10/10/08
Clapp Takes Over Top Job at League
Deb Clapp
“We are generally acknowledged to be the best theatre town in the world. We need to make more noise about that at home.”
Deb Clapp is getting her priorities straight as she settles into her job as the new executive director of the League of Chicago Theatres. The organization has been rudderless since mid April, when Lyle Allen left the job to take over Green City Market. Even before that, it was recovering from a costly foray into the program book business, which saddled the organization with a substantial debt.
Allen provided some direction, setting up Hot Tix online, retiring a substantial amount of debt, and getting the League poised to launch an online community box office.
Now, Clapp is looking to build on that. She’s been on the job since July, but the job was only made permanent in mid-September. And her first priority is to put Chicago theatre front and center—not just in marketing, but in advocacy.
“[We need to get] in front of lawmakers to make sure that we’re heard and to make sure people understand the numbers in this community and the impact this community has in the life of all Chicagoans.” Clapp also wants to stress “the economic impact theatres have on this community.”
Tourism is also a priority. Clapp wants to make sure that when people come to Chicago, they go see theatre—and not just big, commercial theatre.
That’s a tall order in this economic climate. Clapp isn’t making any promises, but she is talking to small and large theatres to perhaps come up with a cohesive marketing plan.
“The economic challenge is huge and how we as a community are going to respond to that” is a large challenge.
The economy is also making Clapp look inward, shoring up the League, itself. “We have the economic challenges too. How do we build a model that allows for the League to be stable and grow?”
Clapp will not only work on marketing theatre, but existing League programs. Hot Tix online made a big splash when it was launched in February of 2007, propelling a 30 percent increase in Hot Tix sales and a record breaking summer. But since then, theatre ticket sales have gone down, and Hot Tix is feeling the effects of more people staying home, saving money on both gas and ticket prices.
Meanwhile, Clapp is working with her board to come up with programming ideas specific to different sized theatres. The Goodman, for instance, doesn’t need a budget building seminar, but small theatres certainly do.
Clapp has been advising small theatres for the last year, so coming to the League seemed like a natural transition. Before she started her consulting business, Clapp was the director of management at the Goodman, and the general manager of the Long Wharf in New Haven.
Her experience with large and small theatres—and her time in the Chicago theatre community—has convinced her that they are not as separate as they might think. Certainly, there are challenges in representing theatres with budgets ranging from $10,000 to $13 million, but Clapp is clear about their interdependence. “Small theatres wouldn’t be here without the big theatres, but, you know what, big theatres would not be here without the storefronts.”