When 37-year-old Charles Morey became artistic director of Pioneer Memorial Theatre Company in 1984, morale was low. Staff offices were cramped into the basement — some even in stairwells — and the financial picture looked bleak.
"The audience in 1984 was very old," Morey explained. "You'd look out at the auditorium and there would be a sea of white hair. It was kinda scary. We did a survey, because we were dropping subscribers pretty heavily, and we found that 41 percent of them did not renew their season tickets for age-related reasons."
Besides that, the theater was spending nearly $200,000 a year to support the University of Utah's theater department. It took several years to untangle that problem and put the university back in charge of its academic programs.
During an interview in his sunny corner office of the recently completed, attractive new wing of this professional theater, Morey expressed pride in the success he has seen in his 18 years at the helm. "Subscriptions went up through the '90s, and we were booming. PMT became one the most financially successful regional theaters in the country. The last couple of years have been harder. The Olympics took a real toll on us. The focus of the community was elsewhere. Then 9/11 hit us hard. This is the first season that we'll probably run in the red in a decade, but we'll turn that around."
Morey added, "I've always thought a well-run, not-for-profit theater is one of the cleanest, most efficient business models. We have to be lean and efficient to survive. One day, a loud-mouth-type guy asked me, 'What's it like working with these artsy types in the theater?' I asked him, 'When was the last time any of your projects finished on time and under budget?' and he said, 'Never.' I said, 'We do seven half-million-dollar plays a year, and they always finish on time and under budget — with these 'artsy types' doing it!"
Morey cannot praise his theater staff enough for their exceptional abilities, their dedication and their stability. "We employed 20 professional actors a year when I started — now it's 80. We have a collaborative effort here. The quality of our work has improved immeasurably."
As artistic director, Morey gets to choose the plays — and that sometimes produces controversy. Eight years ago, a number of people protested PMT plays, asserting that some contained offensive material. "Our mission is to produce a wide range of 20th century literature. There's virtually nothing you can do in 20th century drama that does not contain some language or sexuality. So you can produce the plays as written or you can cut out potentially offensive material. Well, cutting violates federal copyright law — and a university campus routinely censoring its plays is an ethical impossibility. So if we produce a play, we produce it the way it is written."
But Morey and PMT executives now make a special effort to inform patrons (through sales agents and a newsletter) about offensive language or sexuality, so patrons can make "an informed decision." "We can give season-ticket holders tickets to a different play. It's not our intent to shove anything down anyone's throat."
Morey admits to having "eclectic tastes in the theater. I love the classics, I love musical theater and I love contemporary plays. If I were forced to do only one of those things, I would chafe under it. You never know what we're going to do. For me that's one of the exciting things about it."
Morey, who hails from California's Bay area, began in theater as an actor (after graduating from Dartmouth and earning a Master of Fine Arts from Columbia University). He acted in New York and regional theaters for about six years and did some television. "After working at a Summer theater in Peterboro, New Hampshire, I began to have the itch to direct."
Once he directed a play, he loved it. "The next year I did two shows. It was a small theater, so there was always something that needed doing. Then the artistic director left, and I said I'd like to try it. The producer was an incredibly generous soul who gave me my career.
"You don't get a degree to become an artistic director. There aren't that many theaters — maybe 75 like ours — and not that many jobs. You have to be lucky to fall into such a job, and then to keep it you've got to be good."
Morey usually directs three or four of the seven plays he mounts each year, and he hires guest directors for the others.
His style is hands-on. "Basically, a director establishes structure. It's like a slalom course. The director sets up the gates. How you get around the gates is the actor's affair."
He also feels that an acting background is a must for those who direct. "You need that sense of what it's like to be up there."
And he sees a play is "a community-building event. You take 932 diverse individuals and pack them in tight, because together they respond as an audience. When you do that and the play's funny, they laugh. That's the purpose of art."
Morey would like to see PMT produce a second series of plays in a smaller space, "where we can do work that is more adventurous and intimate — new plays. Whether that would happen on campus or at a downtown venue, we don't know yet. But first we need to consolidate what we've done and concentrate on the main stage, where we make our living."
And he says he is happy at PMT and hopes to continue at the helm "at least 10 more years."
E-mail: dennis@desnews.com