Drama or Simple Change at a Theater Mainstay?

A.S.K. Theater Projects--one of L.A.’s most prominent benefactors of new plays and other theatrical work--is undergoing changes that have left some L.A. theater artists concerned about its future and commitment to the community.

Founded in 1989 and funded from the personal fortune of its founders, Audrey Skirball-Kenis (for whom the group is named) and her husband, Charles Kenis, A.S.K. is known nationally for its programs that nourish playwrights and new works, including its Common Ground Festival of new plays, writers’ retreats and workshops, as well as educational outreach programs, such as the Playwrights in the Schools program. The nonprofit organization, with an annual budget of nearly $2 million, has served as a key donor to such institutions as Center Theatre Group, CalArts’ playwriting program and the “Hot Properties” series at the Ford Amphitheatre.

But many artists have expressed fears that A.S.K. is focusing more on larger theaters and projects away from the city in part because of the elimination of the group’s literary department, the cancellation or scaling back of programs and a shift in its stated mission.

This year’s Common Ground Festival, June 22 and 23 at UCLA, will feature admission-free workshop performances by three Los Angeles-based artists or groups--Janie Geiser, Critical Mass and Tongue, as well as companies from San Diego, San Francisco and Chicago. That’s three fewer groups than last year’s roster, although the groups are receiving more money this year--$10,000 to $15,000 each. Executive Director Kym Eisner said that’s in keeping with her intent for A.S.K. programs to be “deeper, and maybe not so wide.”

But that’s what worries the local theater community. “There’s a buzz nationwide in the field of new play development,” said Mark Taper Forum dramaturge John Glore. “There’s curiosity and concern about [whether] this is signaling some sea change at A.S.K. and how it will impact the field.”

Besides the shrinking of the staff from 11 to 7, the organization has canceled this fall’s New Play Weekends program of readings, held annually since 1999.

“A.S.K.’s strength is its breadth,” said Bart DeLorenzo, artistic director of the Evidence Room, a producer of cutting-edge works. “It has been extraordinary because it reached out to such a large variety of people and styles.”

Wendy McClellan, A.S.K.’s former general manager, said the organization “always had a direct link to the artists, and the staff was key to that.” Yet, from the changes so far, she observed “it feels like it might be getting rid of programming and just giving grants to organizations. I don’t understand how that’s unique. That’s what every foundation does.”

The organization also “was looked to as a home for local artists,” McClellan said. Now, she said, it appears that A.S.K. is “much more interested in looking outside L.A.”

A.S.K. used to identify itself as “a local and national resource for the theater and its artists, facilitating the creation of new work through a broad range of artistic and educational programs.” Now, the words “local,” “national” and “broad” are gone from its mission statement. The new statement says A.S.K. “is committed to the development of new work for the American stage. Central to its work is an institutional belief in the value of the collaborative process.... “

“We’re not abandoning the local community,” Eisner said, noting that the absence of “local” in the new mission “wasn’t a conscious decision.” The statement also dropped “national” and doesn’t mention “international,” she said, even though A.S.K. supports the Royal Court Theatre in London.

Eisner said the organization is going through a period of intense evaluation of its programming. Some programs may be dropped, she said, but evaluations of only a little more than half of the 22 programs have been completed.

The assessment began last fall. Independent consultants Danton Miller and Cora Mirkitani conducted a general assessment and saw “an organization with a deep commitment to new work,” Eisner said, “but one that needed a deeper understanding of how you move things forward, who you report to for what. We were sending mixed messages.”

In March, after completion of the assessment, the director of literary programs, Mead Hunter, left A.S.K. Eisner said Hunter wanted to do something different with his career. Hunter said that he did not leave voluntarily, but he declined to discuss the details. Hunter’s primary assistant, literary manager Matt Almos, also left. “The direction of the organization and my artistic career were at odds,” Almos said, declining to be more specific.

Hunter and Almos have not been replaced. “I do plan to have a programming staff,” Eisner said. “But I can’t bring in someone now if the programs are going to change in five months.” No one is soliciting scripts for the group, she said, but a staff member is tracking the scripts that are submitted (A.S.K. receives about 400 each year).

The New Play Weekends were canceled two weeks ago because “we realized we’re low on staff,” Eisner said. The cancellation may apply only to this year, but she added that “there are a lot of good readings programs,” citing those at South Coast Repertory and the A.S.K.-funded Mark Taper Forum New Work Festival--”both of which offer more opportunities to be produced.... Maybe we can fill a different hole.”

Monologuist Sandra Tsing Loh, who participated in A.S.K.’s Common Ground Festival last year, cited the relatively high pay for artists in A.S.K. programs as one of the organization’s most appealing aspects. “In L.A.,” she said, “there are ample opportunities to do edgy stuff and be paid nothing. But as non-mainstream as A.S.K.’s taste is, they’re fairly well-funded.” Loh was paid $4,000 (which she shared with her director) for doing two performances. She said this is more than she was paid for similar work in the Mark Taper Forum’s New Work Festival.

Eisner cited one new A.S.K. program that will give writers a better opportunity to be produced--a co-commissioning of plays from writers in conjunction with established theaters. The first such grant is to David Rambo and is being shared with the Geffen Playhouse, which produced the playwright’s “God’s Man in Texas” earlier this year. She hopes to extend this idea elsewhere. But it’s hardly unique--the Taper and the James Irvine Foundation have currently co-commissioned seven plays.

Such moves, Eisner said, do not mean A.S.K. will become another foundation that will work primarily with large organizations instead of artists. “We are looking at more funding partnerships and collaborations, but we have no intention to direct them all to well-established theaters. Lincoln Center or some place in Burbank--they’re all possibilities.”

She also said the organizations must be “artist-centered.” A.S.K. will remain hands-on with artists, she said. “We will create guidelines for them--but based on their needs, not ours.”

“Hands-on” is open to interpretation, however.

In A.S.K’s largest new initiative of the past year, it announced a “New Plays/New Ways” program in November, giving $100,000 over three years to each of four theater companies outside California: ACT in Seattle, Children’s Theatre Company in Minneapolis, McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton, N.J., and Woolly Mammoth Theatre in Washington, D.C.

Cuts in staff could make “hands-on” work more difficult. Charles Kenis said he thought the previous A.S.K. staff was “too big” but added that the changes have nothing to do with saving money. When asked about the consultants who assessed A.S.K., he said he had not talked to them. One of the consultants, Miller--whose full-time job has been special assistant to the president of Otis College of Art and Design--was recently hired as A.S.K. managing director. Beginning in July, he will manage the business side of the organization and will not oversee programs, Eisner said.

Eisner hopes the organization’s board will be expanded. It consists of only Skirball-Kenis, the driving force behind the formation of the organization; her husband; and Eisner. The couple are noted patrons of the arts. Skirball-Kenis is the daughter of a wealthy New York banker who later married Jack Skirball, a film producer and real estate magnate. Charles Kenis derived his fortune from Bel-Air Imports. Eisner started at A.S.K. as an intern in February 1994, joined the staff in June and became executive director in 1995. (Skirball-Kenis was not available for comment and her husband denied speculation that she has been ill.) The organization is funded by the larger, New York-based Skirball Foundation.

The feelings expressed on the local theatrical grapevine about A.S.K. caught Eisner by surprise. “I was not aware of the sense of ownership the community feels, until the last couple of months.”

“We never were local,” Kenis said. “We’ve always been involved nationally.” However, he said to tell local artists “not to be concerned.”