In the summer of 2011, Artistic Director John Collins and the leadership of Elevator Repair Service (ERS) were considering how best to balance their financial obligations with their artistic ambitions. Over the previous five years, ERS had enjoyed unprecedented success with Gatz, a word-for-word interpretation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. The company had significantly increased its earned revenue through touring engagements around the world and had increased its operational capacity to cope with the multitude of venue managers and festival programmers who wanted ERS in their varied spaces. Yet public interest in the project, which had been on the road, off and on, for five years, was waning.
This case provides a profile of an organization as it experiences major expansion. It offers a background for discussion of organizational growth and strategy, organizational culture, and managing change.
The video for this case includes interview footage of Artistic Director John Collins, Consultant-Arts Action Research Anne Dunning, Producer Ariana Truman, Managing Director, Director of Education, Daisy in Gatz Tory Vazquez, Director of Development & External Relations Ed McKeaney, Stage Manager Sarah Hughes, Board Chair Scott Watson, and ERS performance footage.
Publication Date: 2012-07-26
Suggested Citation: Michael Bateman, "Elevator Repair Service (2011)," Yale Theater Management Knowledge Base Case 11-40, July 26, 2012
Keywords: Case Video, Theater, Performing Arts, New York City, Growth Trajectories, Leadership, Organizational Culture, Organizational Design, Professionalization, Scale, Strategic Planning
Teaching Notes: No
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