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The Grossmans’ Skylight Theatre
How Gary Grossman and Sandee Grossman navigate their way through a pandemic while trying to run a theater
By Julia Stier
This article is part of Stage Raw’s series on domestic partners who run Los Angeles-area theaters, on how they’re coping under a stay-at-home order, and what they envisage as a future, after the plague.
Love Story
Skylight Theatre has played a part in Gary and Sandee Grossman’s love story right from the very beginning. In a very LA-esque turn of events, the duo first met in 1986 at an acting class held at the Skylight. Now, the husband and wife serve as the Producing Artistic Director and Executive director respectively.
“We really haven’t gone too far,” Sandee jokes.
“We met at the Skylight Theatre,” Gary adds, “and we’ve been there for 35-plus years.”
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Julia Rodriguez-Elliott and Geoff Elliott: The house they built (A Noise Within), by Marlena Becker
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I sat down with the couple – via Zoom, of course – to discuss how they went from students at the a theater to running it, as well as the challenges of working with one’s spouse, and what theater will look like after the pandemic.
Silver Linings to Brutal Challenges
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“Maybe it sounds a little Pollyannish,” Sandee says, “but our approach is that in these challenges – and sometimes they’re kind of overwhelming – we are always looking for where the gift in it is.”
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Gary and Sandee are looking at the COVID-19 situation as just another challenge to take in stride.
A previous obstacle the intimate theater faced was battling the stage actors-managers’ national union, Actors’ Equity Association, to keep the Equity Waiver Agreement, which permitted union actors to be paid stipends for performances, rather than minimum wage for rehearsals and shows; this allowed for a decades-old workable compromise to provide actors with paid work in theaters of 99-seats or fewer, while not breaking the bank of producers in those theaters, where box office revenue is so constricted by the size of the theater. A sizable number of such theaters qualified for union-sanctioned workarounds, but not The Skylight. “And so we found another way to do it,” Gary says. “We said ‘that’s going to give us an opportunity to find young actors.’”
“Maybe it sounds a little Pollyannish,” Sandee says, “but our approach is that in these challenges – and sometimes they’re kind of overwhelming – we are always looking for where the gift in it is. Not just the opportunities, but actually looking at it as a gift, as something that that will take us in a new direction.”
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Frederique Michel and Charles Duncombe’s City Garage, by Julyza Commodore
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In this current situation, Gary and Sandee have identified that “gift” as being an opportunity to find new ways to provide their audiences with the Skylight’s specialty –new, fresh work that comments on the times.
“We work basically exclusively with new writers, and rising artists, and diverse artists. Most of the work we do has some kind of social content because writers write about the things that are affecting them,” says Sandee. “So when you’re doing that, and you’re dealing with people who have different experiences and different backgrounds, and they’re challenging you with their ideas, and words, and what they want to say . . . You have to stay fresh. You have to stay on your toes. It doesn’t really matter how old you are. You have to stay open.”
“It’s not like we’re reinventing ourselves,” Gary adds. “It’s more like we’re discovering new things about ourselves and we’re adapting to what’s going on.”
One way they’re doing that? Their weekly “Skylight Live” series – new plays created for the Internet performed live on Thursdays.
“What we’re doing is actually a little different. We’re not doing play readings,” Sandee explains. “We’re doing performances of original work created to be streamed.”
Each original piece is approximately 10-minutes long. The cast and director meet virtually to rehearse, and then the performance is streamed simultaneously on Facebook and YouTube.
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David Melville and Melissa Chalsma’s Independent Shakespeare Company, by Ezra Bitterman
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Gary adds that these plays open up discussions about the affects of living in isolation, social distancing, and having to rely on technologies such as Zoom for communication. As leaders of a theater company known for highlighting new work and writers, the couple is enjoying this way to showcase these voices. Gary says that theater that comments on the current times is in the DNA of what Skylight Theatre is about, and this new series allows them to do just that.
Damn Yankees and Blessed Angelinos
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In 1979, Gary made his way to Los Angeles during what he calls “the blossoming of LA theatre.” He describes the vibrant energy of the scene, dubbing it a hub for new creations. “It was growing and growing and growing, and so I became part of that movement.”
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Gary got his start in the theater early, acting in his father’s Men’s Club’s production of Damn Yankees as a child.
“I’ve been doing this since I was nine,” Gary says. “And that’s all I wanted to do. All I wanted to do was theater.”
Dedicated to a life in the arts, Gary says that he never wanted to do anything else. He proudly shares that he’s only ever had to hold two other jobs – he once worked as a shoe salesman when he was a teen, and he spent a stint one winter working at Abercrombie & Fitch over the holidays to earn some extra cash after their son was born, a fact which he and Sandee still laugh about today.
“And then other than that, I’ve been blessed to have a job either on camera, or behind the camera, or on stage,” says Gary. “So it’s been nice. It’s been a nice way to go.”
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Jack Stehlin and Jeannine Wisnosky-Stehlin, and their New American Theatre; by Steven Leigh Morris
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Gary trained in New York City at NYU. He went on to work at New York theaters, such as Café La Mama and The Public Theater
“Wait,” Sandee interjects, “you also owned two theater companies!” During his time in NYC, Gary ran dinner theater companies and a lighting company.
Then, in 1979, Gary made his way to Los Angeles during what he calls “the blossoming of LA theatre.” He describes the vibrant energy of the scene, dubbing it a hub for new creations. “It was growing and growing and growing, and so I became part of that movement.”
Sandee is a native to the City of Angels – and a third generation Californian. She says she grew up learning to play the piano, and singing.
“I discovered performing, and started, like most of us, doing musicals. “[I] did a lot of different things, as well as [being] an actress.”
Stairway to Heaven
The ensemble of Skylight Theatre’s BRONCO BILLY, THE MUSICAL (2019)
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“By that time, we were married, “ she says. “And I finally said, well, if you really want to [be Producing Artistic Director], you need to do X and Y. And he said, ‘well, if you know so much about it, maybe you should do it.’”
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How did they make the leap from being students to eventually becoming the Executive Director and Producing Directors?
Sandee says that it was a slow transition. Gary had been working with the Skylight as a producer, and Sandee was involved on-and-off with the company. Eventually, by continuing in his role as a producer, Gary slowly rose to the rank of Producing Artistic Director.
Sandee came on as Executive Director a little later. “By that time, we were married, “ she says. “And I finally said, well, if you really want to [be Producing Artistic Director], you need to do X and Y. And he said, ‘well, if you know so much about it, maybe you should do it.’”
And the duo has been working as a team ever since.
Sandee and Gary agree that the hardest thing about working with one’s spouse in this capacity is too much togetherness.
“And this has just compounded it,” Garry adds, referring to their current situation of self-isolation.
“We spend a lot of time together, and we work a lot together as it is, and we’re really pretty comfortable with it, and pretty good at it,” Sandee shares. “I mean, there are the inevitable disagreements. We have different ideas about some things, but this is 24/7 – there’s no getting away from it. So, usually he goes in one room and I go in another one so at least we get some kind of separation.”
“And it’s a testament to our marriage as well,” Gary says. “We’re very good friends, extremely good friends, and we’ve been together and we love each other, and so that’s an understanding.”
That said, “We do battle a lot,” Gary says about their artistic ideas. “Our staff knows that, and we don’t hide it too much. But at the end of the day, we come to an agreement on how to handle it.”
Gary also says that one of the things that makes them a good pair, is Sandee’s honesty.
“When we got married,” Gary shares, “we wrote our own vows, and hers was, ‘I will only laugh at your jokes if they’re funny.’” He says that honesty of hers is something that carries over to her work as well. “She’s going to tell you where it is, and she’s going tell you how she feels, and so you trust that.”
“She makes me a better person. She makes me a better artistic director,” Gary says.
And while there may be challenges to working with a spouse in this kind of career, there are also a multitude of rewards.
The couple – who have a grown son (who’s about to get married!) – says that Skylight is like their other child. Gary says that one of the biggest rewards of working with Sandee is being able to look back at their work and say “look what we did. Look what we did together.”
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow . . .
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“She makes me a better person. She makes me a better artistic director.”
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The movers and shakers of Los Angeles theater are already thinking ahead. Every Tuesday morning, artistic directors of companies all over LA hold a virtual meeting to discuss the future of live entertainment.
Gary says they’re going to be taking their cues from their audiences. They know people will need time to adjust to feeling safe in large groups again.
The collective experience of living through a pandemic may also change what type of shows, and the content of the plays that they produce.
“It’s going to be a very interesting time coming back to this,” Gary says. “How are we going to look at the environment? How are we going to look at things around [us], how are we going to look at our fellow men and women? How are we going to deal with that?”
How can theaters prep right now for this shift in programming?
Gary has his own answer: “Artists lead the way,” he says. “So if we’re going to lead the way, then we’ve got to look, and we’ve got to experience it.”
Despite the challenges that come from self-isolating, creating, and running a theatre company together, Gary and Sandee love the family they’ve created at Skylight Theatre.
“It’s great creating with your partner,” says Gary.
“We have a good time,” agrees Sandee.
