June
11, 2000. Henderson, Nevada. The Hyatt Regency Lake Las Vegas Resort. Women’s
Health Care Meeting for the Pharmacia Corporation. 2 p.m.
My day so far: a light breakfast, an early morning workout, short rehearsal
with the script writer and teleprompter operator, a dip in the pool, unbelievable
aromatherapy/shiatsu massage and now lunch gazing at the horizon of desert
mountains and Lake Las Vegas. A typical day on a Business Theatre Contract?
Not bloody likely. But yet, not at all unheard of.
Like most of our contracts, it is best to know as much about what makes the one you’re working under unique, and the Business Theatre contract seems to be one of the most misunderstood. Often offering a wide variety of perks (such as travels to beautiful resorts and cities) and minimum salaries at $1319 for a contract of up to seven days and $1054 per week for a contract of two weeks plus, it is vital to know the quirks and differences in working in the Corporate American Structure. These events are typically centered around a particular company launching a new product or inspiring the new sales team to “go for it”. The shows can be musical or non-musical, have dancing girls or comedians, involve client participation (eg. the CEOs and Managers of these companies) or characters modeled after them. All have the same basic goals: to unite the team and inspire them to perform. The power of entertaining these folks with stories and songs about themselves, their companies and their co-workers cannot be underestimated. When a show is good, it’s very good and when it’s bad, well...it can be likened to the sinking feeling one gets when told they will be portraying a dancing antibiotic.
The hours are usually long. Period. Overtime is a common occurence. These are often large budget, high production value shows with much to be accomplished in a short period of time. Though some days do work out like mine did today, I usually count on working intensely for the time I’m here. Six a.m. calls, working till dinner are not unusual. Knowing that getting this job right often means millions of dollars in revenue to the company (not to mention my nice paycheck and the resorts I’ve visited) remind me that corporate trips like this demand intense work and then intense play. (Why else, I think, would a convention choose a place like Las Vegas to introduce women’s health care products to its sales team?)
If you’re lucky like I’ve been, you’ll work with folks like Michael Metts and his colleagues who produce the shows at Drury Design Dynamics. By its own definition, Drury Design Dynamics (with offices in New York and San Francisco) is a “full-service business communicatons company specializing in the planning and production of meetings, training, corporate communications and special events.” The words they use to describe the work they do are “hot, exciting, moving, fun, creative, soaring, targeted, original.” Metts, previously an Actor, is still a dues paying AEA member and has exhibited time and time again something that seems to be increasingly on the decrease: respect for the Actors with whom he works. Metts has been with Drury for twelve years, having directed countless productions. He says that the most important thing to remember about Business Theatre is that “the client rules. And they will change things up to the last minute.” Qualities he most appreciates in an actor are “ maturity and wisdom”. Mostly to deal with the changing client needs and intense work ethic.
Watching the production team work day and night, you can’t help but understand why it’s only fair that we, the talent, must be equally as flexible. If the VP of Sales who is nervous about the speech he’s making decides he needs more teleprompter rehearsal time, thereby usurping yours, it’s best to find another time to practice your lines. After all, if the CEO decides two hours before the show begins that the set is a little too stark, the production team must find a place (even in Henderson, Nevada) that’s willing to create a giant sized logo or two to decorate the set. Those are the rules, challenging or not. But in the end, when you hear the crowd respond with pride to the message given by this peculiar and particular brand of storytelling that is Business Theatre, you are once again reminded that there is great power in live theatre, even in a ballroom in the middle of the desert. You, too, can respond with pride, for helping to make it happen.
By the way, in typical “anything goes” Business Theatre fashion, after waxing rhapsodic about the Hyatt Lake Las Vegas, I received word that the hotel is too full for the rest of the week (due, no doubt, to the convention I’m here for) and that we will be moved to the Reserve Hotel, a jungle themed casino with some jungle themed restaurants and a couple of hundred jungle themed rooms above it. Ah well, good thing I had that shiatsu massage today.