fairy tale goes, young Jack started on the ground floor, but grew a beanstalk that led to the height of adventure.
In the '0' clockwise: "Song for the Navigator" (1985-86 and 1986-87); "Green Eggs and Ham" (2003-04); "Snow Woman" in "Wondrous Tales of Old Japan" (2001-02); and "Dis/Troy" (2003-04). Honolulu Theatre for Youth photos
How appropriate that decades ago, Honolulu Theatre for Youth founder Nancy Corbett would present this particular story as a play to Honolulu audiences. That historic production would lead to the creation of the drama company, which, much like Jack, has seen its share of awesome highs and devastating lows — though not necessarily in a progression from rags to riches.
In the '5' from top to bottom: Pictured are actors from Honolulu Theatre for Youth shows: "Amazing Adventures of the Marvelous Monkey King" (2002-03 season); "Maui The Trickster" (1974-75); and "Young Jefferson" (1964-65).
Financial stability has been HTY's biggest challenge — a plight common among the state's arts and culture organizations — yet HTY has persevered long enough to celebrate its 50th anniversary this year.
"In spite of all (the problems), if we were in trouble in one way or the other, we were always intent on getting the play done and doing it well," said Jane Campbell, who held HTY's top management position for 25 consecutive years before stepping down in 2002.
For 50 years, the nonprofit organization has brought professional theater and drama education to the children of Hawai'i. The organization staffs about 25 professionals who teach and perform shows for 100,000 children statewide.
"It's one of the longest continuous running professional theaters in the country, and it's been honored throughout that time for achievements in theater and drama education," said Louise King Lanzilotti, HTY's managing director.
Financial woes, goals
But the accomplishments have not come without struggles. With a budget of about 1.3 million this year, HTY is in constant search of income, as it is every year.
"I wish I had an answer to the financial problem," said Campbell, who has been with HTY for 44 years and now works with the organization as a consultant on grants and development.
About 64 percent of the money goes to staff salaries; 15 percent to administration expenses; 10 percent to production costs; 5 percent each to fees and building rental; and 2 percent to drama education.
"Approximately half our income this year is going to be earned income ... and then the rest we have to raise," King Lanzilotti said. "For us and most nonprofits, that's a big issue, because although you can grow endowments and do a lot of things to be very stable, you still have to depend somewhat on the kindness of others."
HTY's income breakdown includes about 24 percent from foundations; 10 percent from federal, state and city grants; 7 percent each from fund-raisers and individual donations; and 3 percent from corporate donations.
Among the financial goals of HTY is to increase individual and corporate support, as well as grow its endowment and cash reserve.
"We have a cash reserve for the first time in our history, thanks to our generous donation from last year," King Lanzilotti said. A single $500,000 donation in December eliminated HTY's debt and allowed the organization to set up a $200,000 reserve.
"The best idea for nonprofits is to have about three months worth of cash reserves," King Lanzilotti said. "For us, that's not three months (worth) yet, but it still is way better than not having anything, so it's great."
Finding a permanent home has been another major hurdle.
For now, HTY is headquartered near Honolulu International Airport in a 10,000-square-foot warehouse that houses offices, a rehearsal space, and costume and building shops. But HTY's landlord plans to rent the building out to another tenant, King Lanzilotti said: "We need to move as soon as possible."
The ideal space would measure 20,000 to 40,000 square feet, big enough to include HTY's own theater building.
"For our major shows, we perform in at least five or six different sites every year," said King Lanzilotti. "We need a permanent space partly just so people will know us better, but partly because it's a lot easier to function if you have one space."
Advertiser library photo
Locations in the Kaka'ako and downtown Honolulu areas have been considered.
Instead of acting, the cast and director played games to rehearse "Story Theater" in 1973.
Campbell recalls: "I remember when Nancy Corbett left and had passed the job on to me the first time in 1966, and she said, 'Well, we shall hope that now the Theatre will come to fruition when you're the managing director,' and of course, it didn't."
But rather than dwelling in their burdens, those involved with HTY are looking ahead.
When the season opens Sept. 11 with "The Kona-Town Musicians," HTY will welcome its 5 millionth audience member. Increasing public attendance is the priority at HTY, and recent numbers are showing promise. In the 2001-02 season, about 6,000 attended their public performances. The numbers more than doubled to 15,000 last season.
King Lanzilotti attributes the growth to joint productions with organizations like the Honolulu Symphony, Hawaii Opera Theatre, the Honolulu Academy of Arts and Kumu Kahua Theatre.
"It's not new, but our goal this year is to increase partnerships," she said.
HTY also is launching another education department program this month. The Teen Acting Company, a formation of HTY's youth theater programs, will focus on developing the acting skills of 13- to 18-year olds.
HTY's next generation shows promise in bringing fresh talent to productions.
Local actor BullDog, 30, began a relationship with HTY as a 21-year-old up-and-comer, and at 25, he became a paid company actor. Now the newly-promoted artistic associate will be directing two productions this season and performing in three.
"Working with (artistic director) Mark Lutwak has given me a whole bunch of tools as an actor to put in my pocket, like how to be comfortable performing by myself in front of over a thousand children," he said.
In addition to growing professionally, HTY also has helped BullDog personally.
"I've had a steady salary for five years now ... and doing what I love has also helped me to buy a home," said BullDog, who was on the phone while standing among unpacked boxes in a house he and his wife purchased in June.
For such reasons, BullDog hopes to maintain a long-running relationship with the company.
"HTY has got a really special place in my heart. Even if I were to obtain Tom Cruise level, I'd still be involved with the theatre," he said, laughing.
The search is on
Another HTY goal is to find a replacement for Lutwak, artistic director for six years, when his contract ends in May 2005.
Although Lutwak may not have the final say in the selection of the new director, he said HTY higher-ups should be looking for applicants with high aesthetic standards and skills, and the willingness to bring such skills to the organization's programs.
King Lanzilotti
Campbell
Kelin
"One of the things that's been terrific under the leadership of Mark Lutwak is he's done an incredible job of developing local playwrights," said Tony Pisculli, president of the HTY board of trustees. Among them: Lee Cataluna, Yokanaan Kearns, Diane Aoki, Susan Lee St. John and Gary Pak.
When Lutwak joined the HTY team, he began commissioning new plays and holding play-writing workshops and classes, most led by his wife, playwright Y York — all in an effort to discover writers.
"My top priority has been trying to build and support the already existing community of local playwrights, who are interested and capable to write for young people," Lutwak said.
Committed to our keiki
The new works of such talent are what HTY can promise its future audiences. "That's a big deal because children's theater is a growing field and it needs new work, and also the local audience needs work that speaks to itself," King Lanzilotti said.
Of the seven productions this season, four are premieres: "The Kona-Town Musicians," "Nothing is the Same," each tale in "Christmas Talk Story 2004" and "Queen of Makaha, Rell Sunn."
Whatever the play or project — from Hawaiian myths to contemporary issues — for half a century HTY has brought to it determination, constantly raising the bar to make sure Hawai'i's children are challenged with work that speaks to them of their concerns, histories and cultures, Lutwak said.
"I think there's an incredible appetite for the plays, especially among the kids, and that's been the bulk of the HTY focus for most of the time," Pisculli said. "They're great stories, they're great plays and it's a treat (for families) to see live theater."
Reach Zenaida Serrano at zserrano@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-8174.
• • •
HTY timeline
• 1955: "Jack and the Beanstalk," sponsored by the Honolulu Department of Parks and Recreation and produced by a citizens' committee headed by Nancy Corbett, plays to 1,700 people at (the former) Farrington Hall on the University of Hawai'i-Manoa campus.
• 1959: Honolulu Theatre for Youth is incorporated as a nonprofit educational and cultural corporation under the laws of the Territory of Hawai'i.
• 1959-60: A full season of plays is presented at Island schools, in a cooperative arrangement with the Department of Public Instruction (now the state Department of Education). School children and teachers pay 25 cents to attend. Weekend performances are offered to the public.
• 1960-61: The Hawai'i State Legislature appropriates $600,000 for construction of a theater building on public land for use by the new Honolulu Theatre for Youth, the first of many legislative appropriations for an HTY building that never get beyond the Capitol walls.
• 1962-63: HTY tours a second version of "Jack and the Beanstalk" to Maui, its first Neighbor Island presentation.
• 1964-65: Bette Midler, theater student at the University of Hawai'i, plays the friend of a young president-to-be in the musical, "Young Jefferson."
• 1965-66: HTY inaugurates statewide programming with a five-island tour of "The Pied Piper of Hamelin."
Founder and executive director Nancy Corbett retires in June and is made life trustee. Administration and production staffs are established with eight full- and part-time employees, headed by Jane Fisher (later Jane Campbell), publicist and administrative aide since 1960, as executive and public relations director.
• 1970-71: Jane Fisher Campbell steps down to focus on public and government relations. Joyce Chumbley, University of Hawai'i doctoral graduate in theatre, becomes managing director briefly.
• 1971-72: Jack and Marie Lord inaugurate HTY's first membership drive.
• 1977-78: Jane Campbell becomes managing director, succeeding Lorraine Dove. HTY plays on the national stage for the first time, presenting Wallace Chappell's "Tales of the Pacific" in Chicago.
• 1982-83: Guest director Ron Nakahara directs his original "Chicken Skin," which sets audience records in Honolulu.
• 1987-88: Daniel A. Kelin, II takes the helm of HTY's drama education programming and begins to steer it to national recognition. The Pacific Young Playwrights program for teen writers starts, followed by the first TheatreFest showcase of young writers' work, programs that will, over the next 17 years, launch numerous teen writers into college writing programs and national publication and production.
• 1991-92: Daniel A. Kelin, II, begins the drama work in the Marshall Islands that establishes a long-running partnership of HTY and the Republic of the Marshall Islands.
• 1995-96: Peter C. Brosius of Los Angeles, for 10 years artistic director of Playing for Los Angeles Youth at the Mark Taper Forum, becomes HTY artistic director for two seasons. Crisis arrives in the form of a 55 percent cut in state support as a result of a state budget shortfall.
• 1996-97: With Brosius' move to the Children's Theatre Company of Minneapolis, HTY embarks upon a two-year period of guest-directed productions while evaluating needs and conducting a national artistic director search. Jane Campbell is named producing director.
• 1998-99: HTY starts a holiday tradition with " 'Twas the Night," devised and directed by Daniel A. Kelin, II, that morphs into the "Christmas Talk Story" series.
• 1999-2000: Mark Lutwak of Seattle accepts the artistic director position and with Y York, his wife, begins a concentrated focus on developing work by local writers.
HTY adopts a new management structure, installing artistic, administrative and drama education directors. HTY's leaders are Lutwak, producing director Campbell, and Daniel A. Kelin II, director of drama education.
• 2000-01: A three-week public school teachers' strike and the resulting audience loss leads to HTY's most serious financial crisis to date, with temporary staff layoffs and salary cuts. Y York becomes HTY's first-ever playwright-in-residence by means of a Pew Charitable Trust grant.
• 2001-02: At season's end, Jane Campbell steps down after 25 years in the top management position and is succeeded by Louise King Lanzilotti, an artist, educator and arts advocate. Campbell begins her 43rd HTY year as consultant on grants and development.
• 2003-04: Amid continuing financial concerns, managing director Lanzilotti opens an envelope given to her at the HTY office just before Christmas to find a check made payable to HTY for $500,000. The donor asks to be anonymous.
Source: Honolulu Theatre for Youth
| • | Honolulu Theatre
for Youth www.htyweb.org 839-9885 or toll-free on Neighbor Islands (866) 234-3956 inside HTY 2004-05 season schedule | D7 HTY time line | D5 |
 |
|
