Five Minutes More

by Edward C. Loder, Cofounder of Turning Leaf Productions

It has been said that heroes are not necessarily braver than the rest of us; they are just brave for five minutes longer. I believe this is the secret to success. Individuals and businesses suffer adversity all the time. It’s how we handle that adversity that separates the wheat from the chaff. Do we give up, admit defeat and endure a life of obscurity and menial toil, or do we adapt, improvise, overcome and persevere in the face of overwhelming odds? Don't expect not to fail. Instead, learn to fail forward. Use adversity to your advantage. Such is the story of Turning Leaf Productions.

Valerie Sneade and Edward Loder met in the summer of 2003. Val is an accomplished concert vocalist and theatrical performer and Ed is a technical director/sound engineer who has toured the world plying his craft. In the sometimes fantastic realm of showbiz, techies and performers are like the Jets and the Sharks, the Capulets and the Montagues. So, convention had it that these two should never get along. They should tolerate each other as necessary evils; thrown into a brief symbiosis for the time it takes to make a show happen and then pulled apart just as quickly, and that is precisely what happened … at first.

Charlotte County is inherently "small town" to those who reside there on a more or less permanent basis. The local entertainment industry is such that Val and Ed were bound to interact occasionally, but the frequency with which they found themselves either directly or indirectly involved in the same shows seemed to reek of divine providence. When the producer of an annual New Year’s Eve gala decided that the 2003/2004 show would be his last, Ed had an idea. Nature (and, as it turns out, senior citizens) abhors a vacuum. Ed wanted to fill the void created by the loss of this show, but he knew himself to be only half of the needed equation. He saw Val one evening and knew who had to be the other half. Thus a seed was planted.

Val and Ed realized the vacuum went beyond the New Year’s show. It was the whole of quality, professional entertainment in Charlotte County. People who wanted such a thing were traveling north to Sarasota or south to Fort Myers and Naples. It seemed the perfect time to start an entertainment company in Charlotte County. They called their company Turning Leaf Productions because they felt their ideas would turn over a new leaf in area entertainment.

It was the winter of 2004. In Florida this meant good times – beautiful weather, a booming economy and love in the air as Val and Ed began to defy convention and form a relationship between performer and techie that was much more than business. And as plans for the company grew, so did plans for a wedding. The couple would be married in true showbiz fashion, on stage at the Cultural Center Theatre. Deposits were made, invitations were sent, flights were booked for out of state family and the date was set for September 25.

It was paradise on the Southwest Coast of Florida! What could possibly go wrong? Little did they know that this would be a year of unprecedented hurricane activity or that one of those hurricanes, Charley, would take an improbable right turn and bring untold havoc and devastation to the area, including the destruction of the venue where they planned to wed and start their business.

On August 13, Val and Ed were in Boston producing and recording Valerie's debut CD and they watched from afar as the news broadcast reports of Charley's wrath. Their thoughts turned, not to their business or wedding, but rather to family and friends and the community they planned to call home. They decided to turn a planned CD release concert into a benefit to raise money for the victims of this storm.

The plan came together in less than 36 hours with a frenzy of phone calls, pressing other entertainers to join them, finding an area venue that was still standing, and a charity to which to donate the proceeds that they were sure would directly benefit Charlotte County. Then, with an idea that was the very definition of the phrase "make lemonade out of lemons," a super secret plan was hatched. The couple would have their wedding after all, as an encore to the show. No one would be told in advance so as not to detract from the charity of the event by creating a competing press story. The worst had happened and not only had they survived but, in the tradition of the great Sun Tsu, they had turned disadvantage into advantage.

But unlike anything in recorded history, the area continued to be plagued by hurricane after hurricane. Charley was followed by Frances, Ivan and Jeanne, each making landfall and sending Floridians scurrying for cover. As misfortune would have it, Jeanne arrived on the day of the benefit. A local radio D.J. with an overactive sense of gallows humor quipped that Valerie Sneade and Edward Loder were the world’s best producers for being able to conjure a hurricane on the very day of a hurricane benefit. The humor, though not unappreciated, was dulled by the little known fact that this was also to be a wedding day. If one could sum up events from God's point of view it might look something like:

 I send Hurricane Charley to wreck your wedding venue – a sign.

 I send Hurricane Jeanne to wreck your actual wedding – another SIGN!

 You're STILL getting married? Fine, do what you want.

As it turned out, the residents of Charlotte County and the surrounding area were weary of their lives being dictated by atmospheric anomaly and nearly $10,000 was raised for victims of Charley. The wedding also went off without a hitch, save for a videographer who was stranded on Tampa's Skyway Bridge and thus unable to document the quasi-prestigious event for posterity. It was time to turn to the next priority – keeping the music alive.

In the aftermath of Charley, festive events were being canceled one after the other under the misconception that it was the wrong time for such shallow pursuits. Val and Ed could not have disagreed more. What was needed during this tough time was a way for the shell shocked to escape the war zone. They could have put the business on hold or scrapped their plans altogether – their business model depended on a booming economy full of snowbirds looking for a night on the town, except the snowbirds’ nests had been blown away and the town was a pile of rubble. But Ed's philosophy of adapt, improvise, and overcome had quickly become a company mantra.

The Cultural Center Theatre, where they had planned to stage their shows, was uninhabitable. It had suffered $2 million worth of damage and faced an uncertain future as insurance companies haggled and the county considered simply demolishing the structure. So Turning Leaf Productions’ first show took place in a conference room on a makeshift stage. Community support, while verbally enthusiastic, was financially flat. It seemed that keeping the music alive would involve life support measures and keeping the would-be Kevorkians at bay.

Thus began the auspicious beginnings of Turning Leaf Productions – less like a phoenix rising from the ashes than a sapling struggling towards the sun. We’ve had some outrageous challenges – like the performer who canceled at the last minute when she was cast by the USA Network for a new hit show – and some raving successes – like the sold-out St. Patrick’s Day show performed by a Scotsman, kilt and all. It all comes down to this: You can choose to see the challenges thrown your way as divine signals to take an easier path, or you can choose to be brave ... for five minutes more.

Ed & Valerie would like to give a special thank you to Leigh Sprimont for editing this story!

THE A-LA-CARTE SERIES 2010/2011 SERIES IS PRESENTED AT
The Cultural Center Theatre
2280 Aaron Street, Port Charlotte, FL
Visit our Port Charlotte page for upcoming shows!

THE HARBORVIEW PERFORMING ARTS SERIES IS PRESENTED AT
The Charlotte Harbor Event And Conference Center
75 Taylor Street, Punta Gorda, FL.
Visit our Punta Gorda page for upcoming shows.  

BOX OFFICE/BUSINESS LINE 
You can call our direct line at 941-206-LEAF (5323) or email us at info@tlpshows.com