One of LA’s leading theatre companies has a new face in its ensemble. This new guy feels not only excited but extremely blessed about being part of this innovative group and doing what he loves.
“I got really, really lucky,” says Michael Barker, the newly appointed Managing Director of the Antaeus Company.
Barker began working at Antaeus the middle of August, coming from Yale Repertory Theatre where he served as Associate Managing Director. He holds an MFA in theater management from Yale School of Drama and an MBA from Yale School of Management. While at Yale he was Managing Director of Yale Summer Cabaret, Company Manager at Yale Repertory Theatre and produced the third annual Carlotta Festival of New Plays.
Michael Barker. Photo by Carolyn Potz
Haphazardly beginning his career in theater management in Chicago with the Goodman Theatre, American Theater Company, Sansculottes Theater Company and the Playground Theater, and as Associate Director of Marketing for the Court Theatre, Barker says he never felt his career was a calling but more a labor of love.
“I fell into theater management positions in Chicago while having a day job in sales. Slowly I realized, ‘Wow, there are actually people who do this work and make a decent living at it.’ I was just doing it on the side and decided I could use all my skills and put them towards theaters I worked with.”
Once his fiancée, costumer Heidi Hanson whom he met at Yale, moved to Los Angeles one year ago to work in film and television, Barker began his career search for a new theatre company on the West Coast.
“I knew I wanted to remain in live performance and theatre,” says Barker who avidly tried to make as many contacts as possible during his visits to LA throughout the previous year.
Although he heard LA is not always considered a “theatre town,” during his career hunt Barker saw work done in LA had more energy and originality than in places like New York and Chicago. “Those places are just a little more mature and less exciting,” says Barker. “Small theatre in Los Angeles is where it’s at; it’s where all the risks are being taken!”
After a conversation with fellow Yale alumni Charles Dillingham, who has since resigned as Managing Director of Center Theatre Group, Barker got pointed in the direction of Antaeus. “I had never seen a show of theirs but I knew Charles’ word was a good indicator,” says Barker.
Barker was hired as Managing Director and has become a fully integrated member of the Antaeus family. A little over a month on the job and Barker chuckles they don’t even call him the new guy anymore.
Although wholly pleased during his short tenure at Antaeus, Barker finds the strong ensemble structure of the company to be one of the best and most challenging aspects of his new job. Everyone in the ensemble is extremely committed and because the company is collectively theirs, explains Barker, everyone is invested and has a say in the work.
Among the myriad voices of actors, producers, directors and all who contribute their particular passion and skill, Barker remains certain of his vital role within the company.
“I create spaces in which people can take artistic risks,” says Barker. “Sure in my job accounting, finances, marketing, etc. are important but if any of those things get in the way of creating that space, then I wouldn’t do what I am doing.”
Barker’s job definition sounds romantic but at the core he means it literally. When a season of shows is proposed, he is the lead who talks through the artistic wants and needs of the productions, then makes sure they can physically happen. He drafts the budgets, designs the calendar and pays the AC bill. All of these day-to-day duties are part of the balancing act of managing a company within the constraints of a small theater, he says.
Michael Barker and Jeanie Hackett. Photo by Geoffrey Wade
In terms of the future, Barker sees his position as “the newbie” as taking Antaeus’ great work history and pushing the company further than before. “I think we are still in a transition period between the ‘let’s put on a show’ community (and I don’t mean that as a pejorative at all-community of actors, of artists) theater that has served Antaeus so well in its first decade and a half and being a truly professional organization,” says Barker.
“But I see my job as taking their excellent work to the next level so I am thinking strategically and tactically working toward larger goals and not getting stuck in the mire, at least not too often.”
Barker says the biggest question facing Antaeus now is, “How do we grow?” Along with Artistic Director Jeanie Hackett, the board and the ensemble, he has already set the wheels in motion to grow and is determined to make effective choices to ease their growing pains in the process. They may not move into a new space for a few years but the last couple seasons have proved to Barker that Antaeus is capable of selling out a theatre of more than 49 seats. “Whether the hypothetical future space is ours or we rent continues to be top of mind in long-range planning discussions.”
Barker’s aspirations for Antaeus, his commitment and his resume are impressive but when it comes down to it, the basis of his job is pure love. “People think of art as a calling most times. I could be doing many other things but I choose this because I love this.”
As he prepares for the busy month of October with his wedding to Hanson almost a week away and the opening of The Autumn Garden (he reminds there will be four gala evenings, Oct. 28-31), Barker seems to be settling into his new home just fine. “It’s all still pretty new but it doesn’t really feel like it,” says Barker. “I am just grateful and excited to be here.”
