Michigan Theater in Crisis: Film Tax Incentives in Jeopardy

Spring Awakening

In the last few months, I visited some of the theaters in Southeast and Central Michigan, and what’s going on is unprecedented in this region. Theaters are popping up all over, and many are doing exciting work. I reported some of my findings in the Feb 2011 issue of American Theatre Magazine. No sooner did my story see print than Michigan’s newly anointed Republican governor decided to deal a blow to the emerging theater scene that ought to stop it in its tracks.

With the encouragement of local and national luminaries—film star and local theater producer Jeff Daniels, for instance, and Detroit Free Press columnist Mitch Albom—Michigan has been enjoying the results of a tax incentive program that

Best of Friends

encourages Hollywood teams to set up shop in the state. It’s good for the economy because when film folks come to town, they live in local hotels, eat at local restaurants, buy lumber for their sets and general merchandise for themselves from local vendors. When producers want to save money by leaving their crews at home, they hire Michigan talents, including actors, and create jobs.

Most of the arguments in favor of film tax incentives point out these economic benefits, but the most important benefits hide beneath the bottom line. The chair of the theatre department at the University of Michigan recently wrote an op-ed pointing out that students are given priceless opportunities to develop their craft by participating and observing artists and crews at work. UM’s isn’t the only state university that benefits from this. And for those who need this translated into dollars, imagine the cost to public universities were they to job in film directors and designers to describe what they do, in seminars that are a pale imitation of what students get on location.

There’s more, and this is where it hurts Michigan residents the most: Artists who would have left for the coasts stay in the area because they can get jobs in films to subsidize the work they do in small

It Came from Mars

not-for-profit arts companies, and even in difficult times, these companies are flourishing. I’ve lived in Michigan some 30 years, and the theater in Southeast and Central Michigan has never been better. Never. Michigan is fast becoming a serious cultural center.

I can’t think of a better reason for Michigan’s film tax incentive.

–

Follow Theater Talk on Facebook.

For up-to-date lists of theaters in the area and current productions, visit www.encoremichigan.com

Photos: Caleb Kruzel and Luna Alexander in the Keith Paul Medelis production of The Spring Awakening Project at The New Theatre Project, photo by Amanda Lyn Jungquist; Alex Leydenfrost and Michelle Mountain in Jeff Daniels’ new comedy, Best of Friends, photo by Danna Segrest ; Joseph Albright, Sandra Birch, Alysia Kolascz and Jacob Hodgson (seated) in Tony Caselli’s production of Joseph Zettelmaier’s It Came From Mars, a co-production of the Performance Network Theatre and the Williamston Theatre. photo by Peter Smith.