B - New Theatre Organizational Structure

Summary

In order to benefit from a broader base of support that is integral to an African American theatre organization, the companies might reorganize themselves so that they were more like church organizations.

1. An empowered board of directors would be analogous to the church's board of trustees;

2. The artistic director would be similar to the minister;

3. The management and the artistic staffs would become the board of deacons; and

4. The subscribers would be the church's members.

FUNCTIONS AND ROLES

All theatre segments would function as they presently do, except for the audiences, which would subscribe to services, not only to plays. The theatre would be a referral center for one-stop social services. The theatre would connect neighborhoods to such services as day care, after-school care, and senior citizens' care. There could be tutoring, victim counseling, and family planning, as well as programs to prevent the abuse of women and children. Support groups could be organized for recovering substance abusers. The theatre would be the meeting house for any neighborhood clubs and groups that wished to meet there.

THE PERFORMANCE SERVICE

Membership would entitle subscribers not only to all social services, but also to a Performance Service (PS). The PS would be a secular ceremony patterned somewhat after the Kuumba Workshop's and the National Black Theatre's rituals. PS would consist of seven parts: Devotion, Invitation, Offertory, Silence, Performance, Discussion, and Closing.

Devotion

Members would lead and control the Devotion, which would last no longer than fifteen or twenty minutes.