TikTok, Experimentation and Social Issues: How Theater Captures Audience Attention

Written by Tom White

 According to industry analysts, American and global theatre is undergoing significant changes in 2026: companies are facing financial difficulties and rising production costs, forcing them to find new ways to attract and retain audiences. In artistic practice, there's growing interest in immersive and site-specific performances, while socio-political themes increasingly become the subject of dramaturgy and public dialogue.

Why are these particular trends taking center stage? Broadway World spoke with Olya Lysenko — a theatre artist working on US and UK stages who combines the roles of writer, actress, and director in her practice.

As an actress, Olya has worked with both classical repertoire — including Chekhov's plays — and contemporary, postmodern texts exploring the 1990s and subsequent decades. She has participated in theatrical projects on the London stage, handling directorial and organisational tasks as well as the visual concept of productions. Simultaneously, Olya Lysenko is developing her own dramaturgy and is currently working on a play called Between, dedicated to themes of love, choice, and personal responsibility for one's fate.

Through the example of Olya Lysenko's theatrical projects, this article examines how, in conditions of fierce competition for attention, theater is changing its forms and roles, transforming into a space of emotional engagement and civic participation.

The 2026 Audience — Who Are They?

According to Olya Lysenko, we live in a culture of rapid consumption: short videos on TikTok, Instagram, and other digital platforms, fragmented thinking, and constant attention-switching. Today's audiences are accustomed to instant emotional gratification, choosing from numerous entertainment options and independently filtering what interests them.

The situation is further complicated by fierce competition for attention: theatre today competes with streaming platforms, video games, and digital entertainment offering immediate emotional rewards. "Maintaining audience focus for an hour and a half to two hours is becoming more difficult, and theatre can no longer count on automatic audience attention," the expert concludes.

How to Get More People to Come to a Show

The battle for attention begins long before opening night. Already at the announcement stage, it's important for theatres to capture public interest and make their repertoire visible and appealing. This task is further complicated by financial difficulties. Independent theatres face limited resources, high venue rental costs, and growing production expenses. As a result, ticket prices rise, and audiences often choose more affordable entertainment.

"This task requires a comprehensive approach, including creative marketing, active promotion through online and offline platforms, attracting partners and sponsors, as well as developing formats that immediately grab attention and create the sense of a vibrant theatrical event," Olya Lysenko responds. For her play Between, planned for summer 2026, Olya is taking on the producer role in addition to playwright to maintain complete control over the project's realisation. According to her, this is a popular trend in the industry, where directors promote their productions and act as producers on their own projects when they have the opportunity.

Why Actors Need to Be "Empaths"

To hold modern audiences' attention, theatres must find new forms and methods of engagement. In this context, there's growing interest in immersive and visually rich productions where the boundary between stage and audience blurs. Considering this factor, Olya Lysenko deliberately used visual space and stage effects as part of the dramaturgy while working on the production Portent, shown at the Festival Fringe in London. However, she highlights, such forms don't guarantee success on their own: their implementation requires a delicate balance between artistic purpose and audience experience, otherwise the effect of engagement quickly turns into fatigue or disappointment.

In immersive theatre, actors move beyond merely performing a role, taking on the task of engaging the audience directly and transforming them from passive observers into active participants. For this, it's important for actors to read the room, attune themselves to the audience, and when necessary, adjust their performance without breaking character. “The integrity of the performance depends on the actor's ability to connect with the audience”, Olya Lysenko explains.

For Olya herself, when she takes the stage as an actress, the Meisner technique helps her fully immerse in the role and connect with the audience. This acting method trains actors to respond truthfully and spontaneously to their scene partners, fully in the “here and now,” following natural impulses as they arise during the performance. Olya studied this technique at The London Meisner Company, a leading London theatre company that trains actors to respond truthfully and spontaneously in the moment.

Theatre as a Space for Social Engagement

Emotional audience engagement is especially important when a performance explores pressing social issues. Productions about inequality, human rights, or social responsibility can provoke discussions and make audiences reconsider their views and actions. In this context, Olya uses theatre as a tool for engagement, deepening audience involvement and creating a tangible impact on public perception.

Key to this is careful material selection and character development. These components must be alive, multi-layered, and have clear motivations and internal conflicts that resonate with audiences.

As Olya Lysenko notes, recalling her experience participating in a reading of the socially grotesque play "Single-Occupancy Ditch" by Pyotr Vyatkin: "This forms an emotional connection with the audience and strengthens empathy, allowing viewers to gain a deeper understanding of complex human relationships through the production."

The Power of Theatre

Theatre has always been, is, and will remain a space for people to interact with each other, exchange experiences, and reflect on various problems and questions that concern audiences on both sides of the stage. The entertainment function of theatre naturally remains one of the most important components of the process, because through laughter, tears, and a wide spectrum of emotions, you can hold the audience's attention and then reflect together on eternal themes, questions, and problems.

“It is precisely this combination of entertainment and thoughtful reflection that makes theatre an essential and irreplaceable space, bringing people together and leaving a lasting emotional impact”, Olya Lysenko highlights. According to her, theatre’s greatest strength lies in its ability to captivate and entertain, emotionally move audiences, provoke discussion on various subjects, and remain a safe space where they can reconsider the world around them.

Photo Credit: Olya Lysenko