The New York State Theatre Institute as it is today will cease to exist if Gov. David Paterson’s plan to cut state funding to the Troy theater becomes reality.

So says NYSTI Chapter President John Romeo.

Romeo would know. He has fought his share of budget battles, including Paterson’s unsuccessful 2009 attempt to merge NYSTI with The Egg.

The stakes are much higher this year.

Under the governor’s proposed Executive Budget, NYSTI would lose all state funding by 2011-12, leaving it to operate as a self-supporting entity dependent on ticket sales, corporate donations and government grants. NYSTI, created by state legislation in 1974, relies on state funding for about 85 percent of its budget.

“The governor is saying he can’t afford us and we’re saying you absolutely cannot afford to lose us,” said Romeo. “The value of education NYSTI provides is way beyond the funding we get from the state.”

“The education aspect of NYSTI is about 90 percent of what we do,” Romeo continued. “It would be a death knell if the state pulls out its money. We’d have to raise tickets to a price that most people could not afford. We want to keep NYSTI accessible to families; that’s our main goal.”

Paterson’s proposed cuts to NYSTI defy the theater’s state-mandated mission to “produce professional theater of the highest artistic standards for family and school audiences” and “to use those productions to provide provocative and innovative arts in education programs.”

“NYSTI is a true gem, an important, vital entity that provides educational opportunities for thousands of students each year,” said UUP President Phillip Smith. “For the governor to simply cut NYSTI loose would be to remove a resource used by teachers across the state and deprive many students of what may be their first exposure to theater.”

“We’ve been fighting this battle since 1989,” said Romeo. “It’s always a struggle.”

NYSTI’s small but vocal 25-member chapter has mobilized in a big way. Close to a dozen NYSTI members were part of a large Jan. 26 UUP contingent that met with legislators in Albany to advocate for SUNY. NYSTI, with UUP’s help, created and is distributing cards to teachers, students, parents and patrons, urging them to speak out against budget cuts to NYSTI. UUP is also placing ads with a similar message in the Legislative Gazette.

“The governor wants us to become this kind of fundraising organization, but setting up that kind of mechanism takes years,” said Romeo. “We are an educational program.”

Romeo explained that as much as 90 percent of its program is education-based. NYSTI stages between six and seven performances a season. The theater draws as many as 30,000 students annually to their plays, which, in most cases, are chosen by teachers to coincide with lessons they teach in class. Five of NYSTI’s eight weekly performances are for students.

While most students come from the state’s Capital Region, schools from downstate and in the Adirondack region often travel to the theater. Every other year, NYSTI treks to Queens to present a play for hundreds of New York City area students whose schools can’t afford to bus students upstate.

“The idea is to keep arts in education,” Romeo said.

NYSTI accomplishes that in many ways. Actors talk with students before and after performances and prepare classroom study guides. NYSTI offers educational outreach and teacher in-service programs, puts on a summer Theatre Arts School and hosts an educator-in-residence program.

More than 1,500 interns from more than 90 colleges and high schools and 13 foreign countries have worked and studied at NYSTI. Professional staffers mentor about 25 interns each semester. The interns learn about technical, acting and business aspects of theater and work in a variety of jobs—including on stage, behind the scenes and in the business office.

“It was NYSTI that inspired me to go to college and they’re helping me reach that goal. There’s no other program like NYSTI,” said Kellyrose Fluty, a Troy High School senior and NYSTI intern.

“The bottom line is that we’re keeping the idea that theater is a viable source of education,” said Romeo. “Our performances are for families.”

— Michael Lisi