Youth theater program will change, but shows will go on
MILPITAS » Though big changes are coming for the city’s longtime community youth theater company, the shows will continue.
The City Council voted Tuesday to significantly reduce the amount of days the city’s resident community theater contractor, Center Stage Performing Arts, can use the city’s community center auditorium for shows and rehearsals.
The council also authorized city staffers to take greater control over the program’s marketing and branding efforts and to collect a portion of ticket sales revenue for the city to keep, which currently it doesn’t. With input from the shows participants, a city committee also will become more involved in the selection of productions and directors to allow for a greater variety of types of shows. For instance, instead of mostly youth musicals, the shows would fea
ture cultural music performances and dance for all ages.
City staffers said the changes will let the city’s community center auditorium be rented out more days each year by nonprofits, residents and companies for events and parties and could boost city revenue by at least $20,000 annually.
Center Stage, between its shows and rehearsals, uses the community center auditorium about 195 days a year, and the city’s plans call for that to be reduced 80% to about 39 days a year.
Mayor Rich Tran said at the meeting Tuesday night that he is a big supporter of the shows that allow kids from as young as 4 years old up to young adults to “have the time of their lives” performing.
“At the same time, there’s a lot of people in Milpitas, residents and families, that need somewhere to go to for different occasions and birthdays, and quinceañeras,” he said. “Debuts for all the Filipinos out there.”
The council vote to support the changes was unanimous.
The decision comes just two months after Milpitas chose not to renew the fall production contract with Center Stage while city staffers evaluated the program, effectively canceling the upcoming production schedule — alarming dozens of young performers and their families.
However, the city in August partially reinstated the contract so this season’s show, “The Little Mermaid,” can go on, along with other performances at the city’s tree lighting and Veterans Appreciation Lunch.
Meanwhile, a small group of parents of performers met with city recreation services staff several times through August and September to hammer out the new changes to the program.
The theater program was started in 1982 as a city program, called Rainbow Theatre, with a mission “to provide a forum for youth to build self- esteem through positive theatrical experience, and to present quality, family- oriented entertainment for the community.”
The program was doing just that until 2012, city staffers said, when budget constraints after the recession forced the city to consider cutting the program altogether or find a different model.
The council at the time chose to save on expenses by making the program a contracted service, which the city partially supports with supplies and royalties, while the director runs the company privately, keeping all the ticket sales revenue and the vast majority of the fees paid by participants.
But during a meeting in April of this year, Councilwoman Carmen Montano suggested city staffers look into the city’s ability to rent out the auditorium to other people more often, instead of the theater program, which she called a “separate entity,” despite the direct city support it receives.
“We’ve heard from the community that … they have a hard time renting the community center because it’s always booked by (Center Stage),” she said.
“And I’m thinking, you know, why should we be doing that? They are a separate entity. It seems to me that the community should have first priority.”
With the new changes, the theater company’s rehearsals, auditions and other nonperformance gatherings will be moved to other city facilities such as dance studios, alternate rooms in the community center or the city’s sports center.
And most productions, which normally do five shows over two weekends, will be compressed to one weekend in most cases, though some shows still may get two weekends to put on the performances.
The costs to the city to support the program this year are budgeted at about $76,400 for paying the contractor, as well as funding royalties and supplies. There’s also about $72,000 worth of staff time put into overseeing the program.
City staffers said under the new model for the program, the costs to the city should stay about the same.
Center Stage’s current director, Mei-Wan Chai, declined to comment to this news organization about the changes after the council vote.
Natalie Bradford, 17, of San Jose has been performing with Center Stage for almost 10 years.
She called the changes in locations of practices, the tightened show schedules and other changes the city plans to institute “just another steppingstone that we have to get through” to keep the shows going.
“I’ve seen the ups and the downs, and we always pull through with whatever it is.”