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Show "pages; seeks better stage, may move to mew theater . BABBARACHRISTIANSEN Veneedfor greater ticket sales A, Utah Pageant of the Arts ri Uingfor a new auditonum and .vine for financial help from gan Fork City- And Pgeant fficials are con" ' .idering an offer to move the pag- jtto a Salt Lake theater to help ( jve the Pageant's financial woes, Jthough Pageant Board members toe not expressed an official posi-S posi-S tion about moving the "living pieces' pie-ces' production. In fact, Betty Brady, chairman ft f the board, recently sent a letter 7 n the American Fork City Council questing a donation of $20,000. f It is becoming virtually impos-ijile impos-ijile to balance the budget with jjtket sales alone," Mrs. Brady did. The request will be discussed by the city council at its July 12 meeting meet-ing Mayor Kent Evans expressed dismay at hearing a request from the Pageant for a donation at the Hue time thePageantis threatening threaten-ing to move. 1 feel as though we have not ten treated fairly and honestly by lome of the members of the board," the mayor said. But in an interview following the city council meeting, Pageant producer and director, David Brockbank, said it's not the community, com-munity, but available facilities that have the Pageant considering other options for the coming year. 1 feel like I need a better facility. facil-ity. The high school does not meet our needs Brockbank said. "I think people are tired of coming to i high school facility." Brockbank points out that the bigh school is not adequate in sev-jtl sev-jtl areas. For example, the rooms adja- tent to the stage are not air condi tioned and during the recent heat, participants have been getting sick every night, according to Brockbank. Brock-bank. The stage is small, Pageant personnel are required to bring in special draperies and curtains, portable dressing rooms, partitions, parti-tions, and portable showers. The high school owns only five lighting instruments, Brockbank points out. Pageant personnel augment that number with 56 of their own. Those lights are loaned "It is becoming virtually vir-tually impossible to balance the budget with ticket sales alone" -Betty Brady to the American Fork High School during the school year. But because that "donation" benefits one school only, the Alpine School District is unable to give any credit to the pageant for the lights the Pageant has installed. Another concern to the Pageant, according to Brockbank, is an apparent ap-parent change in the level of support sup-port from the school district for the pageant. Prior to 1987, the school district did not charge the Pageant for rental of the high school, in consideration consid-eration for the Pageant installing air conditioning in the auditorium. The Pageant did, however, pay approximately $2000 in custodial fees. That amount jumped to $15,000 last year. And this year the school district threatened to lock the Pageant out of the high school until an outstanding debt was paid. American Fork City also negotiated negoti-ated that difference, guaranteeing payment of the debt if the Pageant couldn't. But Brockbank says the high school auditorium is becoming too costly, when the Pageant could pay the same amount for a better equipped facility. One theater being investigated is in the Salt Lake area. It has 200 seats more than the high school auditorium. He feels that the facility facil-ity could be a much-needed financial finan-cial boon to the Pageant - increasing increas-ing the ticket income by as much as $80,000 for one season. He noted the Pageant would have to pay more for rent, but they would get many more amenities for their money. With 600 lighting instruments available on-site, six main curtains, cur-tains, and adequate dressing and makeup room facilities, production would become much easier. He said he didn't think Pageant attendance would suffer, since most of the Pageant patrons come from Salt Lake City and areas to the north. Another concern, however, is the use of volunteers. The Pageant relies completely on volunteer talent tal-ent on-stage, and uses mostly volunteer vol-unteer labor behind the scenes to create the Pageant's unique form of art. Currently, one-fifth of the volunteer vol-unteer cast members come from outside Utah County.the Arts. To Brockbank, a concern as large as getting enough cast members mem-bers to produce the show is maintaining main-taining enough well-trained technical tech-nical personnel to ensure safe production pro-duction procedures are followed. He said this is hard to do with an inadequate facility. "There is a tremendous burnout problem," he said. - Brockbank is suggesting that American Fork City build a theatre to be available for the Pageant of the Arts and occupied throughout the year for a variety of community uses. "I have always felt that this was a better place to do the production than any other in the state," he said. "But we have got to survive first." Survival of the Utah Pageant of the Arts is the main issue, but American Fork city will approach the problem with a solution that will keep the Pageant in American Fork. Mayor Evans pledged to do everything eve-rything in his power to see the Pageant stay in American Fork. "American Fork City is suppor- "American Fork City is supportive in every sense of the word of the Pageant's program. -Mayor Kent Evans tivein every sense of the word of the Pageant's program and the personnel person-nel in the Pageant," he said. Evans pointed out that American Ameri-can Fork City, using limited resources, re-sources, purchased the old junior high property the Pageant nov calls home, cleaned it up, offered it to the Pageant with a favorable lease, and even mows the lawn for the Pageant. "American Fork City is not responsible re-sponsible for the downfall of the Pageant," Evans said. City officials are considering asking that a business manager be appointed to oversee the monetary side of the Pageant.. |