After all, we did it their way
The New York Times ran a piece last week describing how many dance companies are being slowly crushed by the financial millstones that their newly minted homes have become. We're living through what is becoming more and more of a financial crucible. I run an Equity company, and regardless of the fact that layoffs are rampant and no one I know in management is getting a raise (and some are taking cuts and furloughs) - AEA members, like many union members across the country, are getting a contractual raise.
I'm the last to suggest that the members aren't worth it or don't deserve it. I bring it up only as an example - like the cost of operating a building - of relentlessly increasing overhead in an industry already plagued by seemingly insurmountable structural economic problems.
I was a bit of a slacker in my student years, so I don't recall or never learned at what point theatre moved entirely indoors. Since it was dark inside, theatre had to be lighted with some kind of incandescent form of combustion.The move indoors required fixed seating, lobbies, carpets, plumbing, pest control, roofing, fire suppression, etc etc etc - all of which had to be paid for and maintained and upgraded about every ten years.
Whenever we budget for a lighting designer (or a costumer, or a set builder) I always mention that "x will cost so much, and y will cost so much - that is if we do the show indoors in the dark." We're doing theatre a certain way, folks, and no one says that we have to. Costs are not set in stone - they're what we decide.
All we really need is some actors and a script. Adjust costs accordingly, reprice your tickets, and see what happens. Montana Shakespeare in the Parks - which certainly has overhead - and uses actors and sets (albeit modular - which save on expense) - touts itself as "free every summer."
"Free every summer."
Chew that over. No talk of ticket prices, the specifics of attendance, season subscriptions. It's performed outside - no need for lighting, roofing, carpeting, plumbing, HVAC. Can you imagine how much time is saved? How much money? Certainly they have some alternative expenses and logistical concerns, but nothing like what anyone maintaining a building has.
We're doing theatre whatever way we inherited. We're wringing our hands looking for money and trying to attract audiences at a magical and elusive price point (think Unicorn) that supports us and that they can afford. We're raising money for endowments - the interest from which we'll use to repaint the building in 10 years. We're spending more time trying to bring less audience to our empty chapels.
Do theatre any way it can be done. Do it your way. Deliver what needs to be delivered stories, memorable performances, life-changing epiphanies, laughs.
I'm the last to suggest that the members aren't worth it or don't deserve it. I bring it up only as an example - like the cost of operating a building - of relentlessly increasing overhead in an industry already plagued by seemingly insurmountable structural economic problems.
I was a bit of a slacker in my student years, so I don't recall or never learned at what point theatre moved entirely indoors. Since it was dark inside, theatre had to be lighted with some kind of incandescent form of combustion.The move indoors required fixed seating, lobbies, carpets, plumbing, pest control, roofing, fire suppression, etc etc etc - all of which had to be paid for and maintained and upgraded about every ten years.
Whenever we budget for a lighting designer (or a costumer, or a set builder) I always mention that "x will cost so much, and y will cost so much - that is if we do the show indoors in the dark." We're doing theatre a certain way, folks, and no one says that we have to. Costs are not set in stone - they're what we decide.
All we really need is some actors and a script. Adjust costs accordingly, reprice your tickets, and see what happens. Montana Shakespeare in the Parks - which certainly has overhead - and uses actors and sets (albeit modular - which save on expense) - touts itself as "free every summer."
"Free every summer."
Chew that over. No talk of ticket prices, the specifics of attendance, season subscriptions. It's performed outside - no need for lighting, roofing, carpeting, plumbing, HVAC. Can you imagine how much time is saved? How much money? Certainly they have some alternative expenses and logistical concerns, but nothing like what anyone maintaining a building has.
We're doing theatre whatever way we inherited. We're wringing our hands looking for money and trying to attract audiences at a magical and elusive price point (think Unicorn) that supports us and that they can afford. We're raising money for endowments - the interest from which we'll use to repaint the building in 10 years. We're spending more time trying to bring less audience to our empty chapels.
Do theatre any way it can be done. Do it your way. Deliver what needs to be delivered stories, memorable performances, life-changing epiphanies, laughs.
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