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September 8, 2008

Bridgework Theater has current call

By SCOTT WEISSER

Don Yost wanted to write for the theater. He lived in Goshen, though, and there weren’t many jobs like the one he wanted.

So he invented one.

Yost founded Bridgework Theater. Over 28 years, close to 2.8 million people in several states have seen Bridgework productions. The plays were aimed at young people and tackled tough issues — bullying, sexual abuse, conflict resolution, etc. A goal was to help students and school officials deal with problems.

Yost has gotten feedback about Bridgework’s impact. He’s heard about kids at each other’s throats who tried to get along after seeing a show. He’s heard about bullies who figured out why they were bullies — they’d been bullied.

Bridgework Theater has done some good in the world. For all practical purposes, Bridgework Theater is finished.

“In 2005, we were touring with two companies, two teams of actors” in 10 to 12 states, Yost said. At its peak, the Goshen-based Bridgework toured with three companies.

In 2004-05, the number of schools paying for Bridgework shows started to drop. From 2005 to ’07, it went down by 50 percent. Last year, Bridgework was down to one team of actors.

According to Yost, 80 percent of Bridgework’s income came from fees school officials paid for performances. That money dried up, and troubles mounted.

Yost thinks much of the drop-off is due to the No Child Left Behind act. School success in meeting the federal mandate is measured through testing.

“Because (school funding) is connected to that, they’re really focused on this test, and changing their educational processes,” he said. Yost thinks Bridgework’s woes stem less from a lack of school money than a lack of time.

“There was just no more time that they could set aside for an event that was not going to really help their test scores,” he said.

“Who can really fault schools teaching children better?” Yost said of No Child Left Behind. Still, he feels character education is useful, too.

At the start of 2007, Yost and Bridgework’s board of directors knew a radical change was needed. “We sort of tinkered with our marketing strategy,” Yost said, but still the number of shows kept declining.

“By September of ’07, there was really one question: Not ‘if’ but ‘when’” to close Bridgework, he said. The target dates were December 2007 or June 2008.

Many board members put up their own money, and a tax credit program led to more individual donations. Bridgework lasted until June.

“There were another 40,000 kids who saw the plays because of those donations,” Yost said.

Bridgework’s “corporate shell” remains, according to Yost. The group is one year into a two-year grant, and Children’s Theatre Institute of Indianapolis has committed to touring Bridgework plays in five Midwest states. In essence, Bridgework now exists as funding conduit for its grant to go to the Theatre Institute.

Bridgework Theater will officially end in June 2009.

Bridgework’s Web site www.play4.good.org is now maintained by the Peace Learning Center in Indianapolis. Through the Web site, young people can practice what they’ve learned through Bridgework plays.

“For me, the hardest part of this was the moments when I realized there was nothing more I could do — that it was gone, we’d have to close,” Yost said of Bridgework’s end.

As for now, Yost said, “I feel like I’m getting over it. I’m at peace with it.” He feels that given the obstacles, no one could have made a go of Bridgework.

What now?

Yost is staying active. He does grant-writing, and has a three-quarter-time job with Maple City Health Care Center, collecting stories from patients, staff, board members and the community. He tells those stories via a Web site, newsletters and press releases.

“There’s a lot of interesting cultural connections that are made there,” he said of the Care Center.

Yost has written a script for a DVD for Goshen Community Schools. He’s also writing a script for Goshen College for a DVD about the college’s history.

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