The arduous process of planning a theater season

Chad Swan-Badgero, the founder and artistic director of Peppermint Creek Theatre Co., has a stack of scripts he picks up and begins reading each fall.

“When I read a play and love it and feel like it’s something that we could do, I just put it into a stack of ‘I want to do these someday,’” he said. “So, that exists in my house — sometimes smaller, sometimes larger stacks of plays.”

As Peppermint Creek begins revving up for its season in the fall, Swan-Badgero dives into the stack of shows and starts reading, evaluating and trying to weigh which shows will work best for the next season.

“It’s like a Rubik’s cube,” he said.

Not only does he re-read pieces he found compelling, but he also solicits new scripts from directors who have worked with the company in the past. In addition, he has to figure out directors’ schedules so he can plug shows into a given time frame.

Throughout the process, Swan-Badgero isn’t just looking for a blockbuster musical. He’s seeking shows that fulfill the company’s mission.

“We’re really looking at social justice issues, which I think probably is a good way to boil down what our mission is about,” he said. “It’s really tackling topics that we’re grappling with both in our community in Lansing and in Michigan but also nationwide.”

Even if a show makes the first cut of landing a coveted spot in the season, there are still more stumbling blocks. Shows are licensed by various agencies for performances. They’re generally released for professional performance rights first, then for amateur performances a year or more later. Some also have regional restrictions, preventing the show from being performed within a certain number of miles of another performance or within certain time frames. Each show’s rights and licensing are different.

If the rights aren’t available, Swan-Badgero and his team have to return to the reading room and find another show to fit the bill.

For years, Lansing-area theater companies have refused to share what shows they’re producing with each other. This often leads to double bookings, as was seen this season with the Lebowsky Center for Performing Arts producing both “Kinky Boots” and “Misery” in the fall, followed by the Riverwalk Theatre performing both shows in the winter.

That changed this year. The companies have created a shared document to build their seasons and try to avoid double bookings and overlapping production dates.

Swan-Badgero credits the turnaround to Lansing’s Renegade Theatre Festival and its years of bringing people together.

“Before, we were talking when the season was about to start,” Swan-Badgero said. “We’re always so busy that we never had the time to be together, and Renegade provided the opportunity for us to do that and start to say, ‘Oh, look, we can share stuff, guys.’”

Another component of scheduling for Swan-Badgero and his team is where the show will happen. The company has been without a permanent space since residents gave the City of Lansing a green light to sell the Miller Performing Arts Center in 2019.

Swan-Badgero called the loss of the performing arts center a “wound in my soul.” But a salve for healing that wound is coming, he said.

“I’m so excited about what we’re going to be doing for space next season,” he said. “I can’t tell you yet because we’re arranging for an announcement — a big announcement because it also involves two other organizations in town. We’re hoping in the next three to four weeks to actually make a formal announcement together.”