LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth |
For Ric Kirby This is Not Just Another Opening, Another Show! |
by Fay Jacobs |
When Ric Kirby was working with the CAMP Rehoboth Follies troupes prepping for last year's show, he had no idea that exactly one year later he would be producing a show in a venue holding 65 times the number of people as the Rehoboth Convention Center.
"It was a cold winter day when I first saw Chicago's Soldier Field. I stood on the 50-yard line, shivering and thinking 'omigod, can I really do this?' " THIS is producing the opening extravaganza for the 2006 Gay Games in Chicago this summer. And while Follies will go on without him, Ric will have no shortage of gay folks to organize, transport, feed and show off to their best advantage. From hundreds of singing and dancing drama queens to almost 12,000 athletes, Ric's job as Opening Night producer will be one of the most complex and exciting of his career. Ric, who splits his time between Rehoboth and Washington, DC, is a veteran creative director, producer and production manager. In a 20-year career, he has served as creative director and producer for industrial shows and meetings for major corporate clients, produced events for UNICEF, AmFar, the Democratic National Committee, Human Rights' Campaign, and universities. Most recently, he served as Executive Producer for the Inauguration of Timothy M. Kaine as Virginia governor. Sitting in the CAMPus courtyard last week, Ric explained how he happened to land the dream gig of his career. After volunteering at the 1994 games in New York, and seeing the Amsterdam and Sydney Gay Games, he wondered what he'd have to do to get on the production team. What followed were dozens of resumes going out to dozens of Gay Games organizers, phone calls, faxes, and an aggressive effort to get the attention of the Games decision makers. Nobody called him back. "I figured it wasn't going to happen but at least I'd given it a good try," he says, laughing. Then, in the way that networking so often trumps resumes, he told a friend about his attempts to get noticed. The friend told somebody high up in the Games organization about Ric's producing credentials and that jogged memories of multiple resumes and mentions by all sorts of Games-associated people. "I keep hearing about this guy!" came the response and pretty soon, Ric got the call for the fantasy interview. By the time he was on the way back to the airport, he got the news that he was hired and was asked to stick around in Chicago for another few days. Which is why Ric wound up in Soldiers Field, dressed in a lightweight Rehoboth jacket, shivering in the Chicago cold. And from that moment on, Ric became part of a huge organization of people willing and able to take on the challenge of producing the Gay Gamesan event that will bring $100 million in tourism revenue to Chicago, has the support of the entire City government and will be a practice round for Chicago's bid to host the Olympic Games down the road. Ric's job as producer for the Opening Ceremonies is to bring together the team that will collaborate on the three-hour show1400 performers, a marching band, choirs, major gay choruses, 400 dancers and the procession of all 12,000 athletes entering the stadium. Backstage there will be a production stage manager with ten assistants, sound and light crews, caterers, costumers, security, ushers, and the works. But the actual event is merely the culmination of the producer's task. Ric will be responsible for the logistics for a mind-boggling array of details ranging from dealing with celebrity agents to finding rehearsal space; setting up the feeding and costuming of the cast and working with union crews; hiring audio engineers and making sure the city will allow the Gay Games flame to burn in the stadium. That's an important element which took Ric months to arrangeincluding spearheading a proposal to change a city ordinance to allow pyrotechnics in a city that clearly remembers Mrs. O'Leary's cow. As the summer games approach, Ric is working hard and still smiling about his good fortune. "It's not often you can use all your skills, and everything you have been training for in your career for a cause you really believe in. It's a dream come true." Is he nervous? "Well, I have a feeling that at 7:59 p.m. on July 15, I could still have a to-do list," he says, "but I can't wait to see those athletes come onto the fieldespecially Team Rehoboth!" |
LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth, Vol. 16, No. 6 June 2, 2006 |