Center Theatre Group Blog

Deputy Development Director Patrick Owen toured London and the Edinburgh Festival with Michael Ritchie and CTG donors. This is the blog he shared from the road.

Interested in traveling with other theatre lovers? To learn more about our upcoming donor trip to New York, please e-mail Becky Birdsong at bbirdsong@CenterTheatreGroup.org.

Friday, August 14, 2009
So excited to be in London with Michael Ritchie and Center Theatre Group donors. We kicked off the tour with a wonderful welcome dinner in the wine cellar of an old hotel.  Matthew Bourne was our special guest and it was thrilling to hear Matthew and Michael talk about creating great theatre.  The rest of the itinerary looks amazing…it’s after midnight and I must get to bed.  Can’t believe I am here!!!

Saturday, August 15, 2009
Wow!  An entire day of great theatre in London, great meals and hanging out with some great people.  What could be better?!  CTG Board President Martin Massman took me to see a new production of Peter Pan.  They have constructed a special theatre in the round in a big top tent in Kensington Gardens and the production artistry was amazing.  They project on all sides of the tent so during the flying scenes it is like a virtual reality ride at a theme park.  My favorite was Tick Tock the Crocodile which was a very big puppet with two performers in it.  Much of it was open, articulated fretwork that you could see through and the giant head would reach out into the audience and roar at kids in the front rows.

That was followed by a lovely dinner with the entire tour group and the play War Horse. Once again, puppetry was front and center with these amazing life-size horses that come completely alive on stage and a touching story about family, war, horses and love.  No words I write can do it justice.  I hope it comes to CTG!  Theatre is dark in London on Sundays so tomorrow we go to Buckingham Palace for cocktails…Buckingham Palace!

August 16, 2009

The group spent most of the morning touring London on our own and a group of us walked over to the London Eye. We all loved it with its amazing views of all of London and the surrounding countryside. In the afternoon, we came together for a private tour of Buckingham Palace. This is a tour that the general public cannot take and our tour guide not only shared many inside secrets about Palace life, but he had a wicked sense of humor as well.  When the champagne ended, we all assumed we would leave by the side entrance -the same way we entered. Imagine our total shock when we walked through the front door and into the front courtyard to be faced with hundreds of tourists peering through the gates to get a glimpse of us! They all oohed and ahhed and took our photos thinking that we were real royalty and that gave us all a good laugh.

August 17, 2009

Today was another marvelous day beginning with a private meet-the-artist session with Tom Morris, Director of War Horse. It was great to get so much inside scoop on this amazing production and how it came about. This evening we saw the most over-the-top, in-your-face entertaining musical -Priscilla Queen of the Desert. We were on our feet from start to finish. Michael says he hopes that we can get it for the Ahmanson when it eventually goes on tour. It’s been a real privilege hanging out with Michael, his wife Kate, and their daughter, Charlotte.  Kate talked to us one night at dinner about her life and how the entire Burton-Ritchie family live a life in the theatre.  I am learning so much, making such great friends and having an amazing time!

August 18, 2009

The time is going by too fast!  I hated to leave London, but it is great here in Edinburgh.  The city is positively electric with the energy of the Festivals.  I had not been in my room more than 5 minutes when I experienced my first Fringe Festival event - an open double decker bus going by below my window with a Caribbean marimba band performing on top! And then this morning when I headed out for my morning jog I came across two Fringe events happening in cafes over coffee!  But, I am getting ahead of myself.  We had the most lovely train ride up here through the English countryside, and then we went to see the Gate Theatre’s production of Brian Friel’s Faith Healer.  It was quite an experience to see great actors performing the script of a great Irish playwright. 

August 19, 2009

The day started with a great tour of Edinburgh.  Yves, our Scottish tour guide was funny and informative.  But the main highlights of the day were the lunch and a concert in Usher Hall with Esa Pekka Salonen and Yefim Bronfman. 

It has been great having Judy and Tom Beckmen as the Tour Chairs because they have been to Edinburgh and the Festivals often and know what to do and see, and most importantly…where to eat!  They first discovered Martin Wishart’s restaurant many years ago before it was “Martin Wishart’s ” - one of Edinburgh’s top restaurants.  We went to its most recent incarnation in Leith, the port area of Edinburgh near where the Queen’s Royal Brittainia Yacht is moored.  What a meal!  It would take me hours to describe each tasty morsel we enjoyed or to expound upon the wine pairings, but suffice it to say it was a gourmand’s feast unparalleled!  Even the haggis was delicious - a tiny little haggis dumpling about the size of a malted milk ball covered in a breading - heaven, sheer heaven!  Everyone went off on their own for the afternoon and then we came back together for the concert with Salonen and Bronfman.  While Usher Hall looks totally different inside than Disney Hall it was interesting to note they share one thing in common - a big pipe organ at the back of the stage and seating on the stage around this organ and behind the orchestra.  The concert was spectacular and afterwards we visited Salonen and Bronfman backstage in the dressing rooms - thanks to Judy and Tom’s connections.

August 20, 2009

Today we had a private audience with Joyce McMillan.  To my mind she is a Scottish treasure - very involved in the political world, a writer for the Scotsman newspaper and a lover of the arts, particularly theatre.  She is an incredibly intelligent woman, and warm and witty and down-to-earth.  We learned so much from her about Edinburgh, Scottish and British politics and the Festivals.  June and Gary Hughes said they could think of nothing more delightful to do than to spend the day with her.  But the day just got better when we went to Carol Colburn Hogel’s lovely Georgian town home in the heart of Edinburgh for lunch.  A more warm and gracious host could not be found and she made us all feel so at home plus her Australian cook made an amazing lunch buffet.  From there we had some free time before gathering to see Catwalk Confidential in the Fringe Festival followed by The Tattoo.  But the real attraction of the evening was the “wearin’ of the kilts”.  Michael, Gary Hughes, Ken Kaplan, David Boyle, Eric Garen and I rented kilts and “kilted up” for the evening.  Charlotte Ritchie, Nancy Garen and June Hughes joined in the fun by the “wearin’ o’ the tartans”.  We all enjoyed the experience, and both Catwalk Confidential and the The Tattoo were great performances to see.  We have two days left and I can’t imagine that it can get any better!

August 21, 2009

Today we had exclusive meet-the-artists with 5 different creatives who are involved here at the Festival.  Many people went off and saw Fringe shows and we finished the day with the Royal Ballet of Flanders’s version of Ulysses.    Oh, and then an intrepid group went off to a late night jazz club.  Just a typical day with Michael Ritchie and CTG at the Edinburgh Festival!  Today we start with a drive into the country for scotch tasting and lunch on the River Esk.  Yes, scotch on our corn flakes!  Tonight is our final show, Faust by the Romanian National Theatre.  Everyone - everyone - we have talked to on this trip has said that this is the show to see at this year’s Festival, and one of the artists we met yesterday was the director so we are primed and ready for this 100 cast members, environmental theatre taking place in a wharehouse! 

August 23, 2009

I woke up and looked outside my window to rain-washed streets and a dark cloudy morning sky over Edinburgh on this our departure day.  I can’t believe the trip is over.  It all went so fast.  But that is what happens when you are having the time of your life.  Our final day yesterday was as amazing as all that had preceded it. 

We started with scotch tasting out in the country at the Glenkinchie Distillery.  Tons of fun as was the lunch that followed at the Glasshouse Restaurant, a converted mill, on the River Esk.  I had to wonder if they paid the man who was standing in the river fly fishing so us tourists could “ooh” and “aah” over the picture postcard-ness of it all.  Then in the evening we went to see the Romanian National Theatre’s version of Faust directed by Silviu Purcarete.  It was out by the airport in a large warehouse space and it was a huge vast spectacle.  I really can’t do it justice in print, but we were told it would be one of the highlights of the Festival and it was.  Just to give you a hint - at one point the set broke open to expose a sort of carnival set behind it and the audience got up and walked into this carnival which was a feast of sights and sounds and fireworks and men driving forklifts on which were suspended actors doing acrobatics…and that hardly does it justice - as Michael said, “I loved it!”  

Through a series of coincidences on the way back into town we had three women who were not part of the tour catch a ride with us.  As we dropped them off near their hotel, our tour guide realized that one of them was the concert pianist Elisabeth Leonskaja - only at the Edinburgh Festival can you pick up a hitchhiker who is a world-class musician!  We closed the tour with lively cocktails and a little late night nosh back at the hotel.  There was a warm, convivial atmosphere in the room and it was clear we had all gotten to like one another quite a bit.  Michael said a few words and I realized that what he said was so true - that what we would all remember most is the friendships we had made on this trip.  I can’t wait for the next one!!!

Patrick Varon is a Donor Advisor for Center Theatre Group’s Development Department.

My primary function for Center Theatre Group is that of a Donor Advisor.  Falling under the Development Department, I work with a talented and dedicated staff of fundraisers (actors, entertainers, filmmakers and even a kindergarten teacher!).  Our mission is to raise the money necessary to maintain the size and scope of CTG’s vital education and outreach programming.  Giving to CTG not only funds important programs, but it also entitles patrons to exciting theater benefits and exclusive donor privileges.

Naturally, in the face of today’s grim economic realities, asking for donations is no easy task.  A recent report from the Giving USA Foundation asserts that charitable giving fell last year by the largest percentage in five decades!  In spite of that fact, CTG audiences gave anyway.  Markets were down, pensions were cut and jobs were lost, yet our patrons gave. 

An opportunity arose for the production of ‘Oleanna‘ (Mark Taper Forum, June 6 - July 12).  As it turned out, director Doug Hughes’ assistant in New York was unable to come to Los Angeles for the remainder of rehearsals through opening night.  It was my time to give and without hesitation, I accepted.  Soon I found myself pulling double-duty assisting on a show while still raising money for the theatre.  What occurred to me was that the purpose of this show, like that of all our other shows, is to give our audiences a quality theatrical experience they desired. 

I look back and realize now that I stood in the middle of a transaction that few may ever see or experience firsthand.  I had actively participated in the sacred chain of symbiotic generosity within this theatre and its audience.  All were giving out of a spirit of goodwill and for the benefit of others.  Patrons gave to me because they believed in CTG, I gave to the show because I was inspired to contribute and the show gave back to the audience a fine theatrical experience.  We all believed in each other and we all believed in CTG.

Ana Rose O’Halloran is the Communications Coordinator for Center Theatre Group’s Development Department.

This past week, I cut off 14 inches of my hair for the second time in my life and donated it to Locks of Love. This non-profit organization uses donated hair to create wigs for children who suffer from medical hair loss because of alopecia or cancer. My parents have always taught me the importance of helping others and have donated to non-profits my whole life. They have instilled the importance of lifelong giving in me, which is why I donate my hair and make contributions every few months to my undergraduate university and a homeless/women’s shelter down the street from where I live. I think this is part of the reason why I love working in development at CTG so much. I am able to help raise money for something that I love - theatre. Donating my hair made me wonder what other people who raise money for a living choose to support when they make donations.

A few weeks ago, several CTG staff members held a very successful bake sale to raise money for National Multiple Sclerosis Society. I also conducted an informal survey amongst some of the Development staff and there seems to be several common causes that receive donations from them - alma maters, art organizations, health organizations, human rights organizations, and pet organizations (there are a lot of animal lovers in Devo). Most surprising to me, is that there were several people in our department who donate to CTG! Not only do they work long hours, but they reinvest part of their paycheck into the organization because they believe so strongly in our mission.

A few weeks ago, when I informed the department that I had been growing my hair out to donate it, my boss Liz said that if I wrote a blog about my donation she too would become a CTG donor. So, I am happy to report not only did I donate 14 inches of my hair to a child who needed it this week, but I also cultivated a new CTG donor.

Ashley Rumburg works in Development (Devo) as the Corporate Giving Coordinator at Center Theatre Group where she dwells everyday in the sexy world of non-profit fundraising. 

“Why on God’s green earth would you want to work for a non-profit theatre company?!?”

I promise you - this is the first thing that comes out of people’s mouths when they discover what I do for a living.  It is unfathomable to most why I would want to sacrifice my time, my paycheck and my career (in their opinions) for the greater good, the betterment of society or some other equivalent trite expression.  But to me, the answer is simple. 

Back in November, I experienced firsthand how important my work at CTG was when I volunteered to help with a Target Young Audiences Program event surrounding The School of Night.  The entire premise of these performances is to bring students in from underserved schools in the surrounding community and treat them to a free daytime performance and cast Q & A session.  When I arrived my colleagues were ready and raring to go. They explained to me how fulfilling it was to witness the students’ reactions to theatre. I graciously smiled and nodded as I tried to down as much coffee as possible before they started arriving.  It was only when the yellow school busses started pulling up to the curb that I began to see how much a trip to the theatre really impacted these kids.  Their relentless giggling and incessant chatter completely reinforced the idea that we were doing something good - something meaningful. 

After the play, I stuck around to watch the Q & A session with the cast, only to be utterly astounded by the depth of their questions.  By viewing this one play, these students were able to reveal and dissect certain elements of truth that I never understood in my 4+ years at university.  This one performance really affected the way they viewed their own lives, and made me realize the great work that we do at CTG.

It’s imperative that we continue to raise funds so we can provide arts education and vital creative outlets for other Los Angeles natives.  If I can help bring even a little joy to their lives, fulfill their basic needs by nourishing their minds and enable them to have a little fun, then my need has been fulfilled.

Photo caption: Students attend The School of Night during the Target Young Audiences Program. Photo by Kathryn Indeik.