In today's edition of Oddball Theatre News, the Seattle Shakespeare Company and the Wooden O Theatre Company have decided to "merge their nonprofit operations", as reported in the Seattle Times.
What's going on over there? Is this an example of Big Shakespeare Company eats Little Shakespeare Company, or is something much, much cooler happening?
The number of nonprofits (and specifically nonprofit arts organizations) continues to grow at an exponential rate (click here for an excellent report on this phenomenon). Many new companies have a hard time distinguishing themselves, and for good reason. How many new companies have you heard of that are "dedicated to new work" or "dedicated to supporting the emerging artist"? What does that even mean?
To be clear, I'm not hating on companies that say they want to support new work, or support emerging artists. There is no nobler mission, in my opinion. And I'm not saying MTC and the Roundabout should get married because they do basically the same thing. (Let's be honest, they do.) I'm just totally fascinated by the idea that two similar theater companies could look at each other, see two sides of the same mirror, and decide that they would be better off working together.
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