Another One Bites The Dust

This time, it's DC's Catalyst Theater.  Rumors of its demise had been circling over them like vultures ever since they didn't announce a new season or update their website for several months.  Now the Post confirms it: They're done, largely done in by a move to a larger space right when the economy blew up.  Also in trouble? The space they moved to, The Atlas in NE DC:

Meanwhile, Atlas itself has been struggling in the economy, according to Scott Kenison, the arts center's chief operating officer. "We've done what most companies have done," he says. "We cut back everybody's hours 20 percent . . . because we didn't have anything happening. Nobody was renting the space. . . . This fall, our season is very bare. All these companies sort of convulsed from the economic situation of the last year and sort of withdrew to regroup."

RTWT Here. Last year I was talking with an artistic director down in DC who told me that companies in DC come and go in waves.  Many companies will start at the same time, many of those will go out of business, and a few will remain.  For example: Everyone knows Woolly and Studio, but does anyone remember that there was a DC Playwrights Theatre? It was one of several companies (along with The Source, Stage Guild and a few others) that started at the same time.  It's gone. The Source's name still exists, but it's run by completely different people and has changed hands (and ownership) several times. Many other companies from that same wave no longer exist.  There's been another wave: Rorschach, Forum, Catalyst, Synetic etc. in DC. Some of those will survive, some of them probably won't.

We have a longevity bias in American Theatre that privileges lasting as long as possible. While it's sad that a good company is shutting its doors, I'm still not convinced that measuring success by years in business is a healthy thing in the arts.  Maybe more companies should go under and there should be more changeover.  Not every band is U2, after all. Some bands are like Liquid Liquid; they release a couple of awesome EPs and an album and then go bust. 

It was ultimately a bad business decision (upgrading to a larger, unfamiliar venue right as the economy tanked) that did Catalyst in. When you make bad business decisions, you occasionally go out of business.  I don't mean to be heartless about it, it's sad when your company doesn't work out and I feel for the Catalyst people. Ultimately to the DC scene (or any scene for that matter) the problems at Atlas are far more troubling.  Companies come and go, space is much harder to replace.

Comments

[Karl Miller]

I just attended a reading at the Atlas a couple days ago and it is a stunning facility that any young (or middle-aged) company would be lucky to use. And it's perched on H street NE DC, which developers say is going to be the next hip artsy enclave/dinner-and-show night spot as soon as the new street car line comes in to speed up the gentrification. It's also two doors down from a more modest venue, the H Street Playhouse, which has had a revolving door of theatrical tenants, too. I sure hope they can keep it together through the recent econ horror.

Catalyst is worth studying for a bunch of reasons. Like everyone, they didn't know the engine of the economy was going to explode last year, so I'd chalk it up to extraordinary bad luck. Except I'm reminded of Joy Zinoman's shrewd business choice to expand the number, not the size, of her performance spaces. So maybe they should have amped up their calendar before expanding their seating chart? Catalyst was also the best $10 ticket in town and they made that movie-ticket-bargain-price a major part of their mission statement (together with producing seminal works). I'd be surprised if Catalyst didn't re-emerge in a different form with some of their old company and management in a few years. At least, I hope they do!