Bozeman News

Gallatin Valley Non-Profits

Equinox Theatre Company: Binding Art to Community

By Alison Grey, 11-23-07

The Gallatin Valley is home to over 200 non-profits. These organizations do not hinge on metropolitan amenities, and are often created to preserve wild places and stimulate culture in communities of the West. As part of our New West economy, NewWest.Net/Bozeman is highlighting Gallatin Valley organizations in a weekly series.

With a vision to bind art to community, energy to inspiration, youth to vision, curiosity to wisdom, absurdity to transcendence, individuals to one another and our community to the world, The Equinox Theatre Company is an established and thriving professional theatre company based in Bozeman.

Founded in 1996, the organization currently has eight board of directors, six staff members and 40 volunteers, all of whom are striving to create an off-beat, thought-provoking, heart-inspiring theatre that is national in scope and masterful in execution, that educates and empowers kids, teens and adults, and evokes a vibrant local community. Soren Kisiel, executive director, expands on the Equinox Theatre Company and their efforts.

NewWest.Net: Why and how did your organization come into being?

ETC: Twelve years ago, my wife and partner, Katie Goodman, and I were working as actors and directors in Philadelphia, but spending summers running a theater program on a tiny lobsterman’s island in Maine. After a few summers of this, we realized it was much more satisfying doing our work in a smaller and more cohesive community. And while the lobsterman’s island was too small, Bozeman seemed just perfect. And then, six years later, a former colleague of ours, Kent Davis, came out to Bozeman to join us as the third of Equinox’s artistic directors.

NewWest.Net: Why is this organization in Bozeman? What are the advantages and challenges of operating in this area? Are there other non-profits in this area that you partner with or would like to?

ETC: Bozeman is a perfect community for the Equinox Theatre. Our work tends toward comedy and drama that is edgy, offbeat and at times controversial – work that you would find in larger cities. And while Bozeman is small and relatively rural, much of the population are urban transplants or share their time with larger cities – and therefore are interested in challenging and thought-provoking arts that they’ve experienced elsewhere.

Additionally, we have a teen theater program and acting school that works with roughly 3,000 students a year, and has thus far mentored more than 300 teenagers. This program partners with other teen-oriented non-profits in Bozeman, such as the Montana Outdoor Science School and the Bridger Alternative School.

NewWest.Net: Where are you directing your resources?

ETC: Our resources are divided between several operations: our mainstage productions, which produce nine original shows each year, covering about 40 weekends a year; our Children’s Matinees, which offer upbeat 1-hour productions for kids every Saturday afternoon from September to May; our after-school theater for teenagers, which produces six shows a year, and the classes for kids and adults offered by our acting school; and finally, delivering residencies in the public schools using comedy improv as a confidence-building tool.

NewWest.Net: What is your annual operating budget, and can you please break that down between administrative and fund-raising versus program expenses?

ETC: The Equinox Theatre Company’s annual budget is roughly $200,000, which breaks down into 34 percent for Mainstage productions, 52 percent Youth Programs and 14 percent for general operations and fundraising.

NewWest.Net: How are you fulfilling your mission statement?

ETC: It’s been so thrilling over the years to see the Equinox Theatre become a central part of the Bozeman arts scene, and being regionally and nationally recognized for doing so. Our goal is for our work to be seen as not just an entertainment but an important part of the intellectual life of the community, and our youth programs are an important source of inspiration and confidence for kids and teens – and we see the success of this both in our fans’ encouragement and support, and in the success of our teenage students.

But don’t take my word for it - come check it out! Our next show, The Santaland Diaries, an edgy holiday comedy by David Sedaris, runs Fridays and Saturdays December 7 to 22. This comedy is for mature audiences only, and is back by popular demand, so tickets will sell out quickly.

NewWest.Net: What is your most recent success story?

ETC: On an organizational level, we recently hired a managing director to focus on the theater’s administration, book-keeping and fundraising. We’d been working to grow our budget to create this full-time administrative position for a number of years, so having her here feels like a great success. This is thrilling to those of us on the artistic and education side because it will give us more of a chance to keep our focus on those programs rather than on administration.

But on a personal level, each new show feels like a success. We got a call from an audience member who saw our recent intense relationship-drama Closer saying, “You guys are brave to put up that show in this town!”

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