Everyone
in the world of theatre has at least one of those "the-show-must-go-on"
moments. For Roche Schulfer '73 it was in 1984, opening night
of David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross at Chicago's famed
Goodman Theatre. Leading actor Joe Mantegna was on stage reciting
one of the script's lengthy monologues before a full house when
he forgot his lines.
"Mamet's writing is difficult, staccato, and it's easy for actors
to lose their place," Schulfer, executive director of the Goodman,
explains. "But despite the prompting of his fellow actor, Joe
just couldn't get back on track. It was the longest forgetting
of lines I've ever been associated with."
Eventually the distraught Mantegna regained his footing. "It
was a huge moment in Joe's career," Schulfer says. "After [the
Chicago performance], Joe was determined to give his best performances
ever; he rose to a new level." Mantegna later won a Tony Award
on Broadway for his role in the play.
Of course Schulfer had to hear this story secondhand. He was
in the lobby during the entire performance.
"I never watch opening night; I can't take those moments," he
says. "I was pacing in the lobby."
* * *
Schulfer's rise to the top of the arts world as executive director
of the Goodman stemmed from a desire to be a well-rounded student
at Notre Dame.
"I was drifting along in my sophomore year when a friend, Bob
Brinkmann ['72], asked me to help him with the Cultural Arts Commission
on campus," says Roche, pronounced "Rock," who has managed
the Goodman for 25 years. "I agreed to help him with ticket sales
and booking events, and by senior year I was running the commission.
That's when I thought, 'Gee, maybe I can do this for a living.'"
Just five months after graduation, Schulfer got his chance.
After querying nearly every performing arts agency in Chicago,
he landed a position in the box office at the Goodman. Within
two years he was promoted to assistant to the managing director.
By 1980 he had vaulted into the executive director position at
the "disturbingly young" age of 29, making him the youngest director
of any theatre in the United States of the Goodman's size and
stature. He has remained there ever since.
Schulfer says his life as a director at one of the city's oldest
and most prestigious theatre companies is not as glamorous as
it might appear.
"People romanticize my job," Schulfer says. "While it's true
that I get to meet some terrific people, the work of producing
in the field of not-for-profit arts is a challenge financially."
To meet those challenges, Schulfer spends each day fund raising,
marketing, and meeting with both his artistic director, Robert
Falls, and the chairman of Goodman's board of trustees. He reviews
sales and subscriptions, closely watches the evolution of all
theatrical productions, and strategizes with others in the arts
on opportunities for state, federal and private funding. Away
from the office, he is generally attending civic events, networking
or watching productions at other theatres. During the industry's
prime season, September through early July, he works six days
a week, 10 hours a day -- not to mention his attendance at nightly
events.
Part of Schulfer's job as director involves shouldering two
seemingly disparate sets of responsibilities, one fiscal, the
other artistic. While he recognizes a financial responsibility
to the employees of the theatre as well as to the performing artists
who bring life to the Goodman's nine annual productions, Schulfer
also acknowledges a responsibility to the theatre-going community
at large.
"Arts are the fabric of society, and I'm passionately dedicated
to making available to audiences a wide range of productions,
from classical to experimental," he says. "The whole thrust is
to entertain and stimulate thinking about the world, to give people
a different perspective."
Which is why Schulfer and his artistic director get along so
well. Like Schulfer, Robert Falls aspires to reach the broadest
audience possible through his productions and has been known to
take on unconventional pieces by relatively unknown writers simply
because he believes in their ability to make a piece work.
"It's not all about seeing a show that started here making it
to Broadway," Schulfer says. He adds, however, that watching a
play such as Death of a Salesman travel from the Goodman
to New York and win four Tony Awards was gratifying. "If a premiere
appears in other local theatres five years later, we're just as
excited because we've added to the world's bank of dramatic literature."
Tony Award-winning director Falls, who has been working with
Schulfer since 1985, appreciates that artistic sensibility. "What
makes him different from other managers," says Falls, "is his
sensitivity to the artists and his ability to look at art first.
Everything else follows from that."
Despite the intensity of Schulfer's job, business is not all
business at the Goodman. Schulfer admits that some of his most
cherished moments occur when he has the opportunity to socialize
with the actors and actresses who appear on his stages as well
as with the 125 full-time employees of the theatre.
"The camaraderie here is terrific," he says. "I work with a
great class of people, colleagues who are passionate about their
work. That makes the job fun, exciting." His personal life also
involves theatre, as he and stage actress Mary Beth Fisher are
a longstanding couple.
A quick peek into Schulfer's spacious office on the theatre's
fourth floor reveals another passion. While the walls are covered
with posters from plays and framed photographs of Schulfer with
some of the industry's finest actors and playwrights, a coffee
table holds a different memento: a deep glass bowl brimming with
baseballs. Schulfer wryly refers to himself as a "long-suffering
White Sox fan."
Much of Schulfer's success as Goodman's executive director can
be attributed to his financial magic. In the mid-1980s, shortly
after assuming leadership of the theatre, he successfully wiped
out the Goodman's $660,000 deficit in two years, leading the theatre
into 18 straight seasons of budget surplus. This, Schulfer says,
is "close to unprecedented" in an arts organization. Another triumph
was overseeing the Goodman's move in 2000 from its original location
behind the Art Institute to its current location in the heart
of the city's North Loop theatre district. That project took a
decade of preparation but resulted in a theater with more audience
seating, better acoustics, and greater visibility and accessibility
to the public.
On the production side, Schulfer is well-known for inaugurating
the Goodman's annual production of A Christmas Carol,
which is in its 26th year, and for negotiating the transfer of
dozens of productions from Chicago to cities around the world.
For his contributions to the arts, Schulfer was named "Chicagoan
of the Year" by Chicago Magazine in 2000 and by the Chicago
Tribune in 2001.
"It all comes down to doing something you like to do for a living,"
says Schulfer. "It's about getting up in the morning and looking
forward to going to work."
Ruth Ann Keyso-Vail is a freelance writer and photographer
and the author of Women of Okinawa: Nine Voices from a Garrison
Island.
(January 2005)
