How Regional Theaters Are Making it Work in 2023
Industry Trends appears every Monday in BroadwayWorld's Industry Pro Newsletter.
This edition of Industry Trends appeared earlier in BroadwayWorld's Industry Pro Newsletter. Want to be the first to know about the latest industry trends? Click here to sign up!
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the problems regional theaters are having attracting audiences. As I wrote, the majority of theaters that have returned are doing less shows. I donated to at least one theater in all 50 states in 2022 and, during my review of theater websites, it was depressing to see theaters that used to do six shows, doing three now, especially because those three tended to be more traditional fare. This at a time when development programs have been gutted.
"The audience has sort of withdrawn from risk to a large degree," said HowlRound co-founder David Dower, who is currently executive director of Club Fugazi, a commercial theater in San Francisco. "So things that are familiar are doing better. That's always been true, but for some reason it is true now to a greater degree."
Various theaters are indeed reporting some success with well-known titles, such as CHICAGO, LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS and CABARET. Additionally, most of the larger theater companies that are doing well seem to have had at least one tentpole world premiere with big-names attached (typically boosted by enhancement money) since theater returned.
For example, a big hit for Denver Center for the Performing Arts this season was THEATER OF THE MIND, a world premiere interactive experience by David Byrne and Mala Geonkar, which sold approximately 40,000 tickets.
Of course, we want regionals to premiere works from little known artists too. And the good news is, based on anecdotal evidence, a rising tide does seem to lift all boats. Obviously successful productions help fund other productions, but, more than that, theaters that are selling tickets to one big show, also seem to have seasons that are selling better overall.
DCPA Theatre Company Artistic Director Chris Coleman said Alexis Scheer's LAUGHS IN SPANISH and Yussef El Guindi's HOTTER THAN EGYPT, two winter offerings, are on target to reach almost 80% capacity.
"I am thrilled about it in this environment," he said. "It is good news. But we are still very focused on getting people here to the full extent that they were before the pandemic. I feel like the trend lines are encouraging, but we need more, especially with the increasing costs."
Unfortunately, there is no magic formula. Audience members I've spoken to on my trips to regionals have cited all kinds of reasons for being there. There are so many things that are not replicable. The way a certain show takes off. A community's desire to support a specific theater.
Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota, Florida had a 2021-2022 season studded with new projects, including the world premiere of the Lynn Ahrens-Stephen Flaherty musical KNOXVILLE. But its sales have remained strong this season: CABARET was a hit for the company, and current productions of Lauren Gunderson's SILENT SKY and Ken Ludwig'S THE THREE MUSKETEERS are selling well.
Perhaps this season's offerings were buoyed by last season, but there are likely additional factors at play as well. "There is a passion for the arts here and I think that may explain some of our numbers being a little better than the rest of the country," Asolo producing artistic director, Michael Donald Edwards, said.
And, certainly, all theaters need that passion. They need communities that recognize how important theater is. Now more than ever.
.png)
From This Author - Cara Joy David
BroadwayWorld's Industry Editor Cara Joy David is a New York-based entertainment journalist who has been covering the theater industry for over a decade. Her features have appeared in The New Y... (read more about this author)
Mid-Career Playwrights Struggle to Get Support in Youth-Focused IndustryMarch 20, 2023
Theater is often focused on the young. One would think this is only true on the stage—actors and appearance receive the bulk of attention. But behind-the-scenes it is that way too. With a few exceptions for established writers like Tom Stoppard, emerging writers are given way more attention than older ones.
Dueling ANNE OF GREEN GABLES Musicals Head to CourtMarch 13, 2023
Theater fans are used to seeing multiple shows with the same name. We all know about the dueling WILD PARTYs. Yet the producer of ANNE OF GREEN GABLES: A NEW MUSICAL has felt the need to go to court to ask the court to declare the show legally entitled to keep its name.
Court Rules on Jujamcyn Theaters' Fight for Covid-Related Insurance CoverageMarch 7, 2023
Jujamcyn Theaters’ fight for Covid-related insurance coverage has suffered a mighty blow. A Court in the Southern District of New York, which is a federal court, decided against Jujamcyn in its lawsuit against Federal Insurance Company and trimmed Jujamcyn’s case against another insurer, Pacific Indemnity Company.
WOLF PLAY's Wall of Free PropsMarch 6, 2023
When walking into MCC Theater to see Hansol Jung‘s WOLF PLAY, you are greeted by very little on the floor where the action will take place—a couch, a table, some balloons—but yet an entire wall chock full of stuff. Where did the stuff come from? Some came from part productions the team members have worked on, but much of it came from NYC.
PARADE Protesters Bring Growing Antisemitism to the StreetsFebruary 27, 2023
In some ways, it was a surprise that antisemites took to the streets last week to demonstrate outside of PARADE. We don't see that sort of thing outside a Broadway show. We don't typically see it at all in New York City. But, if you were paying attention--and, as a member of an Anti-Defamation League NextGeneration Advisory Board, I have been--you would know that antisemitic sentiment is increasingly spilling onto the streets.
