Part 1 - How Did We Get Here?

This is the first in a series of several posts to offer some insight as to how to got to where we are today - Dave Gives the Car Away.

This current transition and opportunity for SAK actually goes back several months and begins with a restless creative energy at SAK. Over the course of time and even beginning in our new and awesome space at the CityArts Factory, a growing energy has been present at SAK to explore new creative thoughts and ideas and expand our creative horizons. Of course this is the dream and vision of every theater, so SAK is really no different on that front. Also, in that time, a core of creative energy has formed among the ensemble we feature in our performances - this core energy exhibits an interest to sow creative oats, if you will. A challenge develops when you have a dynamic like this, especially when paired with the challenges of running a business such as SAK.

As some of you may or may not know, I wear two big hats at SAK - Artistic Director and Managing Director. With the tight and unwieldy budget at SAK this has been an unfortunate necessity, as each position should be a separate individual. However, to make tights ends meet (that doesn't sound good), I made the choice to serve in both capacities for a salary below what either one would command in the marketplace.

Over time, philosophical differences have grown and become more pronounced and it has (had) become apparent to me that I'm like the dad and the core of creative energy is like the kids. The kids had their own ideas about how things should go and many times those did not mesh with how dad was doing things, especially on the business side.

Well, when these kinds of things happen, the family experiences problems and challenges - how do we reconcile these things? SAK has been working through many of those challenges for a number of months.

While in the midst of these challenges, however, the show must go on if we intend to keep our theater doors open. So, despite differences of vision, style and opinion, the SAK family has hung in there to get the job done and continue to entertain the audiences - which is one of the things everybody agrees on - we love our audiences.

End of Part 1

Next Post: Part 2 - It all comes to a head.