Good Person of Szechwan hands out budget spreadsheet instead of playbill- Page 2
Good Person of Szechwan hands out budget spreadsheet instead of playbill
Borstalboy
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/9/04
#25Good Person of Szechwan hands out budget spreadsheet instead of playbill
Posted: 11/6/13 at 12:58pmBrecht would have loved this thread.
"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.”
~ Muhammad Ali
chrisampm2
Broadway Star Joined: 5/26/07
#26Good Person of Szechwan hands out budget spreadsheet instead of playbill
Posted: 11/6/13 at 2:21pmThe title of this thread is untrue. The spreadsheet is included in the program, along with all the other usual info. I fyou don't want to see the costs you can turn the page to find out who was in what and who thanks which initials.
oasisjeff
Broadway Star Joined: 11/15/07
#27Good Person of Szechwan hands out budget spreadsheet instead of playbill
Posted: 11/6/13 at 2:50pm
This is all interesting, but ultimately, who cares? They priced their ticket based on some metric, I bought one, I'm a member of the Public, and that's where my interest ends.
It's sort of like people who keep putting out there that Spider-Man won't recoup... I'm not an investor in the show, so for me, the show is good or bad, enjoyable or not. It's sort of the same as knowing how much a movie costs to make, and how much it grossed. Is the movie any good? That rarely has to do with budget. I love the $18K Clerks movie and can't sit through any of the Lord of the Rings movies.
Why do we keep coming up with new ways to discuss art through the lens of commerce?
Then again, another popular thread today is what will win Tony Awards next year, largely bases on shows that haven't been performed yet, heh. Another layer...
Now t/d/b/a haterobics on here.
Updated On: 11/6/13 at 02:50 PM
#28Good Person of Szechwan hands out budget spreadsheet instead of playbill
Posted: 11/6/13 at 4:09pm
You don't need to bang the audience over the head with the idea that we're not going to the theater to escape, but to be reminded that the people on stage are WORKING, and, wait for it, the show costs money to mount.
That's exactly what Brecht set out to do: Bang the audience over the head.
broadfan327
Broadway Star Joined: 3/20/08
#29Good Person of Szechwan hands out budget spreadsheet instead of playbill
Posted: 11/6/13 at 4:27pm
>Why do we keep coming up with new ways to discuss art through the lens of commerce?
Because without the commerce, there would be not much art. But your point is well taken.
When I go to certain non-profit stagings, I am very turned off when the director of the theater company before the show begins comes out and begs for more of my money. You can put a flyer in the Playbill to ask for donations, that is fine, but to give a speech I don't appreciate.
Liza's Headband
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/28/13
#30Good Person of Szechwan hands out budget spreadsheet instead of playbill
Posted: 11/6/13 at 4:30pm^ Then you clearly do not understand how NOT FOR PROFITS work. Barring the exceptions (like Roundabout), ticket sales typically only cover 40 to 50% of the revenue. They need donations and yes, more money, to fund their operations and education programming. If you don't like that, don't attend not for profit theatre.
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
#31Good Person of Szechwan hands out budget spreadsheet instead of playbill
Posted: 11/6/13 at 4:49pmI don't mind a brief appeal for distentions. If that was the goal here, it almost certainly backfired as the sums indicated are going to make many people recoil and think "Christ my kid could do this in the back yard for $35."
Liza's Headband
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/28/13
#32Good Person of Szechwan hands out budget spreadsheet instead of playbill
Posted: 11/6/13 at 4:51pmTHAT is true, Joe.
#33Good Person of Szechwan hands out budget spreadsheet instead of playbill
Posted: 11/6/13 at 4:54pm...this is not an appeal for money.
"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."
#34Good Person of Szechwan hands out budget spreadsheet instead of playbill
Posted: 11/6/13 at 5:15pm
As "PJ" said:
"That's exactly what Brecht set out to do: Bang the audience over the head. "
If this was being done for a production of Mary Poppins, or even the current Fun Home I'd question why and maybe find it in poor taste. But it's Brecht. It's just a part of the overall concept and point. To get insulted by it, though, if some are would probably please Brecht as well.
RippedMan
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/14/05
#35Good Person of Szechwan hands out budget spreadsheet instead of playbill
Posted: 11/6/13 at 8:11pmPeople, wake up. It's Brecht. That's the point. It's not the PUBLIC asking for money. It's not the PUBLIC showing you their expenses. It's this production, this director, this creative time. Stop being so hard-headed. This is the style of theater. If you don't like, that's fine, don't go see or now you know you don't like it.
#36Good Person of Szechwan hands out budget spreadsheet instead of playbill
Posted: 11/6/13 at 11:15pm
Also: as someone pointed out, people are not handed a budget spreadsheet instead of a program.
The budget is included on less than one half of one page of the program.
And it's a Brecht play in which one of the central questions is, almost verbatim from the text, "How can I be good when everything is so expensive?"
"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."
oasisjeff
Broadway Star Joined: 11/15/07
#37Good Person of Szechwan hands out budget spreadsheet instead of playbill
Posted: 11/7/13 at 12:05am
"Stop being so hard-headed. This is the style of theater. If you don't like, that's fine, don't go see or now you know you don't like it."
I'm not sure those are the only two options. I'm not overly interested in it being in there, but it literally has no bearing on what I'll think of the production, and I am going...
Now t/d/b/a haterobics on here.
#38Good Person of Szechwan hands out budget spreadsheet instead of playbill
Posted: 11/7/13 at 10:30am
Why do we keep coming up with new ways to discuss art through the lens of commerce?
And with that question, the mission is accomplished. That is one stellar example of the desired output from a Brechtain machine. You now know exactly why the budget was included in the program for this particular production.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
broadfan327
Broadway Star Joined: 3/20/08
#39Good Person of Szechwan hands out budget spreadsheet instead of playbill
Posted: 11/7/13 at 11:41am
>Then you clearly do not understand how NOT FOR PROFITS work. Barring the exceptions (like >Roundabout), ticket sales typically only cover 40 to 50% of the revenue. They need >donations and yes, more money, to fund their operations and education programming. If you >don't like that, don't attend not for profit theatre.
I am a member of the Public, so I understand that they need donations. I understand that when non profits don't meet their budgets, they go bye-bye (e.g. New York City Opera). I just don't want someone standing in front of the curtain before the production starts to ask me to give them more money.
#40Good Person of Szechwan hands out budget spreadsheet instead of playbill
Posted: 11/7/13 at 11:50amAt what major non-profit does that happen? It doesn't at Roundabout, or the Public, or MTC, or Lincoln Center, or NYTW, or Playwrights Horizons, or Signature, or MCC.
"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."
broadfan327
Broadway Star Joined: 3/20/08
#41Good Person of Szechwan hands out budget spreadsheet instead of playbill
Posted: 11/7/13 at 12:40pmI never said it was a major non-profit. You are correct, those listed don't do it.
#42Good Person of Szechwan hands out budget spreadsheet instead of playbill
Posted: 11/7/13 at 12:41pm
Well... those are the non-profits people are most likely to be frequenting. And many of them currently have a budget deficit.
i can only imagine the smaller ones are in even more need of contributions.
"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."
Updated On: 11/7/13 at 12:41 PM
broadfan327
Broadway Star Joined: 3/20/08
#43Good Person of Szechwan hands out budget spreadsheet instead of playbill
Posted: 11/7/13 at 12:47pmI never said they don't need contributions. All I said is they shouldn't be doing their fundraising pitch moments before the production begins. Sorry for derailing this thread off the original topic, I won't comment further. I look forward to seeing this production later this month.
#44Good Person of Szechwan hands out budget spreadsheet instead of playbill
Posted: 11/7/13 at 1:09pm
I love that they did this.
Brecht would have loved it too.
Well played, LaMama!
“I regard the theatre as the greatest of all art forms, the most immediate way in which a human being can share with another the sense of what it is to be a human being.”
``oscar wilde``
