Massachusetts Destroys Community Theaters

Toss in a few $$$, and Beacon Hill convinced itself adequate steps had been taken to assure the future of local theaters.

Proliferation of casinos will impact stability of community theaters like The Z
By Steve Decosta
April 08, 2012

the day the music died

Larry Bonoff tells a cautionary tale.

Bonoff was general manager of the Warwick Musical Theatre while it was beaten into submission by the two Connecticut casinos in the 1990s.

"As my father said, in 1992 you died, you just didn't know it," Bonoff said.

The theater held out until 1999, desperately fighting a losing battle.

"Casino resort entertainment drove my theater out of business," he said. "I fear that other established performing arts centers in Massachusetts will be similarly crippled by destination casinos.

"It is impossible for local theaters to compete for the same acts when faced with the resources and bargaining power of casino entertainment. Using entertainment as a loss leader, casinos pay twice as much to performers and can impose strict exclusivity clauses. Casinos are able to offer discounts, free tickets and special packages to lure audience, not to mention their enormous advertising budgets and marketing reach.

"I firmly believe that if you open a casino resort, you will close a local theater.

— Steve DeCosta

Proliferation of casinos will impact stability of community theaters like The Z

There's a lot of hand-wringing in the business offices of live-performance theaters across Massachusetts.

Already hamstrung by the practices of Connecticut's two behemoth gaming venues, theater executives know it's only going to get tougher when three Bay State resort casinos roll out their red carpets in the next four or five years.

And if Rhode Island allows its two slot parlors to sprout into full-fledged casinos and New Hampshire dives into the gambling business as well, community theaters simply might not be able to compete for the talent that allows them to keep their doors open.

"Connecticut already affects us," said Katherine Knowles, executive director of New Bedford's Zeiterion Performing Arts Center. "We deal with issues from Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun all the time.

Adding three casinos in Massachusetts, including the possibility of one in New Bedford, Fall River, Freetown or Taunton, "is going to have a major impact on us," she said.

The possibility of "seven casinos going from Connecticut to New Hampshire to Maine is going to be overwhelming," Knowles fretted. "Whether it survives, I don't know."

Community theaters offer so much more than concerts, but it's that business that provides their financial foundation, allowing the theaters to continue to operate.

"Our mission is to speak to all interests in the community," Knowles said. "What lets us do that? The profits from the big shows."

"As a nonprofit, we love to have concerts because they make money," said David Fay, president and CEO of the 2,872-seat Bushnell performance arts center in Hartford, in direct competition with the two Connecticut casinos. "That funds our mission of what we want to do in the community."

Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun "pretty much stripped away all the concert business we used to get," Fay said.

Booking concert talent is a dog-eat-dog business, an all-out war that the casinos are winning.

They're winning because they can overpay for performers and undercharge for tickets.

"The casino's going to bid it up and charge less," Knowles said. "It's a loss leader for casinos. It's impossible to compete."

Knowles related the tale of a bidding war for a concert performer.

"We got a call from the agent of a big artist and were told to put in an offer of $65,000 to $75,000. We bid $75,000 because we really wanted to get him, but the agent called back and said, 'sorry, but Mohegan Sun offered us $125,000.' "

Troy Siebels, executive director of the 2,300-seat Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts in Worcester, said: "There's a separate asking price for casinos. Agents do it knowing that casinos are willing to pay more."

Artists get spoiled by the higher casino fees.

"Because casinos are willing to pay so much, some artists who used to tour now just play casinos," Knowles said. "They can make more money for fewer dates."

And the casinos have another powerful weapon. Once they've overpaid their talent, they can prevent the artists from playing anywhere else in the immediate vicinity.

"We get blocks from Foxwoods and Mohegan all the time and we expect the Massachusetts casinos would do the same," Siebels said. "It's standard practice for the casinos.

"Dennis Leary, he's from Worcester. He wanted to play his hometown, but he had already signed at Mohegan so he couldn't do it," Siebels related.

Knowles said that when they casinos don't block artists from playing local theaters, they often impose marketing restrictions. "If there's a 100-mile radius in which we can't market, it doesn't matter if there's exclusivity," she said.

The 1,110 seat Zeiterion doesn't get as much bullying from the casinos as other, larger theaters, but there's still a price to pay.

Knowles said that Mohegan Sun's Wolf Den often presents the type of performers that would be a good fit for the Z, but they offer free shows. While the Zeiterion isn't prevented from booking those same artists, it has little financial incentive.

"If you could drive an hour and see the artist for free or buy a ticket here, which would you do?" Knowles asked. "The few times we've done it, we've not sold what we should have."

And the theaters sometimes cannibalize each other. "The Cape Cod Melody Tent has exclusivity," Knowles said. "They will not allow us to book the same artist within 12 months. They have the right of first refusal for their next season. It's only when they refuse that we can book" the artist.


not all about money
Most local theaters like the Zeiterion, the Hanover and the Bushnell operate as nonprofits, so it's not all about making money.

"We're much more a part of the community," Fay said of Hartford's Bushnell. "It isn't about how much we return to our shareholders. It's about what we return to the community."

The same is true in New Bedford.

"We exist with a mission, which is to serve the community," Knowles said. "Do (casinos) serve the community? That's arguable."

"My goal is for the Z to become central to the heart of the community. We have community programs. We truly speak in our programs to as many interests as we can."

Beyond its mission, the Zeiterion boosts the community around it.



"When we have a show, restaurants call it Z night and they sell out." Knowles said. "We do about 70 shows a year and, whether it's a sellout or not, restaurants are packed."

"We change the perception of New Bedford, not only internally, but also of the people from outside New Bedford that have a negative perception. We get them to change. The way we do that is to bring in big names."

"I think (the Zeiterion) has energized the community. I know it has."

At least one potential developer — KG Urban Enterprises, which hopes to build a resort casino at the site of the abandoned Cannon Street power plant — wants to tap into that existing energy. It has said it would not include a theater in its casino, instead funneling patrons to the nearby Zeiterion.

"If there's truly no theater and they're going to use this theater as their venue and they're willing to invest in this building, that's perfect," Knowles said. "Then we'd be fine. But that question needs to be put on the table. I would really push that question."


how to survive
So how can community theaters survive the casino onslaught?

Fay speaks from experience.

"We have been able to adapt and move and change," he said. "We've had to branch out, do other things, something different that really isn't tied to our market."

The Bushnell has become managing partner of Five Cent Productions and co-owner of Elephant Eye Theatrical, producing the national tour of Addams Family. Another arm of the nonprofit manages Rentschler Field, where the University of Connecticut plays its football games, and SS&C SummerWind Performing Arts Center in Windsor.

It also presents different kinds of shows.

"We hosted the national tour of Myth Busters, which was a sellout, and later this month we'll host the Cake Boss," Buddy Valastro, who will judge a cake-decorating contest," Fay said.

"We've become the prime venue for first-run Broadway shows," he continued. "Those don't tend to go to casinos. They like shorter shows and they're not particularly interested in attracting families."

But that might be changing

"They are starting to eat the whole market," adding musicals and family shows, Knowles said.
And when there are more casinos, there will be more competition among them for top-notch performers.

"One of the things I'm kind of hoping happens is that they eat each other's lunch," Fay said. "I do think these casinos will be overbuilt."

And there may always be performers who simply don't want to be associated with casinos.

"There are some performers who don't want to be become known as a casino act," said Siebels of Worcester's Hanover Theatre. "We're a classier place to play."


state as an ally
Community theaters will have an ally in their battle against the coming casinos — the state.

The law that expanded gaming in Massachusetts limits casinos to theaters of less than 1,000 seats or more than 3,500.

In addition, it requires, "A gaming licensee shall meet with municipally-owned and not-for-profit entertainment venues located in the commonwealth to discuss a mitigation plan which may include, but shall not be limited to, agreements regarding event scheduling, promotions, ticket prices, marketing and other operations which may impact the viability of such municipally-owned and not-for-profit entertainment venues. The (gaming) commission shall encourage the establishment of such a mitigation plan through fair and reasonable discussion."

That requirement "gets us at the table," Siebels said. "It gets us all talking about how we can keep from stepping on each other. But once they get the license, it has no teeth at all."

State Rep. Stanley Rosenberg, an Amherst Democrat who was one of the primary architects of the legislation, said he's proud of it.

"The most important thing is that no other state in the country — and there are now 39 that allow gaming — has done anything to mitigate the impacts on the cultural community."

In addition, "We set aside a substantial amount of money to provide the opportunity for cultural venues to receive funding to help them compete in these situations," Rosenberg said.

That $6 million will help, but theater executives aren't too excited.

"We present artists," Knowles said. "If we can't present artists, what is the mitigation? If we can't bring them in, I'm not entirely sure what would mitigate that. How much is the mitigation going to be? They're not going to give us $100,000 every couple of weeks, that's for sure."

Still, Knowles said she's grateful for Rosenberg's efforts. "He fought a really good fight and was a huge advocate for the arts organizations. He did something superhuman just getting those things in."

For his part, Rosenberg is openly frustrated by the continued pessimism of theater executives.

"In some ways I feel like I wasted my time," he said. "Even though I'm a champion of the cultural community, no matter what we did it wasn't going to be good enough."