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More Gloom than Meets the Eye
In its story about this year’s Helen Hayes Awards nominations, today’s Washington Post (Feb 8, 2006) cites the Hayes organization as reporting that attendance at live theatre in the Washington Metro Area is down by 8.5% from 2004 numbers.
Helen Hayes Awards Executive Director Linda Levy Grossman was quoted as saying that 85% of the attendance drop-off occurred in spaces that present, rather than produce, live theatre – spaces like the Kennedy Center, the National Theatre, and the Warner Theatre. According to the Post article (www.washingtonpost.com), Grossman “does not see gloom in the numbers.� The implication is that attendance at producing theatres in the area may be down slightly, but is stable overall.
While I understand Grossman’s point-of-view, my perspective is somewhat different. These reductions may portend future attendance challenges for producing theatres in the area.
The Kennedy Center, the National, and the Warner usually present theatre and musical theatre with broad, “name-brand� appeal. Sometimes these shows are touring productions of Broadway hits, and sometimes they are shows being prepared for a Broadway run after being whipped into shape in places like Washington, Baltimore, or Hartford.
Because these shows were developed with a commercial sensibility, when they are box office successes they attract big audiences. Without question, these presenting organizations attract audiences that producing theatres typically do not.
It’s fashionable in some theatre circles to discount the artistic and audience development value of touring blockbuster theatre. (I'm not implying this opinion on Ms. Levy-Grossman's part or on the part of the Helen Hayes Organization) Some dislike the competition. Some are jealous of these shows’ box-office power. Some people believe that commercialism irredeemably taints the artistic value of this work. Others dislike the experience itself, principally because these shows typically occur in very large performance spaces that diminish or entirely banish the intensity and intimacy that a small theatre space affords.
Whether one likes commercial theatre fare or not, those who care about advancing the theatre category should care a lot about attendance numbers at presenting institutions. When it comes to developing audiences, places like the Kennedy Center and the National do a lot of the heavy lifting.
People learn to love the live theatre experience when they have their first magical “good time.� For many of those in the current audiences of Signature Theatre, Arena Stage, Shakespeare, or Woolly Mammoth, that first taste of theatre magic may have been watching productions of CATS, Les Miserables, Miss Saigon, or Phantom of the Opera.
Developing audiences takes time, money, and patience. It’s expensive and risky – even with big, name-brand shows. These folks help us. They’re partners. More to the point, it is in the self-interest of the producing theatres in Washington to care about and understand the important audience development role that places like the Kennedy Center, the National, and the Warner play in building audiences for the theatre category as a whole.
Posted on February 8, 2006 08:52 AM | Permalink
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