The show must go on ... but money troubles continue to plague NYSTI’s ‘classroom-in-a-theater’

The greatest performance at the New York State Theatre Institute (NYSTI) these days isn’t the one getting top billing in a playbill.

Each time the UUPers staffing this beloved classroom-in-a-theater put on a new play, they set aside their worries over their future and pour out their best effort for the show. The audience never realizes the financial strain under which NYSTI operates, a strain that belies the glittering costumes and acclaimed set designs. Behind the scenes, however, UUPers wonder how much longer they can keep up the act.

“We are in danger of losing a third to a quarter of our staff right now,” said John Romeo, UUP chapter president at NYSTI.

Based at the Schacht Fine Arts Center on Troy’s Russell Sage College campus, NYSTI presents family-oriented theater. In keeping with NYSTI’s educational mission, interns study theater arts while getting hands-on experience, and a study guide produced by NYSTI helps children in the audience better understand the shows. Theater professionals from New York City are regularly “in residence” at NYSTI, and countless interns have gone on to work in New York City theater.

Current state funding for NYSTI is $1.6 million. Other revenue sources — mostly ticket sales — generate an additional $500,000 a year. UUP obtained an additional $200,000 from the state to close this year’s deficit. But NYSTI is still barely meeting expenses.

A decade ago, there were 64 staff members. Layoffs and attrition reduced the staff to 29, with three of those in management. NYSTI can afford to keep only 22 of those 29 on the payroll year-round. To prevent layoffs and restore full employment, NYSTI would need about $400,000 more this year, Romeo said.

“There’s no fat in our budget at all,” Romeo said. “We have to use interns to replace professional employees.”

For several years, NYSTI had received discretionary funds — known as “member-item money” — from state Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno and several other legislators. Last year, member-item money gave NYSTI an additional $109,000.

But given the state’s spending priorities following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, “the member money that has graciously been there in the past wasn’t there this year,” Romeo said.

Now, Romeo hopes the support for New York City’s arts voiced by state leaders after the attacks will extend to NYSTI, which has a close relationship with Broadway and has brought theater to thousands of children.

“It’s always been a struggle because we’ve always had to validate why we exist,” Romeo said. “People say, ‘Oh, you’re just a theater company.’ That’s not what we’re about. We’re an educational institution, using theater to teach.”

— Darryl McGrath