Opinion

LIGHTNING EDITORIAL: Five steps to save the Playhouse

By Bill Moss, Published: November 28, 2012

Five steps Flat Rock Playhouse supporters should take to save the Playhouse:

• Drop the spin. When they allow their opponents to define the debate, Playhouse supporters lose. They are not asking at this point for an investment, a gift, a show of support, an economic development appropriation. Money from the public may be all those things but at this point what the Playhouse needs above all is a bailout. Call it something else and you just play into the hands of the opponents, who have a way of dominating the floor anyway. Here is the script: "We've made mistakes. We've spent too much money. We're doing better and we have a plan to do better still. But to stay alive we need a bailout."
• Bring in a manager. The Playhouse board has to bring in a strong financial manager to get a handle on the balance sheet, especially the spending side. This leader must have authority to sign checks. There are at least a handful of good candidates who may be willing to devote a year of their retirement to this critical service to their community and their state and to theater and youth education. The asterisk is the pay rate. It's zero.
• Appeal to the state of North Carolina. The Hendersonville City Council has done all it can do. County commissioners are doing to the Playhouse what they tried to do to Pardee Hospital and to the school system: talking down the quality and questioning the motives of people who are doing everything they can to deliver a top-quality product in a challenging environment. Now, instead of talking up the Playhouse and encouraging the public to support the theater with donations and ticket purchases, commissioners are stoking the hysterical anti-Playhouse echo chamber and helping to damage its reputation when it most needs community support. This county commission is proving again that it's pro-business talking and anti-business acting. No pro-business body would seriously consider pulling the financial rug out from under a $10 million-a-year economic engine as it's trying to avoid collapse. Yet our commissioners (except Michael Edney) can't race to the Courthouse fast enough to do just that. Forget them. Flat Rock Playhouse is the State Theatre of North Carolina. Yes, there are a lot of demands on our new governor and the Legislature. But here's a chance to make a stand for the arts, for tourism and for job retention. Let them make up for 150 years of neglect of the N.C. mountains with a $1 million donation to save the Playhouse.
• Make a donation. The bigger the better. If anyone reading this has a spare $100,000, make a donation to save the Playhouse. Give what you can. The Vagabonds have launched a delightful and inspirational effort on Facebook to save the place that gave them their start. If you don't believe in the Spirit of the Rock and its power to change lives, check it out.
• Go see Chase Brock's "The Nutcracker." A Broadway star in dance choreography, Brock got his start in the YouTheatre. This version of the Christmas classic is not just a love letter to his hometown; it could be part of the revenue mix that saves the Playhouse.