Jeffrey Wells to Eric Kohn, the New York City-residing artistic director of the Southampton Playhouse:
Eric,
Happy New Year and all the best, etc.
I’ve just read Hope Hamilton’s puzzling 27east softball piece about the Southampton Playhouse and particularly about you and Maria A. Ruiz Botsacos and the honor of being named “people of the year” by some vague Southampton press org.
ANYWAY, I’m a tiny bit perplexed by a few details (or a lack of them) in the Hamilton article.
We all understand that the Southampton Playhouse is a grade-A aspirational nonprofit experience, one that incidentally houses “the nation’s smallest IMAX theatre”, according to Hamilton. (What could be the possible point of showing a big Chris Nolan event film on a teeny-weeny IMAX screen?)
We also understand that exhibition is a sadly dying industry (breaks my heart) and that most of the super-wealthy boomers and GenXers who can afford to live in the Hamptons (but whose ranks are almost certainly thinned out during the cold months) prefer to stream HD films at home on their 75-inch 4K screens.
So how does the eight-month-old Southampton Playhouse, even with the unacknowledged, unmentioned grants and secret donations and tax breaks and you-name-it that fund the overall operation…how can the SP cover the basic operating expenses (which have to be sizable) plus your salary plus Maria’s…how does it all add up?
Not to mention yours and Maria’s Southampton lodging and commutation expenses (rents are ridiculous out there, even in the winter). I mean, who’s the secret arms-dealing billionaire who’s paying for all this?
And why doesn’t Hamilton even mention the Harmony Korine EDGLRD thing, even in passing? You left your lofty position with IndieWire for the Harmony thing, right? Is that job still happening?
At the very least Hamilton’s article reads and sounds like a carefully phrased, very carefully edited, ignore the elephant in the room, blah-blah profile.
Seriously, what’s really going on? Without blowing Hamilton smoke, I mean.
At the end of the day, the Southampton Playhouse is just a movie theatre (technically a quad, right?) and movie theaters in general are struggling to survive. At best this or that indie showcase in Key West or Savannah or Austin or hipster Brooklyn MIGHT be breaking even, but only with salaries and expenses pared to the bone…right? Are flush Saudi billionaires cutting checks on the side for the SP?
I’m obviously not familiar with the ins and outs of financing blue-chip operations like the SP, but way back when I was a fully licensed Connecticut projectionist plus I also worked as a manager of Sid Geffen ‘s Carnegie Hall Cinema so there’s that.
Best to you and the family. How old is your son now? My granddaughter Sutton just turned four.
Jeff
P.S.: We all understand that the spelling of Southampton includes only one “h”, which breaks down to “South” and “ampton.” (Or, if you will, “Sout” and “Hampton.) And yet the neighboring community of East Hampton is spelled like it looks and sounds.
Also: I understand the motive behind Alejandro G. Inarritu’s decision to substitute a G. for Gonzalez so his name would sound less pretentious or more concise…9 syllables vs. the original 11…but on top of her three-pronged, 8-syllable name why does Maria insert an A. for a grand total of 9 syllables?…as long as she’s piling up the syllables why not really go for it and insert the name that the A. stands for, in which case she might possibly out-syllable George Fortescue Maximilian de Winter?