The problem is that it is broke. Burien Little Theatre is repeatedly confused with a children’s theater. Sadly, many people do not know who Burien Little Theatre is. In just the last year a number of actors who can to an audition for the first time said they had not come to audition for years because all BLT does is children’s theater. They were very surprised to see what BLT had been putting on stage for the last 33 years. How many more actors never come down for the first audition?

The same is true of audience members. In the last couple of years BLT has been repeatedly told, I never knew BLT did high quality / not children’s shows. If BLT is hearing that from new audience members how many more people do not ever come down or even check the website to see what BLT is really up to?

Would a name change mean a sudden huge jump in attendance? Not likely. But it nothing is done will the attendance rise fast enough to keep pace with the rising costs of presenting live theater? History says no, it will not.

Sometimes the old adage, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” is the best option.

Then, BLT tries to impress upon the directors that BLT encourages color blind casting.

Actually, doesn’t that sell us short a bit? It’s been BLT’s habit to cast against type. We just did an all-female Jesus Christ Superstar, for instance. To me, that’s good, assuming the directors and actors involved can pull it off. It helps prevent a production from being the same old same old.

I’m comfortable with the current name. As long as the theatre continues to be a small theatre in Burien, I think it works. Any name change is likely to mean some people lose track of the theatre, particularly if the acronym changes, too. What benefits make up for this disadvantage?

All the rest of my ideas right now are increasingly more satirical for no good reason. Will keep working on it.

But we’ll see…