Corn Stock Theatre is undergoing a management change, but that's far from the only thing on the minds of those who keep the theatre running successfully.
Kenney Delaney, current interim theatre manager, says the theatre was in need of someone to fill the position right as Corn Stock's iconic summer tent season begun. Delaney takes over for previous theatre manager John Stuff.
Previously a member of Corn Stock's board of directors, Delaney says his theatre degree as well as his 7 years of experience working at ArtsPartners of Central Illinois ultimately made him the best fit to take over the position. He's on contract until September 30th.
From there, Delaney and the board will reassess the appointment and decide how to move forward.
In this wide-ranging conversation with WCBU's Jody Holtz, Delaney talks more about the current challenges the theatre faces, including the possible replacement of the iconic summer tent, as well as a child protection policy the theatre recently implemented.
This conversation has been edited for brevity and clarity.
The summer season is now in full swing with the iconic tent, and the number of shows that Corn Stock does is quite a few...as manager, what are some of the challenges that the theater is currently facing during this summer season?
Kenney Delaney: Sure. So, just like a basic rundown of how everything works, we do nine performances of a show, and we do five different shows. So, we just closed out Sister Act, and while that first show is going, we have already cast and have been rehearsing the next four shows that will happen. So, it's crazy trying to do all of that at one time.
Any particular show could have close to over 100 people involved in that show, and so as a theater manager, you're dealing with all of these different people. So while we're running Sister Act, I could be getting emails, phone calls, text messages from any of our next five shows during the summer. So, it's a lot of trying to sort through all of the people and the things on top of just trying to run an organization as a whole. Our fiscal year has ended, so now we're trying to do our 990-tax return on top of all of this other stuff.
I know that the tent may also be sort of nearing the end of its lifecycle here, so can you tell me a little bit about that?
Delaney: Right. So, Corn Stock has been in existence since 1954 with the tent having so many different iterations throughout the years. The current tent structure was put up in April of 2005. So, with like a 20-year lifespan, that's coming up in the next two years. However, this is Illinois winter so that 20 years really kind of shortens a little bit. And currently, each panel of that tent costs about $12,000 to replace, and we replace those every couple of years.
So right now, that particular structure has been discontinued. So, we can't actually get the panels for that structure anymore. We have to get them handmade, so they cost twice as much money, and two of them need to be replaced by next year. So, that's about $50,000 worth of materials that we need to account for. We're trying to play that game of do we spend $50,000 now, or do we spend even more money to just replace the entire structure? Because we're going to have to do that anyway, in the next couple of years. So that's kind of what we're dealing with right now on top of five shows for the summer.
Potentially even a fundraising campaign might be launched here within the coming months, is that correct?
Delaney: Definitely. Our finance committee, we'll be trying to come up with different fundraising ideas. How are we going to launch a capital campaign so that we can keep this iconic tent up in the summer? And, you know, we see 400 some odd people a night for nine nights in a row, and that just keeps adding up. And so, Corn Stock has a huge impact on the community.
Switching gears here a little bit, I also know that Corn Stock has recently implemented a Child Protection Policy. What inspired the idea and the need to have this policy in the theater?
Delaney: We've always kind of had like, not a formal policy, but we've always kept an eye on our children. We do have a program called Corn Stock for Kids for those ages 7 to 18. What really brought about the 'formal policy', we have someone that joined our board of directors last year, and she is coming from a church background where you have to have that child protection policy.
So, we don't have the full policy yet, but we've started the full background check on anyone that spends more than a certain amount of time in our facilities. So, for instance, a show like Calendar Girls that's coming up, there are no children in that show. There are no children involved backstage, however, they do rehearse in the (same) space, and some of our other shows do have children in them. So, we are making it a requirement that anyone that steps foot in the building for more than let's say 24 hours at a time, seven days a week, that sort of thing, that we need to do a background check on them just for the safety of our children.
And these background checks, we're only running a check for felony convictions against children. So, let's say that someone has something bad on their credit report. We don't even see that information. Or if someone has parking tickets or something like any sort of conviction or felony that's not related to children, we don't see that information. We only get flagged for crimes against children.
To your knowledge, do any other theaters in the Central Illinois area have a policy like this?
Delaney: I don't know if anyone has a specific policy. I know that community children's theater, they do background checks on their adults that are involved in their shows, and I'm sure that there are other groups that do it. It's just not something that we really talk about a lot. It's just something that we kind of do behind the scenes.
For theatres anywhere that maybe don't have a policy like this, why do you think that they should consider enacting one and kind of follow Corn Stock's lead here?
Delaney: Since we're kind of following the lead of churches and stuff, I think it's definitely important. We're kind of a gateway to access to children. So, we want to make sure that area is safe, that there's no one on one contact between adults and children, that everything is just above board and that kids can come and have a safe experience and not have to fear for anything. I mean, they're going to school and already fearing about school shootings. We need to be a place that is safe in all aspects, including just having a great rapport with adults and children.
Is there anything that I didn't ask you about today that that you want to add to the conversation at all?
Delaney: I don't think so other than, hey, come and see shows at Corn Stock. That's how we make a lot of our money. And if you feel so inclined to donate to our upcoming crazy expenses that we're about to incur, that would be great.
Corn Stock Theatre's second show of the summer season 'Calendar Girls' runs June 23 to July 1. For more information on the rest of the summer season, click here.
