Before Producing Artistic Director Andrew D. Harris took over this role at StageOne Family Theatre in 2020, he was the longtime Education Director and Associate Artistic Director. Before that, Harris was a self-admitted “self-righteous, hormone-infused” teenager that argued with his mother over math. Harris believed since he was going into a theater career, he wouldn’t need math.
Since taking over the producing artistic director role in 2020, much of his job has been working on budgets, spreadsheets and funding, all, of course, involving math. That led Harris to calling his mother.
“I said ‘Mom, I need to apologize.’ “ Harris said. “I said, ‘Many, many years ago I told you I was going into theatre, and I didn’t need math. I was wrong. I wanted to apologize for your hormonal teenage son. She just laughed.”
Harris has since taken on the challenge, much like StageOne is doing with recent challenges of its own, both unique to the times and to itself. StageOne, like other theater companies, is still recovering from the pandemic while also charting a course forward. All while trying to balance business and art.
“It’s easy to forget that arts organizations are still businesses and we still have to run like a business,” Harris said. “The challenge is making sure one side doesn’t dominate over the other. The business can’t exist without the art, and the art can’t exist without the business.”
Being a 501(c) (3) non-profit, StageOne continually relies on a variety of funding resources, including camp fees, ticket sale revenue from its public shows, student matinees, and Storytellers shows, funds from Fund for the Arts and other grants, donations and sponsorships.
Despite the multiple sources of revenue, Harris said, “Those take a lot of work and cultivation, and everybody’s doing it. Everybody needs it. We’re at a time where, while it’s improving, national audiences still haven’t returned to pre-COVID attendance. That’s not just Louisville, that’s nationwide.”
Also, Harris said the unsettled economic climate, including major businesses leaving Louisville, has led to an impact on fundraising and individual contributions.
The theater company, however, has been finding its way forward, focusing on its mission, which Harris said is to “create experiences for young people and families,” and keeping as much of the old revenue sources as possible while also bringing in new ones.
One way was the relatively recent introduction of touring productions for schools that, because of teacher, bus driver and/or funding shortages, couldn’t get to the Bomhard Theatre inside Kentucky Performing Arts for student matinees.
“We are in service to the totality of the community,” Harris said. “We took it upon ourselves to say if they can’t come to us, how do we adapt our model?” Harris said. “How do we create a model that artistically meets our standards that we put forth and, financially, is viable, makes sense and can function for us?”
StageOne’s touring production of Pete the Cat is set to happen at participating schools this fall. The theater’s website contains information on how to book a show.
For those that can get to the Bomhard Theatre, student matinees and public shows, both also a part of Stage One’s revenue-earning strategy, will be plentiful. StageOne will feature The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical and Elephant and Piggie’s We Are In a Play as part of its 2025-26 season.
More information on student matinee and public show tickets can be found at the StageOne website.
Auditions for the mainstage shows could be a difficult challenge in and of itself. However, Harris said StageOne’s process included making the prospective actors feel as comfortable as possible.
“I want you to be successful,” Harris said. “Sometimes an actor, whether it’s a young person in their first audition or people with Broadway experience, can mess up in an audition. In some theatres, that’s it. You’re done. Not in ours. Would you like to start over? Take a moment. Let me help you through this. You are offering your time and talent and willing to put yourself in this position to showcase it for us. It would be irresponsible of me, how dare me if I don’t reciprocate in that space.”
For the ones that make it into the shows, Harris makes sure they understand the why in what they’re doing on stage.
“You have an opportunity to change a life, and if you don’t take that seriously, I mean with the utmost reverence, then why are you doing this?” Harris said.
Besides the mainstage shows, sensory-friendly versions are also to take place. With this style of show, not every ticket is sold, allowing for those with sensory issues to move around if needed. The house lights do not go all the way out. A quiet room is available for those that need more distance but still want to see the show. Spaces are also available outside of the theatre for those that need it. Vocalization is also allowed. Additional modifications may be made depending on the individual show.
“We’ve had a lot of great feedback from it,” Harris said. “Certain people I see at every show, and it’s become a big part of their experience because they know they can be there and feel welcome.”
While moving forward on several fronts with shows and revenue sources, StageOne recently completed year one of a merger with the former Commonwealth Theatre Center, now the Walden Conservatory. Like plenty of mergers big and small, in some aspects the merger of the two theater groups has been relatively easy, especially on the education front.
“There was some overlap in the education outreach programming,” Harris said. “Those were easy to combine. We’re all doing the same thing there. It was just a matter of making some adjustments.”
However, Harris said the challenge with the merger was the merging of cultures and business practices.
“You have different business functions, insurances, fees, banks and operating procedures,” Harris said. “You’re also merging staff cultures and trying to integrate those so there’s not a ‘my side and your side,’ there’s just our side. That takes time.”
More than one year after the merger, Harris said lessons are still being learned.
“I refer to this first year as an integration year,” Harris said. “This is the first year to see how it works and ask what are the adjustments that we need to make to help make it more successful moving forward? You’re not looking at taking the Commonwealth Theatre side of the organization and they have to adapt to the StageOne side. We’re taking the totality of both sides and merging them together.”
Walden Conservatory offers classes year-round for students of all ages and experience. Class information can be found at StageOne.org
Written by Brian Kennedy
