David's Letter:
It’s sad, and telling, that Mr. Kershner considers Leo Kottke to be the perfect Englert show. Considering the number of people in the Iowa City area who donated time and money under the assumption that the Englert would be a community performance space, I imagine there are far more people in the area that would consider the perfect Englert show to be one involving any of the area musicians, dancers, actors, singers, and others that the Englert Board promised would be performing at the facility.
David Pierce
Past President, Iowa City Community Theatre
Kerchner's:
Public enthused over new Englert
I've not been in Iowa City that long, but many people have voiced their opinion to me on the renovation, the current programming and the future plans for the organization. I take every comment seriously and consider them fully. I also take very personally the success or failure of the theater in any aspect. I must say that the overwhelming sentiment from the public has been not just positive, but solidly so.
David Pierce's letter ("A more perfect Englert show," Jan. 25) strikes me as a bit misinformed, but perhaps this comes from having never attended a performance in the Englert, that I am aware of. He missed some great events from local groups such as the Iowa City Chamber of Commerce Symposium, the Iowa City Community Band Concert and Englert Night Out, which featured more than 10 different area groups of all kinds and ended with a wonderful concert by local musician Dave Moore. The Englert produced this entire event.
Leo Kottke is a national performer with strong ties to Iowa, and it was an honor to have him perform on our stage. Kottke's performance was a great event for the theater, and I believe the 725 audience members who attended this sold-out performance would agree.
Eric Kerchner
director, Englert Theatre
Iowa City
Okay, let's take the germaine points and dissect them:
David Pierce's letter ("A more perfect Englert show," Jan. 25) strikes me as a bit misinformed, but perhaps this comes from having never attended a performance in the Englert, that I am aware of. He missed some great events from local groups such as the Iowa City Chamber of Commerce Symposium, the Iowa City Community Band Concert and Englert Night Out, which featured more than 10 different area groups of all kinds and ended with a wonderful concert by local musician Dave Moore. The Englert produced this entire event.
Kerchner begins with a nice personal swipe at David for not attending the Englert events. I guess he must not understand the concept of a boycott?
Moving on, there are three events here that are being discussed. To take the last first: the Englert night out is a fundraising event for the Englert Theatre. Local groups could perform in it, including ICCT, because we donated our time and services to profit the Englert. This despite the way we've been treated by the Englert and Kerchner in particular. In other words, he's using our own generosity as an argument against us. Nice.
Regarding the other two events, I've no doubt that they occurred. Not being privy to negotiations between the Englert and these organizations, nor being involved with these events, I'm left to extrapolate as to thei similarity of these events to the local theater that David wrote about.
The first was a Chamber of Commerce leadership seminar. Woo hoo. I don't doubt that the organization, which is a thriving one with most local businesses as members, would be able to meet the rental fees. That doesn't negate the point that they're set far too high for any local theater in the Iowa City Coralville area. I mean, look at an excerpt from a story on their Gift Certificate Program: "Since 1999, $1.2 million to $1.3 million a year, or approximately 40,000 gift certificates with an average value of $30 to $35 each, has been generated at Coral Ridge Mall." $1.3 million per year? Let's just say we don't have anything close to that in the Iowa City Community Theatre budget.
The other was a Community Band concert. I have no information on the event, but at a $5 ticket price I would venture to assert that either they were operating at a loss, got considerable additional donations from attendees, or theydidn't have to pay the full non-profit rates.
The Englert proposal from ICCT is being signed by the board members, and I still can't comment about what it is and what's in it. I do understand the frustration of the donors to the Englert project, who feel as though they've been deceived. I still hold out hope that the Englert and local theater companies will come to an affordable agreement, and one that allows the Englert to make good on it's promise that ICCT would have "resident theater" status.
I am not hopeful so long as Eric Kerchner remains their official representative. I have typed out various reasons why off and on for the past hour, but I keep having to delete them as I don't want to say too much before the negotiations are concluded. Let's just say there's way more egregious stuff here than is getting out, even on the blogs.
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