You all have given me some great information to ponder and bring for discussion to the board.

It seems clear that a dominant thought is that their is limited involvement of younger people in theater. My experiences are not different at the high school level which is somewhat alarming when students done attend the plays and musicals in their own school (no football team at this school either! hmmmm).

Thanks for the insights and comments. BTW, what’s Ronnie all ticked off about? Sounded like he made some great comments along with others. Can’t everyone have a perspective.

Thanks again. Peace

http://www.cappies.com/nca/2008nominees.php

2008 National Capital Area CAPPIE Nominees just announced!

It’s a careful balance. I know we used to have a subscription to Arena, but the year that they did 7 of 7 African American plays, it was too much for us and we decided that that was the one of our subscriptions that we would have to let go. This coming season, Signature (our favorite theater in the metro area) is doing 5 new features. Due to having to balance costs, we’ve decided that we will not subscribe, but will go to select shows on the roster. Signature is a little too pricey and for us, we decided that we’ll only do 3 or 4 of the shows and not all 5. I know that we’re not alone in the way that we view theater. I think that when competing for entertainment participation, theaters have to mix up what they do and make sure that they keep some new and some familiar in their mix to keep subscribers coming back.

As far as the decline, I can attribute it to ticket cost as well as awareness/competition for attention. I work for a large bureaucracy filled with 50-somethings and most everyone I talk to perceives theatre as being too expensive or just something you go see at National or the Kennedy Center as a night out on occasion.

Next season? I am not renewing some of my subscriptions. Too many shows that I just saw in NY on the list at area theatres and not enough truly new stuff. I know that “saw it already a short time ago” problem is not a general one, but it could have an impact on the avid theatre-goer attendance if this trend continues, especially those of us who schlep up to NY every season to catch the new stuff on and off broadway.

I do have to disagree about people going to the theatre to see works they know they’ll enjoy .. “the standards.” One of the reasons I’m such a fan of Studio, Woolly, Theatre J, Synetic, Catalyst (look at their gutsy prices right now!) and others is because I get to see productions that are so amazingly new and novel. “Souvenir” was one of the best plays I’d ever seen — but yes, I still enjoy “My Fair Lady” and just about any classic at the Stage Guild. I do agree that many theatres must “bank” on the tried and tested in order to fill in with the more original works… which is too bad. Any talented grant writers out there? Which establishments ARE providing grants?

The only way I can see so much (and if I had more time, I’d see much more) is by volunteering and ushering — certainly a great option for the retired who are still energetic or older youths. I can’t begin to calculate what I save. Ushering allows me to enter a world that I love — so it’s a double bargain to me and I’d like to think I help the theatres, too. I’ve heard from many that they can’t devote the time it takes — and I do understand those constraints.

Traffic in DC has gotten so much worse in the last 20 yrs. And now that I work and live in VA, I’ve had to let Olney, Round House, Rep Stage and others (and forget Balto’s Center Stage, etc) become rarities though this isn’t my preference. If we had a metro like NYC’s subway, how great that would be! Terrific re the shuttles.

Compared to wkend prices at many theatres, the Fringe productions are very low cost. Word of mouth is very effective among many of us (Footlights, Ushers, etc) so reviews aren’t always necessary. We’ve got favorite actors and if they’re performing, we’ll also go.

Netty

Also, if you join The Ushers and Footlights’ lists, you have a built in group of theatregoers who you can email to join you on your theatre outing.

Atlas Theatre has a shuttle from Union Station and that makes it so easy to get to H Street Playhouse also. Thank you Atlas!

I wish Olney Theater and Signature Theatre would do the same. I can’t tell you how many times theatre goers who also don’t drive have told me that they would love to see shows at Olney and Signature, but they just don’t want the hassle of schlepping on the metro and transferring ro a bus or two. It will help fill up their houses, and bring “new blood” into their theatres.

Frankly, I donlt have a problem taking the 7C or 7F bus or the 22A bus from the Pentagon Metro station. I’m glad these buses get you two short blocks from SIgnature’s door.

These buses run everyday of the week and run late – some past 1 AM
- pleanty of time to get back to the metro after an evening performance. And on the weekends, the 22A now runs every 20 minutes. It’s a short – less than 10 minute -) bus ride to Shirlington. But, I do understand others who find this a hassle. A special thanks to Janet who taught me all the bus routes to Signature.

I have a member of The Ushers (www.ushers.us) who schleps two hours on buses to get to most theatres in the area, and her trip could be cut probably 1/3 if there were shuttles from the metro.

I also wanted to comment on the new Arena location, which some of you spoke about. I love it! How convenient is it for metro riders like me to have Arena right in the metro station, and to have choices to eat before and after the show. I never had these food choices at the SW location, (I couldn’t afford the high prices of the waterfront restaurants) so it’s so nice to be able to grab something affordable to eat before the show at Crystal City. I do understand that driving there during the week must be time consuming, but Arena does provide free parking, so that should compensate for the schlep some of you have to endure.

Again, thanks for your comments. They are most appreciated.

Because of your comments and this discussion, the theatre commmunity is listening to you. I attended the Helen Hayes Awards ceremony and stayed quite late at the post-performance party, and actors and theatre administrators were talking about this discussion.They are “waking up” and are grateful for your comments and suggestions..

I will always tell the truth as I see it. If I feel that I cannot be honest and open I see no reason to post here.

That is a sad day for me.

Actors or in theatre programs in school.
Related to theatre goers
Friends of the actors in the productions.

My point is we are not bringing in new blood. Kids not connected to theatre do not know it even exists or that it is something other than the Kennedy Center. Kids are bombarded by media advertising everything but theatre. I can tell you that the smaller companies do not have the money to advertise or do not even think it is that important. As to the big theatres they advertise in the theatre sections of print media where these kids do not even go. If I wanted to hide theatre ads from kids I could not do a better job! The marketing is aimed at an aging audience and it is a losing campaign.

I agree with the folks who say that reviews are important. Good reviews are what brought me to see plays in companies that I am now a subscriber to. If there is a play that I want to see, a bad review won’t deter me. But a good review can make a difference if I’m on the fence.

I feel really lucky to be in Washington at a time when there is so much good theater. It enriches my life in countless ways.

My point was not to pick on Arena itself. The point is that commuting anywhere in the metro area is getting harder and harder and people are reverting back to looking for entertainment that is closer to where they live. Especially on weeknights. So, theaters need to find a way to draw new people from nearby. For both professional and amateur theater, you need to find a way to get the population within 10-15 miles of your location to come out. You can’t rely on good advertisement to drag people in from the far corners of the metro area anymore. Other options is to increase the number of performances on Saturdays and Sundays. Despite the fact that is is very difficult to do a double-header, theaters that do Sat/Sun doubles tend to do better than ones with only Fri/Sat/Sun performances.

The venues are all over the place, the scripts often brand new, the scheduling completely atypical, the production values “shoestring” no reviews, (those that even appear), have time to come out before a show is over and none of that hurts the Fringe.

It was pointed out above that nearly a third of shows currently up or about to open cost $20 (or less if you do a pwyc or Goldstar.) So why does theater that doesn’t cost much more than the Fringe do less business? Part of it is obviously “Fringe Fever” but is that all? “Fringe Fever” is just a state of mind. Why is it so much harder to go to H St or wherever when it’s not 95 degrees, it’s not 10 o’clock at night and you’ve heard of the show?

In general, will tend to avoid any theater inside the beltway except on a Saturday or Sunday. It’s too difficult to get in and out of town on weekdays. And then for those where we have to pay parking…even worse.

I really think that picking Crystal City for the temporary location of Arena was a poor idea. If they had gone across the river towards the new Nationals park area, I think they would have had better success. My experience wasn’t singular. I’ve heard from theater-going friends that the new location is poor (I won’t even go into the facility itself) and inconvenient. Some of my friends who were subscribers did not subscribe this season due to the new location. Theaters need to think about accessibility to their theaters when they select locations or move.

Anyway, if you want interest in the kid’s site, there needs to be more activity on the page. There is not much there. Why was no one interested? Maybe a better question is how do you know there was no interest?

Kids in the area ARE actually very interested in theater. Has anyone here been involved or observed the CAPPIES program? This is HUGE in High School Drama. Maybe theaters could take advantage of this huge pool of interested kids. Set up partnerships; some existing programs…Round House Theatre has the Sarah Play… Journeymen Theater use to (don’t know if they still do) have a mentoring program with Herndon High School. Wouldn’t it be neat if students from XYZ High were invited to see an open rehearsal of an STC production or help build sets for a Scena Theater production? Maybe these are unrealistic ideas but there are countless other opportunites where area high school kids could be exposed to the vast amount of professional theater opportunities in our area — workshops, meet the artists, hands-on stage craft, behind the scenes tours, artist consultation for high school drama productions. Many of these opportunities are inexpensive.

How about if a group of CAPPIE Nominees perform a number at the Helen Hayes awards or a group of Helen Hayes nominees attend a CAPPIE’s reception? Local professional actors, directors, designers, etc…support a mixed workshop where kids can meet and learn from their local professionals?

For starters, maybe a link to the CAPPIES program and/or high school productions be added to this site. Are you aware that there are students who are trained to be CAPPIE Reviewers?–these students write the reviews for the CAPPIE productions. Maybe some of these kids would be interested in reviewing programs for DCTheatreScene!

Please don’t write off the younger generation to video games, movies, ipods, etc…the CAPPIES speak for the depth and breadth of interest that theater (both onstage and offstage) sparks in our local youth!

Where I disagree with you is that there are two professional theater companies in particular where I see loads of younger people. Those are Synetic and Teatro de la Luna. As far as community theaters go I’ve notices large number of young people at the Elden Street Players, Kensington Arts, and the the Reston Community Players. All 3 of these community theaters do some very nice work in my opinion- often on the same level as some of the professional theaters and with some of the same actors. By the way Teatro de la Luna offers baby-sitting service provided that patrons request this service in advance. These theater companies are doing something right!

What are the constants?
1. Theatre nuts like us.
2. Actors and their extended friends and family.
3. Long time subscribers

Of this group each year a certain number of theatre goers get older and no longer attend due to health or simply death.

Who replaces them? Not the young because no one targets them. DCTS had a desire to start a Kids Theatre site, no one was interested! Sports, Live Music, Video Games, Film and now HD TV blitz them with ads. Everyone better wake up or someday live theatre as you now know it will be a thing of the past in DC.

It is mareting plain and simple.. Actually the lack of it. The “If You Produce It They Will Come” mentality is in play and surprise!!! does not work.

Soaring ticket prices seems to be the #1 reason given for the drop in attendance, so we had a look. We were surprised to learn that of the 31 productions now playing or opening this month, 10 had non-discounted tickets of $20 or less.

So – as a result of your comments, ONSTAGE NOW has been changed from an alpha list to one grouped by ticket price. Check it out here:

http://dctheatrescene.com/now-playing/

Further discounts are available from the individual theatres, from TICKETPLACE,GOLDSTAR (see their advert on this page, and by checking in every day to DCTS’ HOT TICKETS

http://dctheatrescene.com/hot-tickets/

The other challenge still remains… the critics getting there too late to do the production any good.

I spent a lot of time in the Metro area over the past several years, attending as much theatre as I could afford to see (!!! yet another big issue well-covered here) and I experienced an odd sense of disconnect between the reviews… and the actual quality of the show. In both directions– some excellent shows dismissed off-handedly and even sarcastically in the WaPo review… and some raves for shows disappointing enough that I left on show at intermission, which I rarely do It seemed more than a matter of simply my own personal taste differing from the critic’s taste, though, as upon comparing notes with friends in the area, they reported a mistrust of long-standing toward the Post critic’s critical assessments.

One last thing: the enthusiasm for, and investment in, theatre in the metro area is absolutely staggering, with the kind of exhilarated, inspired and committed theatre community only dreamed about back when I was working locally. From the perspective of living on the other coast in a city with abundant and excellent theatre that “goes nowhere, never catches fire” in the words of actor Ed Harris, what I’m saying is, the issues being addressed in this column are “a great problem to have.” Here in L.A. is the opposite problem; as Harris told the LA Times last June while doing a one-man LaBute piece, “…there’s excellent theatre here… I’ve done the best work of my life in the theatre here… but nobody cares. it’s like you do the work and it just floats up and out and disappears over the Pacific Ocean, for all the effect it has on anyone. It’s like it never happened.”

My point is, where there’s LIFE, there’s HOPE. And I am optimistic that with a community like the one you all are part of, these many of the issues that bedevil you can be surmounted. (The gas prices, however, I dunno…)

I hope that anyone who hasn’t yet commented on why they – their children, their friends and neighbors – aren’t going to theatre will still write in.

The conversation has been very interesting. I know that theatres are reading along. The discussion has provoked some ideas for change here on DCTS. I’ll announce them soon.

Lorraine Treanor, Editor