Day in the Life with Mike Stevens

After a bike ride from his Rountree home to downtown Springfield, the smell of buttery popcorn meets Mike Stevens as he enters the Moxie Cinema around 8 a.m. this sunny Tuesday.

For most of the daylight hours, he’d be alone manning the two-screen, art-house theater, performing necessary tasks to ready the venue for the night’s showings. It’s quiet as the silver screens rest, but Stevens keeps busy hosting guest appearances by colleagues and changing the setting via other downtown locales.

The only full-time employee, Stevens hands the reins to his eight part-timers come showtime.

“We’re like ships in the night,” the theater’s executive director says of his employees, some of whom check in before “Welcome to Me” plays at 6:30 that night. “That’s usually when I head out.”

At 8:30 a.m., Stevens checks emails and readies the digital projectors, keeping an eye on the order of trailers, ad spots and films through Doremi Labs’ CineLister software.

The system runs by itself after hitting play, but staff members are available to adjust volume levels.

Looking over one of the theater’s two digital projectors, he’s reminded of Community Foundation of the Ozarks’ May 5 fundraising campaign dubbed Give Ozarks. The Moxie raised $21,466 – more than double its goal – to support a fund for the projectors when problems arise or upgrades are needed.

“These projectors have a five-year shelf life,” he says. “It’s a safety net, absolutely.”

Stevens walks to Coffee Ethic for a caffeine boost before a 10 a.m. meeting at the downtown spot with a potential client.

“The challenge would be when,” he tells Dante LaCivita, who’s planning an upcoming event at the Moxie for The 1906 Gents, an artisan woodworking shop.

LaCivita wants to show “The Big Lebowski” to raise awareness for his organization. Stevens tells him he can sell tickets to offset the $250 licensing cost for a one-time showing.

“We can’t do alcohol, unfortunately,” he says in response to LaCivita’s question about serving White Russians, The Dude’s signature cocktail in the cult classic film starring Jeff Bridges. “We can only do beer and wine.”

At 11, Stevens walks across the square to the Fox Theatre, where History Museum on the Square Director John Sellars gives him a tour and talks about the early days of the venue, while showcasing its projection system.

Stevens, who says the Moxie is looking into purchasing a mobile projector, is scouting sites for potential showings. The Fox also could serve as a larger venue should any Moxie events overload its space on the bottom floor of the College Station lofts off Campbell Avenue.

After breaking for lunch, Stevens reviews an ad for the Springfield News-Leader before a 1:30 p.m. meeting with Moxie staff member Ashley Fillmer.

Stevens takes a conversational approach to management, interspersed with discussion about Moxie children’s events with personal anecdotes and jokes.

“Anything’s possible,” Stevens says to a question about whether older kids could be part of Moxie Mornings. He notes school field trips could be built around the idea and would give children the “building blocks of visual literacy.”

“That sounds really cool. It would be like a Moxie workshop,” he says.

After the short but productive meeting – Stevens’ signature style – he’s off to pick up his 18-month-old daughter, Fiona, from day care.

Thirty minutes later, he’s back at the theater to back up a digital copy of “Wild Tales” – slated to start that Friday – and makes a phone call about a potential screening for the Greater Ozarks Pridefest in June.

Minutes later, Moxie board President Stephanie Stenger Montgomery visits the theater to reconcile April bank statements and expenses. Both clear movie lovers, they talk recent films before getting into the details.

“Twenty-two bucks to clean the windows? That doesn’t sound like very much,” Montgomery says, though the two aren’t overly thrilled with the April results.

“Although we did poorly, I budgeted worse than that,” Stevens says.

By 3:35 p.m., Stevens is back on the phone, this time with Hotel Vandivort staff about a potential on-screen sponsorship.

“Woo-hoo!” he says after hanging up, nailing the sale.

Stevens heads to The Creamery Arts Center at 4:30 p.m. to learn about potential grants through the city’s hotel-motel tax fund. About 45 minutes in, Stevens asks whether the funding could be used for the Moxie’s planned mobile projector.

“I don’t think we’d consider that to be a capital item,” says Mary Lilly Smith, Springfield’s planning and development director.

Leaving the arts center, Stevens shoots over to Missouri Spirits House for a Downtown Springfield Association mixer a little after quitting time. He sips a beer and chats up Coffee Ethic owner Tom Billionis.

After a quick trip back to the Moxie, where he gives a Latin music mix to a staff member headed to Costa Rica, Stevens heads home for the day.

A day’s worth of film preparation awaits him Wednesday.

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