ARTS ON UPSWING
The stage was set for an opportunity of a lifetime.
On opening night of the 1996 play “An Ideal Husband” at South Coast Repertory, Andy Johnson surprised his wife, Olivia, with a gift for her 50th birthday in front of an audience of 500,many of them family members secretly invited for the occasion.
The gift was extravagant, but it wasn’t a diamond bracelet or a tour of the world. An announcement was made before the show that Olivia Johnson would be the associate producer of the company’s next play, “Six Degrees of Separation.” Johnson had given $25,000 to the production in his wife’s name.
“It’s a great way to promote this type of giving,” said Olivia Johnson, who has been an SCR board member for some 19 years. “At this point in life, I don’t need anything. It’s a great way to give something that will please thousands and thousands of people.”
The Johnsons are not alone. With the theater’s 36th season in full swing, individual contributions of $15,000 to $25,000 to SCR are at the highest levels in the theater’s history, said Madeline Porter, assistant director of public relations.
“It has been building for a few years,” she said.
SCR gets about 27% of its $8 million annual budget from donations like the Johnsons’ and from grants. The bulk of its revenue, about 66%, comes from ticket sales and other operating income. The rest, about 7%, is generated by its endowment fund.
Some honorary producers are trustees or long-time subscribers, while others are new to the area and want to get involved with the arts.
Either way, these well-heeled local theater lovers say they are combining their love for the stage with philanthropy. Perhaps the generosity has do with the robust economy. As one honorary associate producer aptly put it: “You can’t give it if you don’t have it.”
Or maybe it has to do with being part of a process that’s not open to everyone.
What do they get in return for giving? Associate producers are invited to sit in on all aspects of the production, including casting sessions and rehearsals,everything except give creative input. The honorary producers also get to see their names in print, right underneath the director’s.
Olivia Johnson, who also was honorary associate producer of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play “Wit,” which debuted at SCR in 1995, gets a kick out of sitting in the back row and watching the creative process.
“To be a fly on the wall is very heady,” she said.
Not all of the honorary producers take advantage of backstage privileges.
Robert and La Dorna Eichenberg say it was never their intention to call attention to themselves when they gave to SCR. The Newport Beach couple, longtime supporters of SCR, underwrote their first production this season: “A Christmas Carol.” The couple gave $10,000 and got an honorary associate producer credit for the show. They started contributing to SCR productions because going to the theater is one of their favorite activities. They did admit, however, that it’s also fun to chat with the actors and be able to introduce them to guests on opening night.
There may be one more reason for the increase in giving. The idea that OC’s arts are taking a back seat to Los Angeles’ has motivated some local theatergoers to take out their checkbooks.
In the case of the nationally award-winning SCR, OC can boast an arts group more than capable of holding its own against any LA peers.
“SCR is such a worthwhile group,” Robert Eichenberg said. “LA sort of looks down on Orange County in what we do. But we’re catching up.”
If she and her husband underwrite another production, LaDorna Eichenberg said, she isn’t likely to attend rehearsals and readings. She prefers not to know everything about the plays she sees: “I like an element of surprise.” n
