Sanderson,+Ellen

Nellie Sanderson November 8, 2010 IB History/ Griffin 6

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 * Section A:**The purpose of this investigation is to examine the growth in local theater in Columbus, Ohio from 1960-1990. This investigation is dependent on documentation of personal accounts and interviews with people involved in the theater community in the last half of the 20th century. Other factors that will be studied are the growth of the economy and the expansion of the city in the late 1900’s. Textual research will be gathered first, followed by interviews about the research. The investigation will assess to what extent there was growth and will account for what caused the growth. The interviews and documented facts will comprise the evidence for the investigation.

__Textual Evidence:__ The Columbus economy prospered after World War II. Cleveland and Cincinnati’s economies struggled in the latter half of the 20th century, but Columbus grew to be the 16th largest city in the US by 1990 1 and by that time had also reached the greatest population in the state 2. This was paralleled by the number of jobs that increased. Ohio State University continued to grow in size as well, and after the arrival of thousands of baby boomers in the fifties and sixties, there were more than 50,000 students. 3 The arts in Columbus developed at the same time and the Columbus Symphony Orchestra can be credited with some of that development. Its popularity paved a way for the arts in Columbus to get more funding 4. In addition, the Battelle Memorial Institute provided grants to certain groups and when the Institute’s foundation (BMIF) was created it gave grants to many arts organizations including Player’s Theatres, the major theatre in Columbus at the time 5. By 1981 there were “over 170 nonprofit arts and cultural institutions in the area” 6. The NEA did a study on six of the major institutions and studied their effect on the Columbus economy. It was observed that the six institutions generated $17 million 7.
 * Section B: **

//__Personal Accounts: __// //According to Harold Eisenstein, the former artistic director of Gallery Players, there were only a few theatres when he arrived in the fifties; but at the time of the interview which was 1998, at any given time there were “20 community theatres in the area” 8. These theatres are represented by //the Theatre Roundtable, a consortium of central Ohio theatres, which was created in the 80’s and provided interaction between the theatres of Columbus 9. Two of the theatres that Eisenstein was referring to were Gallery Players, a Jewish theatre, and Players Theatre, which was the most prominent theatre at the time. Michael Grossberg, however, mentioned that Ohio State University and Otterbein College had theatres at that time and there were professional theatres in the area as well 10. Similarly to Eisenstein he added that there are “more theatres today” in existence 11. Pam Scheer, former president and current member of the Theatre Roundtable, commented about the success of Ohio State as it became more involved with the community theatres sending over countless directors and performers that were used in the smaller theatre productions 12. However, Steven Anderson, current artistic director of CATCO 13, and Pat Ellson, co-founder of Actor’s Summer Theatre 14, stated that the university had stayed uninvolved from the community. Scheer noted the significance of the community involvement; she said that in the last quarter of the 20th century there was a great increase in the amount of volunteers in the theatres because of women that wanted to become involved in the workplace 15. The more people that were involved allowed for more work to get done. Eisenstein agreed calling it “the age of the volunteer”16. Ellson pointed out the significance of people wanting to get involved with the theatre community, when she attributed some of the blossoming of theatres to more people being “aware of how to get a piece of the pie”17. While the textual evidence from Henry Hunker and Ed Lentz proves that the city of Columbus began to give more funding to the arts, almost all of those interviewed stated the arts in Columbus did not grow to the extent that the city grew. Bill Goldsmith, the artistic director of Columbus Children’s Theatre, said that this was because “Columbus is a newer city”18. It does not have the major families that give to the arts like some of the other large cities do. Nelson disagreed saying that there were large corporations here that drew in money that “brought an audience”19, but that these corporations gradually stopped funding. In 1985, CATCO was founded by Geoff Nelson as a professional theatre. He said that the city had done a study in the 70’s and many of the people in Columbus wanted a professional theatre 20. Player’s theatre had also become professional, but was forced to close in 1993. CATCO was successful and according to Goldsmith it was because “they had found their niche”21. Scheer attributes Players unsuccessful attempt at a professional theatre to bad management 22. (716)

This interview with Harold Eisenstein, who was the director of Gallery Players theatre and had been involved with the theatre for 50 years at the time of the interview, chronicled his career in theatre. He started out working in film with many well known actors, including Frank Sinatra and Art Linkletter, but later moved to Columbus to work with regional theatre companies. The interview was taken to record the events in Harold Eisenstein’s career, but also to develop insight into why he came to Columbus and the influence he had once he arrived. This article is beneficial to the overall study of local Columbus theatre because it gives a firsthand account of how some of the now major theatre companies came to be and how the theatre scene quickly developed. It is also important to note that Eisenstein describes how he first heard about coming to Columbus and how it ranked economically before he arrived. This interview was a limited source because much of the first half of the interview is irrelevant to local Columbus theatre. Though it provides useful information to the study, the focus of the article is on Harold Eisenstein and not on the Columbus theatre community.
 * Section C:**
 * Eisenstein, Harold. Interview with Naomi Schottenstein. Columbus Jewish Historical Society. July 29, 1998.**

//Columbus, Ohio. A personal Geography// is a study of post World War II Columbus. The purpose of the book is to examine the social, economic, and political developments and setbacks of the capital city in the latter half of the 20th century. The book was written by Henry L. Hunker, a professor at The Ohio State University and was published out of the university as well. It was valuable to the investigation because it provided factual evidence of how the arts community in Columbus was developed. It gave evidence of how it was funded and supported by the city of Columbus. The book was limited because though it was saturated with quantitative facts it had little to no personal accounts of the city. Its focus was on Columbus but it did not use any evidence from citizens of what was happening in the city. However, Hunker being a resident himself of Columbus added to the credibility of the book.
 * Hunker, Henry L..__Columbus,Ohio: A Personal Geography.__ Columbus: Ohio State**


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 * Section D:**
 * Though the question of whether the theatre scene in Columbus grew qualitatively from 1960-1990 is subjective to each individual, it is clear that it grew quantitatively. The number of theatres, productions, and individuals grew decisively in the last half of the twentieth century. Though the city made steps to improve the arts in Columbus, the growth in Columbus’s theatre scene was primarily caused by the acts of individual companies and people. **
 *  While some people view Columbus theatre as not having a period of time of sustained growth, the arts community developed in the decades following World War II and the amount of theatres increased. According to Geoff Nelson, he “was not aware of a time of sustained growth”23. While it is true that there is consistently a coming and going of minor theatres, there has been a significant increase in the average amount of theatres at a time. In the 1950’s, there were only a few theatres that were prominent in the community and some of them were branches of the universities; however, in the latter half of the 20th century there around 20 theatres at any given time 24. This can be seen by the creation of the Theatre Roundtable. It is exclusive and has requirements for theatres companies to be admitted in. While there will always be an ebb and flow with the amount of theatres in Columbus, the average amount of theatres increased significantly. **
 *  Though the theatre scene in Columbus grew, it had little to do with the city of Columbus and instead can be attributed to the individuals who live there. CATCO, a professional theatre was finding its footing right around the same time that Player’s Theatre, a popular and professional theatre in Columbus, was shutting down. The success of one compared to the other cannot be seen as the community supporting one rather that the other, but instead by the individuals that were at the helm of each one. The poor management at Player’s Theatre led to the financial difficulties that plagued the company. Bill Goldsmith said that people expected better quality from the professional theatre, but Player’s did not have the money to pay the professional actors they brought in 25. CATCO was successful because they “made it very locally based”26, according to Steven Anderson. More and more theatre companies were created because there were people around who wanted to get involved and because they believed it was “actually possible to start a new theatre company”27. The successes of more and more theatres were because of the individuals behind the projects and not the city of Columbus’s support. **
 *  An alternative is to believe that the growth of the theatre community was because of something that specific that happened in the city of Columbus. The economy did expand as statistics from Hunker’s //Columbus, Ohio// showed, but as Anderson pointed out “the arts have not supported Columbus and Columbus has not supported the arts”28. Some of the thoughts have also been that Player’s Theatre closing had an impression on the creation of other theatres. However, the swell of new theatres occurred in the 70’s and 80’s long before Player’s closed. Player’s existence could have inspired others to be created, for example Gallery Players, but it was not the sole reason. There were many things that encouraged growth in the arts in Columbus, but there was not one major event that changed it all. **


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 * Section E: **


 * In conclusion, there was an obvious development in the theatre scene that occurred from 1960-1990 in Columbus. However, the extent of the growth and the reasons for it are hard to account for because of the subjectivity of the history. However, the quantitative growth in the amount of theatres and productions, occurred because of the individuals at the helm, more people were committed which caused the size of Columbus’s community of theatres to grow. **

Anderson, Steven. Personal Interview. October 23, 2010.
 * (74) **
 * Section F:**

Eisenstein, Harold. Interview with Naomi Schottenstein. Columbus Jewish Historical Society. July 29, 1998.

Ellson, Pat. Personal Interview. October 22, 2010. Goldsmith, Bill. Personal Interview. October 19, 2010.

Grossberg, Michael. Personal Interview. October 18, 2010.

Hunker, Henry L..__Columbus,Ohio: A Personal Geography.__ Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 2000

Lentz, Ed. __Columbus: The Story of a City.__ Great Britain: Arcadia Publishing, 2003. Nelson, Geoff. Personal Interview. October 20, 2010.

Scheer, Pam. Personal Interview. August 10, 2010. (73) 1 Hunker, Henry L..__Columbus,Ohio: A Personal Geography.__ Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 2000 2 Lentz, Ed. __Columbus: The Story of a City.__ Great Britain: Arcadia Publishing, 2003. 3 Ibid. 4 Hunker 157. 5 Ibid. 6. Ibid. 7. Ibid. 8. Eisenstein, Harold. Interview with Naomi Schottenstein. Columbus Jewish Historical Society. July 29, 1998. 9. Scheer, Pam. Personal Interview. August 10, 2010. 10. Grossberg, Michael. Personal Interview. October 18, 2010. 11. Ibid. 12. Scheer 13. Anderson, Steven. Personal Interview. October 23, 2010. 14. Ellson, Pat. Personal Interview. October 22, 2010. 15. Scheer. 16. Eisenstein. 17. Ellson 18. Goldsmith, Bill. Personal Interview. October 19, 2010. 19. Nelson 20. Ibid. 21. Goldsmith. 22. Scheer. 23. Nelson. 24. Eisenstein 25. Goldsmith. 26. Anderson. 27. Ellson. 28. Anderson.
 * Footnotes:**


 * Final Word Count: (1919)**