Boston's Company One Theatre Successfully Attracting Young and Diverse Audiences

In a time when the lack of diversity in American theatre and the growing disinterest in live theatre among young people are major issues, there's a company in Boston that consistently attracts an audience that is 55% under age 35 and over one-third people of color.

In an articled posted on WBUR.org (an accompanying podcast is embedded below), Ed Siegel reports how Company One, now in its 17th season, has used a combination of plays by authors of diverse backgrounds and social events for targeted audiences to attract an audience makeup that rarely exists.

"Historically, the American theatre is patriarchal," says artistic director Shawn LaCount. "It is predominantly the stories of white folks through white lens for while audience, and I don't think it's a surprise to anyone that the history of the American theatre is mostly about dead white men."

Their new season boasts no plays by white men, dead or alive. It does include works by two playwrights familiar to Off-Broadway audiences as important new voices in American theatre, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' AN OCTOROON and Young Jean Lee's WE'RE GONNA DIE, along with Ruby Rae Spiegel's DRY LAND and Natsu Onoda Power's THE T PARTY.

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