A project for my Board Relations class, I studied the Board of the Pasadena Playhouse, reviewed their Board documents, attended one of their Board meetings, and made recommendations for improvements.

1. AA 6800 - BOARD RELATIONS
Pasadena Playhouse
Jean Krause
Fall 2015

2. INTRODUCTION
The Pasadena Playhouse in Pasadena, California has been in existence for 100 years. Begun
in 1916 as a community theatre group performing in a former burlesque house, the Pasadena
Playhouse moved to its present location on May 18, 1925. A beautiful building of Spanish
Colonial Revival Architecture, the Pasadena Playhouse is now on the National Register of
Historic Places.
The Playhouse has gone through trying times over its 100 year history. It closed its doors
from 1969-1978 due to a leadership vacuum following the death of its founder Gilmor
Brown, and again from 2010-2011 due to financial straits following the 2009 recession. But
the Pasadena Playhouse continues to endure and today continues its founder’s tradition of
bringing new plays to the stage.
In the past 100 years the racial and ethnic population of Pasadena has changed drastically.
Originally performing plays for the white, upper class population of early 20th century
Pasadena, the plays put on by the Pasadena Playhouse today range all over the racial and
ethnic map reflecting the current Pasadena, Southern California, and American identity.
However, the organization and the institution that is the Pasadena Playhouse, has some
more work to do to complete its integration into and relevance to 21st century America.
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3. PART ONE
Organization, Mission, Image, Programs, and Finances
A. Mission, Vision, Values
Although the Pasadena Playhouse does have a mission statement, both in the “About Us”
section of the website and located in a footer at the bottom of each website page, it does
not have any vision or values statements. A thorough perusal of the Playhouse website and
their various publications reveals that the Playhouse does have a vision and does operate ac-
cording to certain values, but the vision and values are not made explicit.
A non-profit’s mission, vision, and values statements are central to and guide the entire op-
eration. They tell internal and external stakeholders exactly what the purpose of the organi-
zation is and how the organization intends to achieve that purpose. Although the Pasadena
Playhouse has this information sprinkled throughout its website and publications, it needs
to be pulled together into tight, coherent, and cohesive statements. The Pasadena Play-
house’s mission, vision, and values statement should be integrated, inspirational, and in a
prominent place on the website and in publications. This is lacking and needs to be ad-
dressed through workshops focusing on mission, vision, and values.
Mission
Here is the current mission statement for the Pasadena Playhouse:
Built on a tradition of innovation and excellence, the Pasadena Playhouse is
committed to continue to be the premiere theatrical experience in Southern
California showcasing the most exciting theatrical entertainment in the state
and being an amazing forum for launching new work onto the national stage.
Not knowing much about the Playhouse, the mission statement just comes across as “We
need a mission statement, here it is, whatever.” The mission statement language is just not
compelling. Now that I have studied the Playhouse, I understand what this mission state-
ment tries, yet fails, to say.
The original Pasadena community theatre group begun by Gilmor Brown in 1916 provided a
stage for brand new plays to be performed, a school for actors to learn their craft, a place for
new playwrights to work on their plays, and all built on community involvement. That is
what today’s Pasadena Playhouse wants to continue. However, there is nothing in the mis-
sion statement above that makes this clear to a first-time reader or even a long-time season
ticket holder who may know nothing of the Pasadena Playhouse’s history.
The words “premiere,” “exciting,” and “amazing” sound like so many buzzwords that just
provide filler. They provide no real information to the reader and just serve to make the
Pasadena Playhouse sound fantastic. Meanwhile, any theatergoer in Southern California
knows that theatre competition there is fierce and every other theatre thinks they are
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4. “premiere,” “exciting,” and “amazing.” These words are meaningless in this mission state-
ment.
Meanwhile, when the mission statement is compared to the vision and values that the
Pasadena Playhouse holds, there is no cohesiveness, no mesh, between them.
Vision
Although no formal vision statement appears anywhere on the Pasadena Playhouse website
nor in any of the brochures and cards picked up during my visit, language that reads like a
vision statement is there. For example, the following quote is taken from page 2 of the 2014
Annual Report:
At the Pasadena Playhouse, we believe in the power of theatre to transform
society. Ours is a communal art form - culling artistry from music, dance, vis-
ual art, poetry and other forms - combining all into an alchemical mix that
provides people with the opportunity to come together and experience, rec-
ognize, witness, and delight in the magic of our human hearts. The Playhouse
creates a welcoming space for various communities - for artists, youth, and
audiences of broad backgrounds who both receive and, in turn, advance com-
passion, understanding, and enlightenment through the arts. California is a
state that is famous for its dreams; and as the State Theatre of California, we
dream big.
On the webpage discussing the Wells Fargo theatrical Diversity Project the Pasadena Play-
house writes:
Embracing diversity at the Pasadena Playhouse goes beyond promoting toler-
ance; it is about exploring and celebrating the human experience shared by
people of all colors, genders, ages, ethnicities, sexual orientations, learning
and physical abilities, and socioeconomic positions.
These are lovely statements. From these two statements it appears that the future envisions
by the Pasadena Playhouse is one in which diverse people come together to explore the hu-
man experience and society through the transformative power of theatre.
But I had to dig to find this language and then put it together myself to figure out the vision
of the Pasadena Playhouse.
Values
Although there is no specific value statement anywhere to be found, the values that guide
the Pasadena Playhouse appear to be that of Artistry, Diversity, and Community. These
words appear on various fundraising publications from the Pasadena Playhouse; the 2014
Annual Report devotes a full page spread to each of these topics from pages four to nine.
The belief statement quoted above also refers to artistry and community, although not di-
versity.
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5. The point here is that while the vision and values of the organization have some cohesive-
ness, the mission statement does not mesh at all. Go back and read the mission statement.
Compare it to the quoted vision language and the values of artistry, diversity, and communi-
ty. Do they mesh? Do the three work together to form a coherent policy for the Pasadena
Playhouse? No. This needs to be resolved. Tightly focused and tightly connected mission,
vision, and values statements play a central role in the coordination and function of a non-
profit. These statements bring the Board and the staff together on the same page and infuse
passion and focus in their work.
As will be discussed below in “Programming,” the Playhouse follows its vision, sticks to its
values, and somewhat fulfills its mission. But the mission/vision/values statements need to
be front and center on the Playhouse’s website, their publications, and central to everything
the Playhouse does.
B. Image of Organization - Local and Regional/National Perceptions
Due to its 100-year history in the region, its status as the State Theatre of California, and
the graduates of its former College of the Theatre Arts, the Pasadena Playhouse is well
known both in Pasadena, California and the larger Southern California community. Re-
views of each of its productions appear in the local area paper, The San Gabriel Valley Tribune,
as well as the LosAngeles Times and Variety. These same media outlets also report on any
changes in upper management at the Playhouse and any other happenings of interest.
Although thought of as a stodgy worn-out theatre by the early 1990s the Playhouse jumped
into the 21st-century social media world with both feet. The Playhouse uses its presence on
Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to not only publicize its current plays, but to generate at-
tendance by the social media followers of actors, and to depict the other activities that the
Playhouse is involved in. By hosting a Yelp Elite Event the Playhouse generated mostly pos-
itive reviews of its theatre to encourage a wider audience attendance. Through its Pinterest
presence the Playhouse is represented not only by pins of its plays, but also historic photos
of the Playhouse, and information about Pasadena’s Playhouse District.
Pasadena’s community leaders are proud of the the Playhouse. An entire neighborhood dis-
trict of Pasadena, the Playhouse District, is centered around the Playhouse. It has not only
become a cultural area of Pasadena, but has also become an economic development engine
attracting many new up and coming businesses to the area with the Playhouse at the center
of it all. The district is meticulously maintained and is a walkable neighborhood with
restaurants, bars, coffee shops, bookstores, gift shops, etc. nearby that make attendance at a
Pasadena Playhouse production a very enjoyable experience, as Yelp reviews attest.
Board Relations Case Study Report, Page 5

6. C. Programming
The Artistic Director and Associate Artistic Director have done very well synchronizing
Pasadena Playhouse programming with implicit vision and values of the Playhouse. Once
again, here is the Playhouse’s statement about diversity:
Embracing diversity at the Pasadena Playhouse goes beyond promoting toler-
ance; it is about exploring and celebrating the human experience shared by
people of all colors, genders, ages, ethnicities, sexual orientations, learning
and physical abilities, and socioeconomic positions.
The Playhouse stages six plays each season that reflect such diversity. For example, the
2015-1016 season covers the following plays:
• Real Women Have Curves, (September 8 - October 4, 2015) a play about Latino women
working in a Los Angeles garment factory, some in the country legally and some not.
• Breaking Through (October 27 - November 22, 2015) presented a young girl trying to
make her way through the music industry and to find her own voice at the same time.
The Pasadena Playhouse performance was the world premiere of Breaking Through.
• Peter Pan and Tinkerbell,A Pirate’s Christmas, (December 9 - January 3, 2016) is part of a
new Pasadena Playhouse tradition of staging British Panto theatre at Christmas to in-
troduce American theatre goers to a an old British art form.
• Fly ((January 26 - February 21, 2016) honors the Tuskegee Airmen during Black History
Month.
• Set in the Catskill mountains, a group of cross-dressing heterosexual men spend their
holidays together in Casa Valentina (March 15 - April 10, 2016), a play that addresses
sexual identity.
• Lastly, as a season finale the Pasadena Playhouse stages a yet to-be-announced play
(May 31-June 26, 2016) that for the past 5 seasons has been a new play. For the
2014-2015 season the finale the Playhouse staged Waterfall, a play based on a Thai folk
tale with a cast that was 90% Asian-American actors.
Funding received through The Wells Fargo Theatrical Diversity Project and the Wallace
Foundation enable the Pasadena Playhouse to foster artistic and theatrical diversity among
different races, ethnicities, and economic classes through various initiatives such as:
• Mi Historia, Mi Manera that encourages participation of Latino/a adults in the theatre
arts throughout the San Gabriel Valley;
• Hothouse at the Playhouse that allows playwrights a place to rehearse and refine po-
tential plays before a live audience;
• Greenhouse at the Playhouse which is a Playhouse venue in conjunction with the
School of Dramatic Arts at the University of Southern California (USC) that work-
shops plays of alums of USC’s MFA program in Dramatic Writing;
• the Georgia T. McClay Friendship Center, an exhibit space at the Pasadena Playhouse
that can be visited pre and post play, as well as at intermission, that provides interac-
tive exhibits about the current play on the MainStage theatre. Exhibits include back-
ground on the story of the play, the inspiration of the playwright, the artistic designs of
costumes and set design, etc.
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7. • the Audience Sustainability project that seeks to engage the Asian-American and Pacif-
ic-Islander community in the San Gabriel Valley into the Pasadena Playhouse.
The Playhouse has created several programs that further the vision and value of Community
that the Pasadena Playhouse describes as follows:
The Playhouse creates a welcoming space for various communities - for
artists, youth, and audiences of broad backgrounds who both receive and, in
turn, advance compassion, understanding, and enlightenment through the arts
These programs include:
• Talkback Tuesdays, a post-show event where audience members can stay after the show
and talk about the themes of the play with community and artistic experts;
• Post-show at the Playhouse, an event similar to the above, but this time audience
members meet with members of the cast, crew, and artistic team to discuss the play;
• New Generations Theatre Access Program for Youth, a
• Student Matinee Program, a program that works with 15 area high schools to provide
students the opportunity to see 4 of the MainStage plays over the course of a school
year, as well as a teaching artist that stays with each school throughout the school year.
• Creative Living Partnership with MonteCedro, a program that provides readings, lec-
tures, and tours to seniors citizens living in the MonteCedro retirement home.
The Pasadena Playhouse actively works to make a reality of their vision that the power of
theatre can transform society, and their values of artistry, diversity, and community. These
aren’t just words that look good on theatre publications. The Playhouse can point to activi-
ties where they have truly tried to make their vision a reality.
D. Financial Profile
Since coming out of bankruptcy in 2011, the IRS 990s and annual reports submitted by the
Pasadena Playhouse show fairly prudent financial management and oversight. The first year,
2012, revealed a loss of $433,903 but the next two years of 2013 and 2014 both showed prof-
its, profits of $107,718 in 2013 and $252.276 in 2014. These figures are low, but they also show
that the Pasadena Playhouse is clawing its way back into solvency after the bankruptcy.
Both the current Chairman of the Board of Directors and the Director of Finance came into
their positions in the past two years, the same two years where the Playhouse had profits,
showing that they are doing their job well, keeping the Playhouse in the black, even if it is
just barely in the black. The current Chairman of the Board of Directors serves as the Pres-
ident of the Greater Los Angeles region of Wells Fargo Bank and is well versed in the finan-
cial industry. Additionally, the current Director of Finance has an MBA from Harvard Busi-
ness School and understands the requirements of the non-profit world. It appears that the
Pasadena Playhouse has done well choosing their current leadership. Hopefully these
choices will bear fruit in the years to come.
Board Relations Case Study Report, Page 7

8. The balance between earned and unearned income has varied from as high as 70/30 down to
50/50 over the past 6 years of financial reports.
The 2014-2015 budget approved by the Board at an October 2014 special board meeting
showed a conservative estimate of 53% earned income to 47% unearned income, which is
the level where the Playhouse found itself in trouble before in 2010. Given the high ticket
sales reported in Board meetings for the 2014-2015 season and this far into the 2015-1016
season, the balance between earned and unearned income should approach 2013 levels again.
However, should the conservative estimates for the 2015 season play out when the 2015 an-
nual report is released, then the Playhouse may find itself in trouble again. Based on the ra-
tio of monthly expenses to cash on hand from the 2014 financial report, the Playhouse oper-
ates with enough cash on hand to continue to operate for only one month if something
should interrupt its revenue stream. This implies very little cash available for emergencies.
The Playhouse has no Director of Development at the current time and this financial situa-
tion clearly shows the necessity for one. Hopefully a new Director of Development can
take appropriate steps to fill the coffers of the Playhouse and help the Director of Finance
and the Chairman of the Board get the Pasadena Playhouse back on a sound financial foot-
ing.
Financial reports for the Pasadena Playhouse from the 2014 fiscal year show a broad base of
support for the organization with more than 50% of its income from ticket sales, 38% from
subscriptions, and the rest from investment and other forms of donor income. The diverse
programs on the schedule for the 2015-2016 season have the potential to broaden the Play-
house audience and lead to new sources for ticket sales and subscriptions. Although the
2015 fiscal report is not yet available, the Playhouse received a large 4-year grant from the
Wallace Foundation in 2015 that will increase its income base for the next four years.
For several years before the 2010 bankruptcy proceedings, financial reports for the Play-
house were consistent with the above breakdown between earned and unearned income
sources. The 2010 fiscal year was a severe anomaly with a drastic drop in income and the
Playhouse filed bankruptcy. Since re-opening its doors in 2011, the Playhouse financials have
showed a fairly consistent balance of income between ticket sales and subscriptions, but The
Playhouse received no grant monies until this current fiscal year.
Year 2014 2013 2012 2010 2009
Earned $4M (56%) $6M (70%) $4.1M (68%) $600K (50%) $6.1M (65)
Unearned $3.1M (44%) $2.6M (30%) $1.9M (32%) $600K (50%) $3.2M (35%)
Total $7.1M $8.6M $6.0M $1.2M $9.4M
Board Relations Case Study Report, Page 8

9. PART TWO
Governance Profile
A. Board Organization and Documentation
As an old, mature organization the Pasadena Playhouse has run the gamut of an organiza-
tion’s life cycle. It became defunct in the late 1960s, revived again in the 1970s, and went
through a period of stagnation in the 1990s. The Pasadena Playhouse re-organized under
Chapter 11 Bankruptcy proceedings in 2010 and closed for eight months while these pro-
ceedings took place. It emerged a stronger organization and is doing well today. In fact, the
bankruptcy proceedings of 2010 makes the Playhouse an interesting subject for this case
study project since there is a before-bankruptcy and after-bankruptcy dichotomy in some
governance areas.
When the Playhouse re-opened in 2011 after the bankruptcy proceedings, the Board of Di-
rectors reviewed and updated the organizations bylaws, completing that process in August
2012. This makes their bylaws only three years old and therefore considered current. At-
tendance at the September 2015 meeting of the Pasadena Playhouse Board of Directors re-
vealed that the Board hews to the Board duties laid out in the bylaws and therefore func-
tions appropriately.
At a length of 30 pages, the bylaws address such topics as the function of Board of Direc-
tors, the various officer positions and duties of the Board of Directors, elections and terms
of office for Board officers, the function and duties of both the Executive and Artistic Di-
rectors, and the function and duties of the different standing committees that the Playhouse
is required to form. The bylaws include policies regarding Conflict of Interest, financial
provisions, the creation of the annual report, the keeping of records, indemnification proce-
dures, as well as provisions for the running of the Pasadena Playhouse during times of emer-
gency, and lastly how to amend the bylaws. These appear to be fairly comprehensive bylaws,
which is to be expected given the age and the experiences that the Pasadena Playhouse has
been through in recent years.
The board meets every two months for a total of six meetings a year. Their fiscal year starts
in September, so the September 2015 meeting was the first Board meeting of the 2015-2016
fiscal year. The Board chair actively engaged with both the Board members and the staff
members in attendance, kept the meeting focused and on topic with the agenda, and ran the
meeting in a timely manner. Although the Board does not follow Roberts Rules of Order
closely during their meeting, like most organizations they take out and use what works for
them. One Board member attended the meeting telephonically, as is allowed by the organi-
zation’s bylaws.
At the September 2015 Board meeting each member of the Board had a binder that con-
tained minutes of previous meetings, reports from the various committees,and financial sta-
tus reports, and other documents on agenda topics. Minutes from previous meetings reveal
Board Relations Case Study Report, Page 9

10. who was present and absent, who reported for various committees, the essence of the com-
mittee report, motions and votes on various matters, long-range plans for the Playhouse,
upcoming plays, financial status reports on each play, etc. Whether the minutes are dis-
tributed within 10 days of each meeting is unknown, but review of one year of Board meet-
ing minutes for the 2014-2015 season shows that both staff and Board members follow up on
what was discussed at the previous meetings and give update reports at subsequent meet-
ings. There was no annual summarization of the Board’s action in the year-end meeting
minutes.
One things that the minutes do not do is label anything as an “action” item so that it can be
tracked over the course of time. Additionally, the minutes do not state who made and who
seconded the various motions made and voted upon, nor do they record the actual vote
count.
There is no evidence that the Playhouse has a separate space set aside on their website for
the Board to access and share documents related to organizational governance and opera-
tions. Although they certainly have the ability and knowledge to create a private place on
their website for the Board to carry on it business, it appears at this time that email is the
main technological method used by the Playhouse for the dissemination of information to
Board members. The only documents that explain how the Board goes about its business
and the only place that policies for the Board members are listed are the bylaws.
The governance best practices of the Pasadena Playhouse do not quite reach the “excellent”
level because they presently operate without an Executive Director, although a search is un-
derway. Two staff members are sharing the Executive Director duties at this time in addi-
tion to their regular staff duties. The Pasadena Playhouse will really start to hum once a new
Executive Director is found and can lift the burden off the shoulders of these two staff
members.
As mentioned, the Pasadena Playhouse has really been going through a re-evaluation process
since emerging from financial bankruptcy four years ago. The bylaws have been re-drafted.
the two staff serving as interim executive directors recently revised the employee manual.
The Playhouse was in the initial stages of a capital campaign and strategic plan when the
Executive Director left for San Diego in April 2015. The draft of the capital campaign and
minutes of Board meetings from late 2014 show that the Board was actively involved in the
capital campaign process before they suspended the process to look for a new executive di-
rector.
The planning documents reveal that this process was really a capital campaign with a few
strategic plan elements thrown in. For example, one element the previous Executive Direc-
tor focused on in the capital campaign plan was the need to revise the mission, vision, and
values statements. As mentioned before and included in the recommendations for the
Pasadena Playhouse is for the Playhouse to revise, label, and publish all three mission, vi-
sion, and values statements. These statements need to be explicit and the previous Execu-
tive Director intended to work on this.
Board Relations Case Study Report, Page 10

11. The Pasadena Playhouse celebrates its 100th anniversary next year, and the previous Execu-
tive Director titled the proposed Capital Campaign/Strategic Plan the “Centennial Plan.”
An ambitious plan, the Centennial Plan seeks to:
1. Restore and beautify the exterior (including the courtyard).
2. Landscape the sidewalk, entry and courtyard area.
3. Relocate the box office, will-call, bathrooms, and concessions.
4. Perform an internal “facelift” of the auditorium including electrics, paint, HVAC im-
provements, restoration of the historic fire curtain, and installation of state-of-the-art
looping and assisted listening system for hearing aide and hearing comfort.
5. Upgrade the sound, electrical, and lighting package for the main stage.
6. Complete renovation in the Carrie Hamilton Theatre space, including new lighting and
sound equipment, painting, and HVAC improvements.
As this reveals, this is much more of a capital campaign than it is a strategic plan. The Executive
Director held a Board retreat in December 2014 for the Centennial Campaign and scheduled fol-
lowup meetings throughout 2015, as well as a 14 step process to complete the Campaign. How-
ever, before much could be achieved, the Executive Director left to take a position in San Diego.
B. Board Profiles and Operations
Although the Pasadena Playhouse bylaws allow for 40 board members, at present the Board
of Directors numbers 23, with three recent vacancies. The term of office for the Board of
Directors is three years, and each year one third of the Board members have their terms ex-
pire. The 4-member Executive Committee consists of the Chairman of the Board, the Vice-
Chairman, Secretary, and Treasurer and each of these positions have a “job description” in
the Playhouse’s bylaws.
The present members of Board currently have or have had careers in theatre, music, film
industry, law, financial investment, public administration, banking, insurance, fundraising,
and internet technology. They range in age from mid-40s on up and are evenly split be-
tween male and female. The board is heavily tilted in favor of whites, which is representa-
tive of the Pasadena area community, but there are several members that are black, and one
latino. The members of the Board of Directors are listed of the Pasadena Playhouse website
along with biographies and photos of each Board member. The Board of Directors are also
listed in the annual report.
The Governance Committee bears the responsibility for the guidelines used to select mem-
bers of the Board of Directors and all members of the Board of Directors keep an eye out
for potential Playhouse Board members to fill vacancies as they occur. New members are
elected by the current Board of Directors. At the present time the Board has a couple of
vacant seats that need to be filled. They would do well to reach out to the Asian-American
and Latino communities to try to balance out the board, especially since the Playhouse has
community outreach initiatives into those two communities.
Board Relations Case Study Report, Page 11

12. The bylaws provide for five standing committees - - executive, governance, finance, invest-
ment, development, and audit - - and lays out their purpose, duties, and responsibilities. The
Chairman of the Board is an ex officio member with voting power of all standing commit-
tees, except for the Audit Committee. Each committee has at least two members of the
Board of Directors appointed to it, one of whom serves as the Chair of that committee. A
staff representative from each of these committees attends and reports at each Board meet-
ing.
Although there is less than 100% attendance at the Board meetings, more than a majority of
the Board members attend. Work and travel interfere with Board attendance, although the
bylaws allow for electronic attendance and some Board members take advantage of this.
The meeting room is set up with appropriate technology for this electronic attendance.
Board meetings are not necessarily open to the public, but members of the public are al-
lowed to attend when they call and make arrangements. Such arrangements are necessary
because the business offices of the Pasadena Playhouse are in a locked and secured building
that requires an access code to enter.
C. Staff
The Executive and Artistic Directors both serve as voting ex officio members of the Board
of Directors, but the rest of the staff does not. Several members of staff do serve on board
committees, and even attend the Board of Directors meeting to submit committee reports,
but they do not have voting rights. The committees created by the Board of Directors that
contain non-voting staff members include finance, governance, diversity, investment, devel-
opment, branding, long-range planning, and the gala committees. As set forth in the Play-
house bylaws, the Executive and the Audit Committees do not include any Pasadena Play-
house staff. The bylaws do not specific which committees, if any, the Executive Director
serves on. Since the Executive Director position is currently vacant, it is unknown what
committees the eventual Executive Director will be involved in.
The Pasadena Playhouse used Executive Search consultants in the last four years. The
Playhouse has had two different Executive Directors since 2011 and is engaged in another
Executive Search at this time. A discussion whether staff experienced disharmony at the
Pasadena Playhouse during this time would be to engage in speculation, but it is a question.
The Executive Director saga played out as follows:
• 2009 - The Executive Director announced his departure at the end of the 2009 season.
The Playhouse obtained the services of a new Executive Director beginning July 2009.
• 2010 - The Playhouse went dark in February 2010, only seven months after the new
Executive Director was hired. The Director stayed through the Chapter 11 bankruptcy
proceedings which began in May 2010 and lasted eight months, during which time 37
employees were let go. The Playhouse got back on it feet in 2011.
• 2012 - The Executive Director announced his departure February 2012 and stayed as a
consultant through the end of June 2012 for a total with the Pasadena Playhouse of ex-
actly three years. A new Executive Director was searched for and hired in September
2012.
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13. • 2015 - The third Executive Director announced her departure at the end of April 2015
as the 2015 season approached its end. Search for a new executive director is currently
underway.
The Pasadena Playhouse has not yet returned to the number of employees it had before the
2010 bankruptcy. Since that time there have also been changes in the members of the
Board, a change of the Board chairmanship, and changes in staff leadership positions, so it is
reasonable to assume that there was some dis-harmony among the staff. Although the most
recent Executive Director left on good terms with the Playhouse and the Playhouse sup-
ported her on her new endeavor, it is not clear at all that the same applied for the previous
Executive Director before that. But that is all in the past now, and the current staff seem to
be happy, motivated, and passionate about what they do. They have good reason to feel this
way. The Playhouse has been very successful with its pivot to focus on diversity and at the
same time to return to its roots of artistry and community.
The Pasadena Playhouse has big plans for its future and it seems well on the way to achiev-
ing those plans. The Playhouse received support for its implicit vision with the grant it re-
ceived from the Wallace Foundation as well as the Wells Fargo Theatrical Diversity Project.
These projects bring vitality and increased morale to the Playhouse, its staff, and the sur-
rounding community. The Playhouse should continue to grow in the number of staff as it
recovers from its bankruptcy of a few years ago and hopefully hires a new Executive Direc-
tor committed to the growth of the organization.
D. Volunteers
The Pasadena Playhouse has several separate groups of volunteers, none of whom are board
members. These are the Friends of the Pasadena Playhouse, the Gilmor Brown Society, the
Pasadena Playhouse Alumni & Associates, and the Ambassadors of the Pasadena Playhouse
The oldest of the volunteer organizations that support the Pasadena Playhouse, the Friends
of the Pasadena Playhouse is a 501(c)(3) organization with a Board of Directors and several
different committees. These volunteer committees include Hospitality, Membership, News-
letter, Office Help, Public Relations, Special Events, Raffles, and Ushers.The Friends of the
Pasadena Playhouse provide ushers during the play performances, lead guided tours of the
historic Playhouse buildings, help preserve and maintain the Pasadena Playhouse archives,
and provide hospitality to the cast during play performances. In addition, the Friends of
the Pasadena Playhouse host fundraisers for the Playhouse throughout the year. Member-
ship in the Friends of the Pasadena Playhouse requires a $20.00 membership fee and a
commitment of 25 hours a year in volunteer duties. In the alternative, a member may pay a
membership fee of $30.00 with no volunteer duties.
Not technically a volunteer organization since it is really a form of donor recognition, the
Gilmor Brown Society, is not a 501(c)(3) organization. Named for the founder of the 1916
community theatre group that became the Pasadena Playhouse, Gilmor Brown Society is an
honorary, exclusive, membership organization. This society consists of those people who
have used estate planning to support the Playhouse. Forms of estate planning include Wills
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14. and Bequests, Gift Annuities, Charitable Remainder Trusts, Life Insurance Policies, and
Qualified Retirement Plans. These donors are listed in Playhouse programs and honored at
an exclusive annual event.
The Pasadena Playhouse Alumni & Associates was founded in 1953 and is a 501(c)(3) organi-
zation with over 400 members. From 1928 until the early 1960s the Pasadena Playhouse ran
the College of Theatre Arts, a school that trained actors for stage, film, and radio. Many
graduates went on to become Hollywood stars. With the creation of university drama de-
partments in the 1950s, the College of Theatre Arts at the Pasadena Playhouse no longer
served its purpose. The Pasadena Playhouse Alumni & Associates was created to be an ac-
tive part of The Playhouse, offering associate memberships to Playhouse staff and descen-
dants of alumni. The alumni association works in conjunction with the Friends of the
Pasadena Playhouse to preserve and maintain the archives of the College of Theatre Arts, as
well as provide the historical and architectural background of the historical building for
Playhouse tours. The Alumni Association is presently working to digitize the archives of the
College of the Theatre Arts. Additionally, the Alumni Association received an endowment
through which they issue scholarships to deserving students interested in a career in theatre.
The most recent addition to Pasadena Playhouse volunteer organizations, The Ambassadors
of the Pasadena Playhouse is not a 501(c)(3) corporation. This organization does not per-
form fundraising activities for the Playhouse like the Friends of the Pasadena Playhouse
does. Instead this organization solely performs a service to the Playhouse. Created by a
long-time member of the Pasadena Playhouse Board of Directors, the Ambassadors pro-
mote the Playhouse by keeping in contact with and stewarding current Playhouse support-
ers while also trying to obtain more supporters. The Ambassadors host Playhouse donors,
potential donors, invited guests and special parties before play performances and during in-
termissions in the Pasadena Playhouse’s Makineni Library, located on the second story of
the historical Playhouse building.
The Pasadena Playhouse does not itself provide volunteer training. Since two of the volun-
teer organizations are themselves non-profit corporations, they maintain their own organi-
zational records, train volunteers themselves, form their own separate committees to help
the Playhouse, etc. Both the Friends of the Pasadena Playhouse and the Pasadena Play-
house Alumni & Associates use the same boardroom as the Pasadena Playhouse Board of
Directors for their Board meetings. All of these organizations provide volunteer assistance
to the Pasadena Playhouse performing duties that keep the Playhouse from having to hire
more employees, thus keeping the Playhouse’s expenses low.
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15. PART THREE
Summary
A. Overall Assessment
1. Organization mission, image, programs, and finances: Overall Score 3.8
1 Poor 2. Marginally adequate 3. Adequate 4. Good 5. Excellent
Rationale for score: The Artistic Directors have created beautiful programs for the Play-
house that synchronize with their vision and values, but unfortunately the lack of a good
mission statement and the failure to make explicit their vision and values, along with their
shaky financial position pulls down the overall score for the Pasadena Playhouse. It would
be very interesting to go back and re-evaluate the Playhouse 3 years from now to see where
they stand then. Will they have raised their score? Will they have put in place the recom-
mendations below? Did the recommended actions help? It would be nice to know.
2. Governance Profile: Overall Score 3.8
1 Poor 2. Marginally adequate 3. Adequate 4. Good 5. Excellent
Rationale for score: Although on the one hand the Board of Directors of the Pasadena
Playhouse has to be given a lot of credit for re-opening the Pasadena Playhouse after it filed
for bankruptcy and doing a lot of hard work to eke out a small profit, the Playhouse is at a
crossroads. It has vacancies in two major leadership positions and is in serious need of a
strategic plan, all of which affect the Playhouse’s financial position. The current staff under-
stand that there are a lot of holes in their governance profile that need to be filled, and a lot
of those governance needs are dependent upon the eventual Executive Director. But there
seems to be no discussion by the Board about hiring a Director of Development, even
thought the vacant position is listed on the Playhouse website. Maybe the Playhouse plans
to focus on this position after the Executive Director position has been filled, but there has
been no discussion in this regard. So one is left to wonder.
B. Recommendations & Summary
The four top priorities for the Pasadena Playhouse for the next few years are probably equal
in priority. Both an executive director and a director of development need to be hired, a
strategic plan put in place, and mission/vision/values statements revisited to form a cohesive
whole. All of these steps are interdependent and can proceed all at the same time.
• Executive Director. The Playhouse desperately needs an Executive Director to cap-
tain the organizational ship. The Board of Directors of the Pasadena Playhouse has
hired the executive search firm, Morris & Berger, specializing in non-profits to lead the
search for a new executive director. This will take a few months and they have high
hopes for the eventual hire. The new Executive Director will need time to get acquaint-
ed with and acculturated into the organization.
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16. • Mission, Vision, Values statements. The mission, vision, and values statements are
so important that the Pasadena Playhouse should make this a top priority now, even as
the organization hires a new Executive Director. The new Director needs time to study
and learn the organizational culture and structure of the Pasadena Playhouse. In the
meantime, the Playhouse has the staff in place right now that can start focus group ses-
sions among both internal and external stakeholders to integrate mission, vision, and
values statements that together make a compelling case for the Pasadena Playhouse.
The Playhouse has a good headwind on this already with its beautiful statement of belief
on page 2 of its 2014 Annual Report, the statement about the human experience on the
webpage discussing the Wells Fargo Theatrical Diversity Project, the statement about
outreach to disenfranchised communities to encourage theatre, and its implicit values of
artistry, diversity, and community. The building blocks are all there The Playhouse now
just needs to sit down and distill all of these statements down to their core purpose to
make a succinct, purpose-driven mission statement for the organization that will drive
their fundraising efforts and strategic plan.
• Strategic Plan. The Pasadena Playhouse had begun the initial stages of a Capital
Campaign/Strategic Plan when the Executive Director left in April 2015. These two ef-
forts should be bifurcated and focused on separately. A Capital Campaign and a Strategic
Plan are two completely different animals, with one focused on fundraising for specific
projects and the other focused on the future course of the organization as a whole over
the next 5-10 years. Usually, a Capital Campaign will be a subsection of a Strategic Plan,
not the other way around. Both are mission-driven, and hence the need to be sure that
the Mission, Vision, and Values Statements are clear and concise.
With the struggles that the Playhouse has had coming out of bankruptcy, a new Strategic
Plan is an absolute necessity if the Pasadena Playhouse is to continue. The Strategic
Plan should evaluate the Pasadena Playhouses’s strengths and weaknesses, articulate its
operational, financial, and programmatic goals for the next 5 years, and lay out the way in
which progress toward all goals will be continuously monitored.
• Director of Development. The Pasadena Playhouse has operated without a Director
of Development for some time now. The Pasadena Playhouse hopes to start a Capital
Campaign focused on architectural improvements to the Playhouse buildings and this
would be the province of a Director of Development. Although the Playhouse has
someone in charge of planned giving, another in charge of endowments, and another for
Events and Corporate Giving, an overall Director of Development is necessary in order
to keep all of the development team on the same page and to control the proposed Capi-
tal Campaign.
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