Presenter’s Money Woes Keep Arts Groups Away

The reason San Diego arts patrons cannot see the San Francisco Ballet present “The Nutracker” this holiday season, local musicians contend, is that Suzanne Townsend and her San Diego Performances’ ambitious plans have cost performers thousands of dollars.

Townsend, head of the debt-ridden company that specializes in importing dance companies, shocked the Musicians Assn., Local 325 in May when she failed to pay an entire orchestra--58 musicians--who played during a five-day run of the Joffrey Ballet. According to union officials and the contractor who hired the orchestra, Townsend owes the musicians about $45,000.

San Diego Performances, the largest dance presenter in San Diego, is operating with a $450,000 deficit. Insiders in the local arts community said that Townsend also owes thousands of dollars to the San Francisco Ballet, the American Ballet, the Joffrey Ballet and the Eliot Feld and Alvin Ailey dance companies in New York, as well as local stagehands.

Jim Bowers, a member of the San Diego Performances board of directors, said he did not know how much is owed to dance troupes, but acknowledged that poor ticket sales have hurt the company and hampered its ability to pay musicians and performers.

“I know that our ticket sales projections for the Joffrey Ballet and Alvin Ailey were not realized, and this presented a problem. It’s tough when you have to rely heavily on ticket sales to make money from a performance,” Bowers said.

At a September press conference at which she announced her nonprofit company’s fall and winter season, Townsend acknowledged the huge deficit, but said she would be working with a $1-million budget.

Joyce Moffatt, general manager of the San Francisco Ballet, said Townsend still owes her company $60,000 from last year’s San Diego performances of “The Nutcracker” and “Swan Lake.”

“Townsend told us that she just doesn’t have the money,” Moffatt said. “We had an agreement with her to do ‘The Nutcracker’ again this year, but we had to cancel because we haven’t been paid for last year’s performances. I’m very sorry about having to cancel. We had two successful seasons in San Diego.”

Although the San Francisco Ballet canceled its performance, the California Ballet is performing its version of the ballet at the Civic Theatre and is its own presenter.

But, even if Moffatt’s company had agreed to perform again this year, Townsend would have had a hard time finding a live orchestra for the performance. Union musicians say they won’t play for San Diego Performances until she pays the money owed them for their work on the Joffrey Ballet.

“She told us after the Joffrey Ballet that she was trying to collect some money to pay us. But it’s been several months now, and we still haven’t been paid,” said Joe Pallazola, Local 325 president. “It’s in the hands of our attorney now. She won’t be able to use any union musicians until we get paid.”

Before Moffatt announced that her company was canceling its San Diego appearance, Townsend asked the San Diego Symphony if she could use its musicians to complement the San Francisco Ballet. Symphony spokesman Tim Mitrovich said management agreed to make the musicians available only if she produced a letter of credit or provided the money up front to pay them.

“She didn’t do either, so we had to decline,” Mitrovich said.

He added that the symphony will make the same requirements for any future performances for Townsend.

Townsend, 45, failed to return repeated phone calls from The Times.

Friends and critics alike described Townsend as an ambitious, egotistical promoter of dance whose ardent goal is to bring world-class productions to San Diego.

Robin Merriman, who plays French horn and who says he is owed $745 by Townsend, praised her for working hard to bring top dance companies to San Diego but criticized her ethics.

“Top dance companies don’t come here on their own volition. Somebody has to set things up at this end. . . . She’s obviously trying to fill this role, and I commend her for it,” Merriman said. “But I don’t agree with her philosophy of making plans to import these companies without first making sure that she can pay the musicians and her other debts.”

Before founding her company three years ago, Townsend worked at the San Diego Foundaton for the Performing Arts. Foundation spokesman Fred Colby said they parted ways after foundation members and Townsend disagreed over her plans for bringing first-class dance companies to San Diego.

“It’s not that we didn’t want these companies,” Colby said. “But Suzanne was too ambitious. She wanted to move too fast for the budget we had to work with. That’s why she’s in trouble now. She is just too ambitious. She tried to do too much too soon, and it got to be very expensive for her.”

The foundation is Townsend’s main competitor in bringing major dance companies to San Diego. However, the foundation, with its $850,000 operating budget, is still smaller than San Diego Performances.

San Diego Performances board member Bowers said it is unfair to single Townsend out for the company’s financial problems.

“We’re all in this together,” Bowers said. “The board and Suzanne together bit off more than we should have. Perhaps we tried to have too lofty a season the first two years. Perhaps we should have been more conservative and not brought in so many major companies.

“We did have too expansive a season and certainly should have gone at it more slowly. But it’s not just Suzanne’s fault.”

Musicians who are owed money by Townsend take a less kindly view.

“She has such a flagrant disregard for the system,” Merriman said. “You wonder at what point during the Joffrey performance she noticed that she would not be able to make payroll but let it go its full course and then walked away from it.”

“I don’t understand how a person can hire labor and then not pay for it. How can she get away with it? The fact that she’s still putting on performances amazes me,” said Renata Bratt, a cellist who said she is owed $500 by Townsend.

Townsend recently brought the Paul Taylor Dance Group and Ballet Folklorico de Mexico to town, and she has the Dance Theatre of Harlem lined up for several performances next month.

Bowers said Townsend is bothered by her alienation from the musicians union and the local arts community as a result of the company’s financial problems. But he denied that Townsend has burned many bridges in the musical world.

“She’s a trouper and presenter of many years, and an experienced arts executive,” Bowers said. “She has been able to live with this because she understands what has happened. It’s difficult when these people are your friends. She’s dealing with company managers, symphony executives and musicians who are friends of hers. I know it’s not easy for her.”

Even if Townsend settles the pay dispute with the musicians, their disagreements with her are sure to continue. Like other presenters in San Diego and throughout the country, Townsend uses taped music with many of her shows. Performances put on by the Paul Taylor Dance Group, Ballet Folklorico and Dance Theatre of Harlem all feature taped music instead of a live orchestra.

The musicians have been picketing shows that use this type of music.

“It’s something that’s snowballing. Musicians record the show, get paid once for recording and don’t get any more money. When people go to a ballet, they like to see a live orchestra. They like to see a conductor,” said Pallazola, president of the local musicians union. “But our work is diminishing because of the increased use of canned music.”

Bratt said the public is “getting cheated” two ways by the use of taped music.

“The presenter doesn’t reduce ticket prices when he uses taped music, and the production value of the show is usually not very good,” Bratt said.

According to Pallazola, during a performance by a Russian dance group during the Soviet arts festival, foreign voices and coughing could be heard on the tape.