'Pennies Do Not Come From Heaven'
David Frank knew that "pennies do not come from heaven." When he made application to the Ford Foundation in 1973, he projected that by 1976 "full box office potential will be realized" and ticket sales would no longer sustain the theatre's budget. He realized that outside monies would be necessary to keep the theatre in business.
A formal annual giving program was initiated in 1972 and still continues as a regular campaign to enlist additional financial support from the theatre's subscribers.
In 1976, patrons who pledged $1,000 over a four year period qualified as Founders of the theatre's Endowment Fund, and were granted perquisites such as free parking and the promise not to be asked for money again.
With Frank's encouragement, the Backers and the Junior League sponsored a 1978 planning conference with other area arts organizations to form Advocates for the Arts, now called Missouri Citizens for the Arts, which lobbies legislators for arts funding.
Increasingly part of the area's cultural establishment, the Loretto-Hilton Repertory Theatre began to enjoy widespread support throughout the St. Louis community.
Precious little money existed for publicity, but without it the theatre's chances were dim, so David Frank made the theatre attractive to the media. Radio, television and newspapers in the area, from the major St. Louis dailies to suburban and community papers, covered the theatre's activities by printing news releases and writing their own features, often with highly visible photographs.
Attractive background pieces were published before openings, and productions were prominently reviewed, usually approvingly, sometimes not. "I don't think we should be pompous about presenting plays," Myles Standish, long-time culture commentator at the Post-Dispatch wrote. More than once, the Loretto-Hilton was mentioned in Time and Variety. In 1977, The Wall Street Journal pointed out that the St. Louis theatre was filling more seats than either Actors Theatre of Louisville or the Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven.
Members of the company became familiar faces to St. Louisans, and the elusive quality of family began to develop, not only among the members of the company, but between the company and its audience.
Arthur A. Rosenberg, one of the earliest company members, said, "What's important is belonging. That's what we have here."
David Frank called it "a sense of communication between the actors and the audience...not only the fight to stay alive but realizing that the community as a whole decides that this is something that really matters and will support it."
During David Frank's eight years at the Loretto-Hilton, the Mainstage season consisted of five plays presented in sequence, beginning in 1972-73 with a moving production of Of Mice and Men and a memorable One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, both of which overflowed the house and spurred a leap in season ticket sales.
While he was here, 40 plays appeared on the Mainstage, seven in the Studio. Added to the playwrights who had already been represented were John Steinbeck, Agatha Christie, Lanford Wilson, Arthur Kopit, Tom Stoppard, Beth Henley, Sam Shepard, Athol Fugard, David Mamet and George Farquhar. It was a demanding mix.
"We're doing what we believe in," Frank was quoted as saying, "and what I hope to be able to do, which is to produce contemporary and classical American works, all of them challenging works that will appeal to a wide audience."
Robert Darnell was one of the resident actors who talked about the risk and dilemma of doing difficult drama. "If an actor isn't bad every now and then, he isn't pushing himself, he isn't taking that one big step to see if he can really do it."
