Delay of Game
Dunkirk NY – As of this writing, there are now 75 comments to my previous post. I imagine some people may be wondering if I will have a response. I believe that in time I will, but this unexpected rhetorical storm has hit just when I am in tech week for a show in Buffalo, preparing to direct another play, and handling other matters at work. I have skimmed through most of the comments, because this blog does review comments before posting, but now the material is so extensive I will have to take more time to digest it all, more time than I currently have. At the very least, I hope you have all enjoyed your conversation with each other. -twl
The Great Whiter-Than-Ever Way
Dunkirk NY – According to The Broadway League 2010-11 Demographic Report, the Great White Way is whiter than ever. And then some. To save you the trouble of clicking the link, here are the bullet points from the Broadway League website:
From the Executive Summary
- In the 2010-2011 season, approximately 62% of all Broadway tickets were purchased by tourists.
- Sixty-five percent of the audiences were female.
- The average age of the Broadway theatregoer was 44 years, older than in the past few seasons.
- Eighty-three percent of all tickets were purchased by Caucasian theatregoers.
- Broadway theatregoers were a very well-educated group. Of theatregoers over 25 years old, 78% had completed college and 39% had earned a graduate degree.
- The average Broadway theatregoer reported attending 5 shows in the previous 12 months.
- Playgoers tended to be more frequent theatregoers than musical attendees. The typical straight play attendee saw eight shows in the past year; the musical attendee, five.
- Fourty-four percent of respondents said they bought their tickets online.
- Bullet about the female audience deleted. (sic)
- In general, advertisements were not reported to have been influential in making the purchasing decision.
- The average Broadway theatregoer reported attending 5 shows in the previous 12 months. The group of devoted fans who attended 15 or more performances comprised only 6% of the audience, but accounted for 33% of all tickets (4.1 million admissions).
Source: www.broadwayleague.com
Given all the demographics we know about theatre in the US and westernized countries today, I think it’s safe to make the following conclusion: Theatre is primarily for white people, as both audience members and practitioners. Continue Reading »
The Theatrical Iron Curtain
Dunkirk NY – In reading up on this article (another variant here), and after a very quick and instructive Twitter chat with Travis Bedard at Cambiare Productions in Austin TX, I began to ruminate on this question of the “iron curtain” that exists between university theatres and working theatres across the country. This particular incident, where the American Voices New Play Institute is splitting into two entities, with the research arm moving from Arena Stage in DC (along with blog Howlround) to Arts Emerson in Boston, seems to be symptomatic of this problem. Why does this research institute feel the need to move to an academic climate, and why does Arena Stage seem to be so blasé about letting them go? Why can’t the two co-exist?
David Dower, who has been the mojo behind the institute along with Polly Carl, has his explanation here on the New Play Blog. Molly Smith, the AD of Arena Stage, has her say here. The words are encouraging, the conversation polite and gracious, the ideas high-minded – and yet something just seems off in the whole deal. Arena Stage gets to keep the production aspects of the enterprise (AVNPI and its funding), including the playwright residencies, while the research wing now moves to Emerson as The Center for the Theater Commons. Howlround will become the new portal and voice for this institute once the move to Emerson is completed in April.
The only way I think something better can come out of this is if the Center for the Theatre Commons, from its new location at an academic institution, now becomes an advocacy center for encouraging academic theatre departments to produce new plays. Why do I think this is a good direction to go in? Because basically what the Center for the Theater Commons has lost in all this is the ability to get new plays actually staged. They can be a clearinghouse network all they want, and dedicate themselves to providing information about new play production to us all (which is good!), but if they cannot muster the means to help either financially or in terms of putting together playwrights with producers, they lose a lot of influence and effectiveness, it seems to me. Continue Reading »
