Leadership / 06.23.21
Skypp Cabanas’ Own Magical Kingdom
Christine Payne
Like so many others in ticketing, Skypp Cabanas fell into it almost by accident. He started with dreams of spending life on the stage but ended up building a highly successful career in the ticket office. “I used to be a singer,” he says. “I did musical theatre when I was a kid all the way up through college, but I was not getting any gigs anymore as an actor or a performer. I would audition for shows, and I started to realize that the only shows that I was going to get were anything that had an Asian character, because back then there was no such thing as blind casting, so that is the reason I went into ticketing. I have George Oswell to thank for that, may he rest in peace.”
Earlier, when Skypp was attending classes in San Diego, he would go hang out in Oswell’s theater conservatory ticket office when he was bored between classes. “George would show me the ticket racks, and I would sit and watch him work with the customers in the lobby. Little did I know that seeds of working in the ticket office were being planted in my head. Later, I had the honor of introducing George when he received a lifetime achievement award for being part of San Diego Junior Theatre for so long. When I got up on stage, I was basically a product of who he was.”
Today, the late George Oswell would no doubt be very proud of his protégé Skypp Cabanas, whose career has taken him from that first ticket office experience to his current position as Senior Manager of Ticket Operations for one of the largest theatre companies in the nation, the nonprofit Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles. What does he love most about his job? “Every day is a puzzle,” he says. And the industry? “I love the fact that technology is being embraced and to see how it is being used. We have come a long way from paper tickets and ticket racks.”
Regardless of whether it is the ticket office or the White House (fellow Hawaiian Barack Obama is the person he most admires), Skypp says he most values individuals who can communicate. “In the world of ticketing,” he says, “there are times when various departments do not talk to each other, so you may not always get all the answers that you need, or things are missing and you have to try to piece it all together. That is one of the things that really frustrates me. So, I am constantly working to improve communication and put systems in place.”
Skypp says he also values people who are “honest, trustworthy and dependable.” And when it comes to leadership, he admires those who are “patient, who can delegate well, someone who can see every aspect of whatever is happening so they are situationally aware of things, and that they can collaborate well with others. Someone who listens, too, because that is really important to me personally, that my voice is heard, and my views are considered.”
When it comes to his actual physical voice, Skypp introduces another aspect of his personality. He says he longs to be able to sing like he used to, but “over the course of years of smoking and drinking, and yelling and screaming at theme parks, I have lost the ability. I do wish I could get that back.”
Smoking and drinking? OK, many people have done (or do) one or the other, if not both. But yelling and screaming at theme parks? What is that all about? Well, it turns out that Skypp is a theme park superfan, and not just any old theme parks will do. For him, a major part of his life revolves around the magical world of Disney.
“One of my greatest claims to fame is that for my 50th birthday I did an around-the-world tour of all the Disney theme parks,” he says, with obvious pride. “The trips were taken over the course of a year, so I was basically taking vacation time to do Paris in March, then I would wait a couple of months to bank up some more vacation time and money, then I went to Orlando. I had worked my way from Paris going westward all the way to Tokyo. It all culminated on my actual 50th birthday in Tokyo. I had the most splendid dinner for my birthday inside Tokyo Disneyland.”
It comes as no surprise that Skypp has always considered the Disney paraphernalia that he has collected over the years to be among his most treasured possessions. That changed recently, however, when COVID-19 appeared out of nowhere. “I quickly realized the most important thing is my health, making sure I stay alive so I can continue to explore the world. I am going on a cruise to Norway in January 2022. Hopefully, I will get to cross the Arctic Circle and see the Northern Lights, which is something I need to do before I die.”
Also on Skypp’s bucket list is a visit to the Starlight Express Theatre in Bochum, Germany, currently the only venue in the world where one can see the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical of the same name. “As a kid, I always wanted to see that show,” he says, “but I never had the chance. The theater was built specifically for it with a racetrack for roller skating and swivel seats so you can see all 360 degrees around you while they are racing. The only thing is they sing it in German, but knowing the soundtrack so well, that does not bother me so much.”
The way Skypp describes the venue, it sounds like the next best thing to, well, anything Disney of course. Even though he has already experienced everything Disney on the face of the earth, he longs to go back to one resort in particular. “Tokyo Disney Resort is one of the best theme parks that I have ever been to,” he says. “I would love to have an annual pass and have an apartment in Tokyo so I could go there every single day!”
While the Tokyo Disney Resort may be his favorite theme park, Skypp says his favorite venue is closer to home. “My favorite venue, because of the amount of sheer genius it involves, is Cirque du Soleil’s ‘O’ theater in Las Vegas. I have never seen a stage disappear and create a pool as quickly as they do it in that theater. The way that they stage the show, the amount of visibility that everyone has, the sight lines are just great. The theater and the technology are incredible.”
Again, it is no surprise that Skypp lists the Cirque du Soleil as the best live event he has ever seen. It was back in 1987 when he was still a teenager and the first time the world-famous troupe had come to Southern California. “My best friend and I were like, we don’t have anything to do tonight, your mom suggested we go to the circus, I mean, let’s just kick it, let’s go to the circus. We were not expecting much. We got there. We sat in the show, and it was the most imaginative and most thrilling experience I ever had at any live event. I think it was because it was something I was not expecting. I was expecting this hokey, crazy circus with clowns and all that good stuff, like you see at Ringling Brothers. While we all love the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus, at that age, I was too cool for that. But for whatever reason, Cirque du Soleil had the right formula, the right glitz, the right glamour, just enough to keep me on the edge of my seat the entire time. I remember after the show, having to walk around because I was just so excited about what I saw, how I had to calm myself down before I could drive home.”
Despite his love for extravagant adventures, Skypp is also comfortable just curling up with a good book (Ray Bradbury is his favorite author), and to get in the right mood, guess what music is likely playing in the background? “While I loved all the ’80s bands when I was growing up,” he says, “tastes evolve and change. I have to say that there is no one singular band or any artist that is my all-time favorite. I can tell you right now that I have been listening to a lot of Disney theme park soundtracks, and I have been listening to them for about 15 years now. You can depend on them to set a certain type of mood.”
At this point in the interview, Skypp’s mood turns more serious. When asked what his greatest achievement in life has been, he proudly pointed to an annual tiki night that he organizes for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, a fundraiser that he has supported for almost two decades. When asked why this charity, he recounted a poignant and bittersweet story that began when he discovered he had obstructive sleep apnea and required surgery. Before he could have the surgery, however, he was told he needed to lose some weight. Thus, he signed up for spin classes at a gym. He picks up the story from there. “They got me to sign up for a bike ride, which I did not know you had to raise money for, which was for the National MS Society. I said, ‘OK, whatever, I am going to do it.’ The minimum to raise was $400 dollars. All through that year, while I was trying to lose weight, I kept asking my doctor, ‘Where is the bill that I have to pay for the hospital stay and the surgery?’ He would never answer that question. Then it dawned on me that my insurance never paid for it, and he never submitted for it. I basically got the surgery and the care for free. That is when I realized I needed to pay it back to the world. When I found that out, while I was trying to fundraise and ride for the National MS Society that first time, I decided I was going to raise as much money as I possibly could and continue doing it just because I was given a second chance at a better life. Then I decided a couple of years ago to figure out whatever happened to that surgeon, because I would love to just go in and tell him what he had done for me and what I have been doing to keep a promise, and I found out that he had died in a motorcycle-car accident. It was something that was very nice that he did for me, and I will never forget him for that.”
The melancholic moment passes and Skypp’s youthful enthusiasm returns when he is asked what brings him the most joy in life. “When I can see my friends and family smiling, when something good happens to them, whether it is a serendipitous surprise or just because they are very content with their lives, that makes me happy. It is all too often that I see a lot of people struggling around the world and close to home. Everyone is struggling, and just seeing some goodness happen to people, it’s something that I like.”
Skypp is an active and enthusiastic member of INTIX and recalls the very first conference he attended in Anaheim in 2016. “I got in through a scholarship,” he says. “As part of the scholarship, you had to volunteer your time, and it was such an eye-opener. To be able to meet everybody and just be a part of that after years and years of trying to get to INTIX. Your first is always the best when it comes to certain things; this was certainly the case for me.” Oh, and Skypp also mentioned that being at INTIX in Anaheim meant he got to stay at a Disneyland Hotel for the first time.
As an active member of INTIX, Skypp finds he is able to share his own knowledge and wisdom with others in a close professional circle. “As Maureen (Andersen) always puts it, we are a tribe, and part of me wanting to always be helpful is to be part of this tribe, to see where I can be useful. I know I can gain from being in INTIX, but I also know that I can give and help other folks. So, whether it is just a small comment about how things are run where I work or what I see happening in the world in general during the Wednesday calls, hopefully that helps.”
Skypp continues, “Currently, with nothing really going on at the moment because of the pandemic, INTIX is a source of camaraderie for me and a place where I get a sense of hope when hope is needed. Maureen is really good about that. Listening to everybody on the calls to see how they are all doing gives me hope that we are coming closer to a place where we can get our lives back into some semblance of normality. So, while generally speaking INTIX is a great place to make connections, right now, I am using it as therapy. In the future, I want to use those connections to help others as much as myself.”
Ironically, when asked where he would most like to live in the future, Skypp returns to his past. “Every time I go traveling, I always keep thinking to myself, ‘Oh, I would love to live there.’ But, I have this thing about my roots and always wanting to reconnect myself to them. When I was living in Hawaii, my parents had a very hard life. My mom was working three waitress jobs. My dad was in the military in the Coast Guard, and we were so poor that we could not afford to have a car, so he had to literally walk eight miles to get to work on his base every morning. I know this sounds silly, but I have always thought if I ever had the chance, I would try to buy the house that we lived in and I would try to use it as my retirement home. It is in a rough part of Hawaii, but it is where I grew up, and I remember fond memories of climbing plumeria trees and going to the creek and the reservoirs and playing around that area.”
And, if he could actually go back in time, what advice might he give himself? He laughs. “I should have found the money for that Disney stock!”
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Tags: Leadership