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The Opera Company of Philadelphia
Production
Department Website
March 1996
The Opera Company of Philadelphia was nearly $750,000 in debt in 1990,
and labor costs were a large and growing part of the operating expenses
of the company. Robert B. Driver was brought in as the new general director,
with the charge to bring the company back into the black. He brought in
Boyd Ostroff as director of production to help run the technical departments
more efficiently. Part of the "technical reform" instituted by
Ostroff was the creation of a production center, the Opera Company's own
scene shop, as a way to supply scenery more efficiently -- with the added
benefit of providing stable employment for IATSE carpenters.
"Really, the technical challenge is the schedule," explains Ostroff.
"We're working at the Academy of Music. The Philadelphia Orchestra
is either perfoming or rehearsing in the building just about every day,
so whenever we're in there we have to strike everything and restore it."
A typical changeover for the Opera Company begins at 4pm, after the orchestra's
rehearsal. The crew has four hours to strike the orchestra shell and install
the scenery for the evening's opera -- with a dinner break.
"Over the years, most of the productions were rentals," says Ostroff,
"and often they were not real well suited to the limitations of the
Academy." The Academy was built in 1857, and was considered a model
theatre for its time. However, it is a hemp house, built for handling lightweight
drops, with a stage floor raked 3/8" to the foot, and very little wing
space -- which must store the orchestra shell as well as the dimmer racks
and scenery. The fly space is also cramped by the pieces of the orchestra
shell, which prohibit flying any scenery in four three foot wide bands running
across the stage. The Academy of Music is a charming house, with a horseshoe-shaped
auditorium, but modern three-dimensional scenery suitable for most opera
houses simply does not strike, store, and set up quickly in such a small
stage space.
The difficulties of setting up and striking a set every day -- particularly
a set not really built for the space -- lead to high labor costs. "We're
working at the Academy of Music, so when we're there we're working under
their labor contract," explains Ostroff. "They pay the crew and
then they bill us. Essentially there's 12 people on the house crew there,
and then through negotiation we end up with 28 IATSE crew members. In addition
to that, there are five department heads, so every hour we're in there is
quite expensive." The crew costs at the Academy were $425,610 for the
1992/93 season, and the 1993/94 costs were projected to be $567,332.
The situation was made worse by "a them-versus-us thing with the previous
management," says Ostroff. "They would say, "I want this
set because I like the way it looks, and I don't care what the problems
are. Just make it work." Eventually the tech people felt that no one
was listening to what they said. They felt out of the loop. Then, of course,
when it [the set] didn't work and it got expensive, then they [the management]
would complain that it was costing them too much. So the crew felt they
were in a no-win situation."
"One of the things I did initially was just sit down and let everyone
talk, let them get in all their bitches," says Ostroff. "A lot
of the complaints were valid, and some I didn't agree with. Now I think
they [the crew] know that someone will listen. Also a lot more appreciation
is being shown by management for the technical area and its contribution
to the finshed product."
A major part of bringing the technical production costs under control was
the establishment of the production center, a place to build scenery specifically
designed to load in and store in the Academy quickly. The production center
is not a big fancy shop, however. In fact, it has been in a different space
for each of the last two seasons. The first year the company had a space
loaned by real estate firm Trammel Crow. "They have a very nice little
space across the river in New Jersey, 13,000 square feet. Of course, they
found a paying customer, and that's when we moved into the space we are
now leaving," says Ostroff. "The past year we have been in a 50,000-sq.-ft.
vacant building right downtown, but we were unable to get a long-term lease
because of various other plans they had for the building."
The production center is moving into a 14,000 sq.-ft. space near Interstate
95 called The Arsenal Business Center, which was a Civil War-era Army arsenal.
The Army gave it up in the early 80's, and it has been developed into a
business park. "It's in an interesting historic area on the Delaware
River. It's about 80 acres, right in town here, but very well kept since
it was an army facility and literally behind big stone walls," says
Ostroff. "We're right in the middle of the complex." The Opera
Company has a four-year lease on the space, and an option to rent 5-6,000
sq. ft. of storage space in the same complex.
The I-95 access should help another part of the plan to put the Opera Company
in the black: renting scenery to other companies. Two sets owned by the
Opera Company -- Carmen and The Magic Flute -- are close to
having paid for themselves in rentals. During the last two years, Opera
Company scenery has been seen in Montréal, Palm Beach, Hawaii, Kentucky
and Grand Rapids. The move to the new shop and the rentals have been orchestrated
"so we have several rentals out now that went out of our old place
and will come in to our new, so there are a few less things to move that
way," says Ostroff.
"We haven't gotten into setting up a lot of permanent equipment,"
says Ostroff. "We've know that we were not going to stay anywhere,
so we have just a minimum complement of shop equipment and everyone's personal
hand and power tools and things. When we started out it was great, like
when all the little boys get together to play, they all bring their favorite
toy. Everybody has their road box with their stuff. We just sort of make
do as we go.
"The thing that's made it work has been the attitude and the enthusiasm
of our crew," Ostroff continues. "They have just been incredible.
I would single out, especially, John Callahan, who is our technical director.
He has been around this town for years. He knows all the ins and outs. He
is a former president of the union [IATSE Local 8]. He latched on to this
idea right away and has been behind us all the way, and has really gotten
people excited about it. Everybody has just had the idea that we're going
to make this work, regardless of the hardships, because we think it's going
to be great for everyone in the long term."
"We've brought some people into the shop and then have them be able
to be added on to the crew calls in the Academy," says Ostroff. "Again,
John Callahan has been great in finding good people for us and pushing to
get them into the union. When we've built the show and it comes in [to the
Academy], it's treated totally differently. 'Be careful with that!' It's
their baby."
The Opera Company has seen major reduction in crew costs at the Academy.
"In the six digits, actually," says Ostroff. But no one is complaining
about the fewer hours. "They are delighted that their suggestions have
been taken, and that things are working well for us. Plus, they know that
we're creating a more permanent situation in the shop that will lead, in
the long run, to more employment.
KARL G. RULING
Copyright 1996, Theatre Crafts International (TCI)
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The Opera Company of Philadelphia
Production
Department Website