By Joshua B. Gray
I&M Staff Writer
Theatre Workshop of Nantucket is back in the black, and an unusual success story for an arts organization during a period of economic recession.
After falling into debt exceeding $70,000 after the 2009 season, a year that saw only one profitable play (“Madeline’s Christmas”), TWN expects to end its current season with all debts paid and a $20,000 profit on the books.
That is the hope of first-year managing director Gabrielle Gould, who after several years as the development director for the Small Friends on Nantucket early-childhood center, came to Theatre Workshop with a plan. Involved with the long-standing theater company as a (Juilliard-trained) actress for many years, Gould’s plan was very specific. She joined TWN president Frank Morral and artistic director and actor John Shea in an effort to turn things around in the struggling company.
“I think the theater was in a place where the board was running and managing the day-to-day of the nonprofit,” said Gould. “They did not have the funds available for a person in a director position and things weren’t well managed. It was not that the board wasn’t committed, but these were a group of volunteers with their own jobs and businesses. This position was sorely needed, but they were unsure of how to move forward.”
Morral agreed.
“We were expanding rapidly and we had insufficient staffing,” he said. “And that left the board to do a lot of the work.”
Shea found himself in the middle of TWN’s troubles as he tried to plan his first season (2010) with the group.
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