East Central non-development

[billeyler]

Tonight on the way to pick up stuff for my closet-reorg project, I passed by my former workplace, the Hiland Theatre on East Central. Always causes a pang of loss.



Back in the mid-90s, we (www.musicaltheatresw.com) were all hot to buy our own theatre. We got a 'deal' from the about-to-die owner of the Hiland, and closed on it in early 1996. The theatre hadn't been vacant that long. Their last show was "Waterworld" in 1995. We were cash flush, and thought that we would just continue growing. The other venues we had looked at weren't quite as workable and we wanted to save a part of Route 66 history.

We thought this would be not only a revitalization of our community theatre, but also a kick in the butt for the area. We were excited about the move, and put our all into it.

We had problems from the very beginning with trying to renovate it enough to make side businesses want to make it a destination. Didn't happen. We spent nearly all the profits from selling our warehouse in the Heights on the bare essentials to move in. It was sucking the cash out 10 times faster than any of the board members (hah!) projected. The couple of businesses that tried to survive with us in the building folded so quickly you'd hardly know they were there, except that we had to fork out the moolah for renovating their space.

We moved into the offices in September 1997, and carried forth with the switch from shows at Popejoy Hall to the Hiland. Subscribers weren't happy. The neighborhood wasn't helping.

The market changed. The Standard Brands hardware store two blocks down almost immediately closed and a sex paraphernalia store moved in. The cash flow was negative...seriously negative. Our season subscribers started dropping like flies. We never were able to build a proper stage in the theatre with flys and such, so it was all crunched up in the front where the old screen was.

So by mid 2000, I knew that I'd have to be looking for another job. Amazingly I found a similar one, at of all places Popejoy Hall, where MTS used to perform for over 30 years. The former director (not my current boss) had created such a negative relationship between us and the venue that I blame her for being the impetus for the search for our own venue.

After I left, the crunch got even more serious, quite quickly. The ED was fired. The Costume Manager was fired. Board members started filling in to keep it going. Shows got tighter budgets and the audience continued to shrink.

By 2005, it was over. They lost the building, unable to make payroll or mortgage, even after several renegotiations. I watched from afar, losing touch with most everyone there. Never filing bankruptcy, they continue on just barely subsisting. They had one show this year, out at a casino 30 minutes east of town, West Side Story. Oh, my.

So from proudly being the largest community-based producer of musical theater in the country to falling back to an all-volunteer, barely-there ragtage group that people are quickly forgetting in 10 years is quite a blow to the city history. The founders in the early 1960s would be scandalized.

So, every time I pass the Hiland, where I used to change the marquee, weed the parking lot, made lots of friends, and of course functioned as the financial accountant for a dozen years in all, I sigh.

Comments

[billeyler.livejournal.com]

The county owns it now, and the bond issue that went through never specifically named the Hiland, so the funds can be used for anything. A lot of people are disappointed.

I've heard a few plans, since there are people in the city/county that want to preserve that part of history, but others want to raze all those blocks and just build loft environments. Who knows!

Your neighborhood is about to be put askew for awhile with that major water/pipe digout!

[jimwnyc.livejournal.com]

I feel the same way everytime I am home and drive by. I did shows and left town before they moved to the highland and changed from ACLOA to MTS (or as friends in ABQ call it, WTF?). ACLOA was my theatrical home...where I experienced not only the joy of performing on stage, but the real friendships and connection one gets doing a show and building a family in rehearsals. Godspell is still one of the most amazing experiences of my life.

Over the last number of years, I've been to shows when I was in town and it just never seemed the same. I always felt that the organization lost heart and that is when it lost everything.

I heard a rumor that someone has tried to start a new theatre company, calling it ACLOA. Not sure if it is legit or not, but the city needs something.

SIGH!!!

[billeyler.livejournal.com]

Someone DID start a new 'theatre' company called ACLOA, since the name wasn't trademarked. It was a guy that had started a couple of comedy clubs that failed. I think his attempt failed too...he had one show a year or so ago that was a kid's show, at the ABQ Museum in Old Town. Haven't heard a peep since.

I'm a bit stunned I don't remember you at all. I worked with ACLOA starting as a temp in November 1988, then became part of it from Feb 1989 on. I thought I knew most of the actors at least by name!

[jimwnyc.livejournal.com]

I remember you, or at least your name, from the office. I think we may have met at Tim/Larry's one time when they lived out on the West side at the nursery.

I only did 4 shows in 1992-1993 (King and I (with Mike and Laurie, I actually introduced them at auditions!), Grease, Godspell, and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Was pretty good friends with Russ Green.

[bearfuz.livejournal.com]

Thank you for sharing this. Your account suddenly brought to mind my memories of working at the Sundance Theatre near Provo for several years -- and the tragedy of its decline some time after I left the area. Of course, it couldn't have run forever the way it had, with a run-down outdoor stage that leaked rain into the dressing rooms underneath, inadequate restroom facilities for cast and audience, and other problems (some of them administrative) that we used to laugh at as being part of the "charm" of the place. But when someone came in and rebuilt the stage, removing the orchestra pit entirely and overbuilding the stage so that the environmental backdrop (trees, sky, mountains) was eliminated, the result was completely charmless. I'm not even sure whether the place is running any more -- I think it died a feeble death at the hands of well-meaning bureaucratic organizers.

Not sure whether all this is indicative of negative economic trends, or merely the playing out of inevitable cycles of death and rebirth. I hope it's the latter. Perhaps young edgy grassroots theatre companies will rise like phoenixes from the ashes of the ACLOAs and Sundances.

[billeyler.livejournal.com]

I am truly hoping it's the latter.

We admin types aren't the core of the activity. The lifeblood comes from the actors that become the movers and shakers.

[billeyler.livejournal.com]

AND the musicians...altho this hasn't been the case here.