Let’s posit two categories of theatre. To be dramatic (that’s what we do, right?) we’ll call the first category “Sit-down-and-shut-up” theatre, meaning theatrical productions in which the audience is fundamentally expected to watch attentively but take no action that might disrupt the flow of performances or distract other audience members....
It’s no accident that ancient and renaissance playwrights were drawn to write plays about heroes and nobles. Not only were they aspirational figures whose lives would be ripe for curiosity by potential patrons and audience members, heroes and nobles also made decisions that extensively affected the day to day experiences...
This post may skate on the edge of self-promotion, because I am going to be drawing attention to a brief e-book I’ve co-authored; but I have a good story to tell about how this book is an example of the kind of unconventional theatre promotion we need more of. This...
I’m in Kannsas City for a TCG gathering about audience engagement that has sort of morphed into a gathering about working across institutional lines. Now this is a topic I’m thoroughly interested in, but not quite what I expected. It’ll probably be great, but one thing I’d been hoping to...
You don’t have to program it during the holidays to sell a bunch of easy tickets. That tactic works for lots of companies though, which made me wonder why. With anything as big as A Christmas Carol, there is more than one reason. Holidays are full of rituals, marking or...
I keep writing about collaboration between theatre making organizations, but until now, I haven’t given a very clear picture of what form that collaboration should take. Here’s a stab at it. The following is a collection of events that could be held, some every year others every month, to realize...
On Saturday the 8th of June, I hosted a session of the Theatre Communications Group Conference in Dallas to prompt discussion of ideas to increase playgoing. It drew a great group of people who brought a lot of terrific ideas into the room. TCG staff member Zach Chotzen-Freund was kind...
Thesis: The American Theatre Movement has had a tendency to define itself partly by what it is not – distancing itself from community theatre and mere entertainment. This distancing should be reevaluated to determine whether its ongoing benefits outweigh its ongoing costs. Most American theatre professionals will readily explain how...
