If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.
John Quincy Adams
There’s a BBCA television program called James May’s Toy Stories. May convinces people to pitch in and create something massive and unexpected out of toys. In one, he orchestrates the building of an entire full sized, two story house made out of Legos.
It was possible to walk up the stairs and sit on the couch. An architect, designers, builders and an entire British village responded to May’s request for volunteers. What could have been a Tower of Babel was an equally unlikely project completed successfully and in great good humor.
Teresa Eyring could’ve built that house, a theater or, most likely, a city. Both her grandfathers were architects. Her mother’s great grandfather was the brick contractor on The Ford Theater in Washington D.C. Perhaps she carries the gene. She’s charmed donors, lobbied politicians, allocated monies, and organized builders. Daily interaction with the theater community—often passionate, erratic, stubborn, egotistical, intense human beings- requires diplomatic skills tantamount to brokering peace in the Middle East. This likeable, smart, zealous woman seems born for her métier.
Studying International Relations at Stanford in 1982—possibly where she began to develop her negotiation chops—Teresa heard the siren call of the arts-as-a-career. Unusually mature and directed, she began to write international arts curriculums, graduating with the desire to do something supporting the arts or arts organizations. “Theater seemed important to me. I still feel that way. It’s heightened story-telling. When I walk into any theater it feels like sacred space.” She wanted to be the person “who makes it happen.”
After graduation, Teresa moved to Washington D.C. She got a job as Development Director at The Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, then a small, cutting edge theater based in the parish hall of a church. Under the able direction of Howard Shalwitz (still the Artistic Director), the theater is known for especially thought provoking pieces. “I realized how important it was to collaborate with artistically ambitious people with a commitment to quality.”
Her choice to be involved with theater having been solidified, she took an MFA in the burgeoning Theater Administration program at Yale. Academics were not enough. The enterprising young Teresa became Associate General Manager of The Yale Repertory Theater in New Haven and Summer Cabaret Managing Director.
In 1989, Ed Martenson recruited Teresa as Assistant Executive Director of the eminent Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, which was mounting an endowment campaign of $25 million, at the time probably the largest any theater had attempted. Teresa was assigned management of a $5 million building renovation project. “I learned so much about all the different trades that come to bear and keeping the technical staff involved because everything was inter-related.” She also met her husband to be, an actor.
Four years later, Teresa (and her beau) moved back East to Philadelphia where she became The Managing Director of The Wilma Theater. (Wilma- after an invented sister of William Shakespeare) The Wilma was in a capital campaign for a building. “I found out the first week I was there they didn’t have enough money to support the payroll, number one on my list of things I’d hoped would never happen in my career.” Teresa rolled up her sleeves. Then Mayor, Ed Rendell, joked with her that she was raising so much money the only thing left on which to put donor plaques would be bathroom stalls. A 24,000 foot facility was built on The Avenue of the Arts. On schedule. On budget.
With the encouragement of her now husband, she next became The Managing Director of The Children’s Theatre Company, Minneapolis, perhaps the most prestigious and innovative children’s theater in the country. Run by the visionary, Peter Brosius, the CTC serves over 350,000 young people and families each year. Lo and behold, they had a building project. By now Teresa was experienced. She raised over $30 million, doubling the initial budget request. During her tenure, Teresa also started two businesses: CostumeRentals LLC, a joint venture with The Guthrie which feeds back to both theaters by recycling their costumes. And Plays for Young Audiences, established with The Seattle Children’s Theatre which involves commissioning new plays, maintaining the licenses, and marketing them together.
After an eight month long candidate search, in March 2007, Teresa Eyring became the first woman Executive Director of The Theatre Communications Group (TCG,) the national, non-profit organization for the American Theatre. Established in 1961 and coming up to its fiftieth anniversary, TCG has grown from a handful of groundbreaking theaters to 700 member theaters and more than 12,000 individuals nationwide (membership fees are on a sliding scale starting as low as $20 for students.) TCG is also the US Center of The International Theatre Institute (formed by UNESCO) which helps U.S. based artists collaborate with artists abroad. It was a founding member of The Performing Arts Alliance which educates and informs elected officials, the public, and the media about the importance of the performing arts. Teresa is regularly in Washington advocating at the federal level…tracking National Endowment for the Arts funding, following immigration policies, insuring FEMA funding for theaters in disaster areas “anything that’s going to affect us.” It’s easy to imagine her taking to the barricades.
Networking and knowledge-building opportunities are offered through conferences, events, research and communications. “Ours is the gold standard.” The Brain Bank, Where Knowledge Earns Interest, was set up so that TCG members can share their wealth of experiences and knowledge with one another. The web site www.tcg.org contains a wealth of information, including the best employment resource in the field (ARTSEARCH). Through a series of philanthropic partnerships, grants of approximately $2 million a year go to theater companies and individual artists. The groundbreaking A-ha! Program for example, funded by Met Life, supports thinking about or implementing innovation in business models. Mo olelo, out of San Diego recently received a MetLife/TCG Aha! Program: Think It, Do It grant to work with environmental consultants Brown & Wilmanns in developing a Green Theater Choices Toolkit. TCG is additionally the nation’s largest independent publisher of dramatic literature and publishes the award-winning American Theatre magazine.
On September 20, tickets will be going live nationally for TCG’s 2010 FREE NIGHT OF THEATER. Tickets will be offered for performances from October 1 through 31. www.freenightoftheater.net
In 2009, 711 theatre companies, in over 130 cities from coast to coast, opened their doors to over 65,000 new theatergoers offering over 2,000 performances.
Teresa spent three years on The Tony Awards nominating committee seeing everything on Broadway. She sees the work of New York based member theaters and flies to regional theaters, ever enthusiastic about “the level of work being done and the ingenuity they’ve brought to being able to survive during these turbulent times.” Recently, she made a salutary video of herself for a theater festival coming up in Columbia (the country, not the district.) Her commitment to global outreach and cross pollination is vigorous. She manages WHEN?! to find time to keep up with her yoga, to run, to garden and plans to continue perfecting her Spanish. “You could arguably say Greek Theater started around 500 BC, so, really we’re entering our 2500th theater season.” Teresa Eyring is looking forward to every minute of it. Remember the name. One day Teresa will head the NEA – if we’re lucky.
Woman Around Town’s Six Questions—New York
Favorite Place to Eat: The garden at Gascogne, the bar at Le Zie, Daniel for a very special occasion
Favorite Place to Shop: Union Square Green Market
Favorite New York Sight: The Statue of Liberty from a hammock on Governor’s Island
Favorite New York Moment: When I was ten, my parents brought me to New York. We drove up from Baltimore to see Broadway shows and the sights. We had lunch at a restaurant called Forum of the Twelve Caesars (now Maxwell’s Steakhouse.) We were the only ones in the restaurant-except for Orson Welles. He sat at a nearby table, and my father went over and asked him to autograph our menu. I still have it.
What You Love About New York: The story of the fireboat, the John J. Harvey; the crazy and inspiring entrepreneurial spirit here; that so many residents are immigrants-whether from other countries or from other states
What You Hate About New York: I miss it too much when I am not here
Woman Around Town’s Six Questions—Washington D.C.
Favorite Place to Eat: Busboys and Poets
Favorite Place to Shop: Nieman Marcus, Tysons Galleria
Favorite DC Sight: Free museums on the Mall
Favorite DC Moment: When the Cherry Blossoms bloom, of course!
What You Love About DC: The ever-burgeoning theatre scene in D.C., Bethesda, Arlington and other nearby places
What You Hate About DC: Always there for work, never enough time to play!
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