Reading Broadway’s Lifeline
NEW YORK CITY: It was 20 years ago that producer Ken Davenport arrived in New York and became a Broadway “lifer.” And, as he showed with then-and-now slides during his opening presentation at the TEDxBroadway conference, held at Manhattan’s New World Stages on Jan. 23, New York’s commercial theatre district has come far in those two decades. Where Broadway is going in the next 20 years was the question driving the conference, which Davenport organized with Damian Bazadona of digital marketing agency Situation Interactive and Jim McCarthy of the online ticket source Goldstar. (For tweets from the event, search for #tedxbway.)
The format was much the same as at the annual TED conference (TEDx are licensed spin-offs of TED): bright minds concisely presenting bold ideas. Despite the futuristic prompt, several speakers at TEDxBroadway focused more on current practices than crystal-ball gazing. Actor Neil Patrick Harris, via prerecorded video, did offer a few predictions, however. For starters: Hugh Jackman’s name on every marquee. “He’ll be older, yes,” Harris reasoned, “but no less rakish, no less debonair.”
Jordan Roth of Jujamcyn Theaters addressed the lament that Broadway has departed from presenting “original” material by pointing out that any production is an “original” live experience. Broadway’s future, Roth said, depends on every project making the creative case for “why is this live?”
The idea that Broadway will live or die on the strength of live experience was echoed by producer Randy Weiner (The Donkey Show, Sleep No More), whose non-Broadway shows have capitalized on immersive environments; as well as author Patricia Martin (Renaissance Generation), who claims world-shaping narratives of the future are best delivered face to face.
Others urged Broadway to expand its parameters. Bazadona suggested Broadway will only “win the talent war” if it offers better opportunities for profit, growth and inclusiveness than can fit within the four walls of a playhouse. Performer/composer Matt Sax (Clay, Venice) cheekily seconded Bazadona in a rap-inflected poem: “Fuck outta town / give me an Internet tryout!” Director Gregory Mosher reminded listeners that disruptive technology—a concept outlined in Clayton M. Christensen’s popular book The Innovator’s Dilemma—arrives with minimal warning and rewards those with a clear answer to the question, “What business are we in?”
Cooperation was another popular theme. Ticketing consultant Barry Kahn opined that discount sites should be considered part of the industry’s collective sales force, rather than competition waiting to undercut the box office, and South Bronx school principal Vincent Gassetto was on hand to plead for more school/theatre partnerships, such as the one that enabled his entire school to see Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. Gassetto candidly described the field trip both as “a logistical nightmare” and as “the highlight of my 12-year career with the Department of Education.”
Two of the most dynamic speakers came from outside the theatre world: Life sciences experts Steve Gullans and Juan Enriquez, co-authors of Homo Evolutus (published by TED), conjured visions of passive-input sensors tracking audience attention, downloadable memories and biological upgrades to the human species. Gullans discussed the marketing implications of such advances, advising theatremakers to research early-stage R&D government projects likely to trickle down to industry and consumers. And Enriquez pointed out that, going back to the Greeks, many of humanity’s enduring plays have touched on immortality—a subject that, at this moment in tech history, applies to our bodies and our data in startlingly literal ways that demand artistic exploration. —Nicole Estvanik Taylor
Full-Color Coward
NEW YORK CITY: Possibly the most revealing new discovery in “Star Quality: The World of Noël Coward,” an exhibit exploring the life and work of the English playwright/songwriter/actor that runs March 12-Aug. 18 at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, is not found in the trove of private letters or the cache of personal effects assembled by curator Brad Rosenstein with the cooperation of Noël Coward’s estate. Instead, it may be a series of newly retrieved, never-before-exhibited full-color, stereoscopic 3-D photos from the mid-1950s. “People think of Noël in black and white, and this is a whole new way to see him,” says Rosenstein, who revised and expanded the exhibit, which originated at Ten Chimneys in Wisconsin, for a run at San Francisco’s Museum of Performance and Design.
Another favorite item of Rosenstein’s: the opening-night gift Coward gave to the entire cast of his 1929 operetta Bitter Sweet. “It’s a book that looks like a little portable libretto of the play,” Rosenstein says. “But if you twist off the cover you see it’s actually a whisky flask. That just sums up the world he moved in.”
But Coward wasn’t all cocktails and laughter: Rosenstein notes a moving letter in the exhibit from Vivien Leighafter a visit to Coward’s Swiss estate. “It was right after her divorce from Laurence Olivier, when she was battling mental illness. You can tell that it meant so much to her that Noël stood by her when so many of their friends had taken Olivier’s side.”
Less touchy-feely: notebooks from Coward’s first visit to New York, containing what Rosenstein calls his “one-word reviews” of the shows he caught. “He could be very sharp and very acerbic; he was not shy about expressing his opinion,” Rosenstein avers.
The black-and-white image many have of Coward extends to his sexuality (closeted) and his politics (conservative). Neither of these snap characterizations is entirely true, says Rosenstein: “There were many more shades of gray.” Coward’s work is experiencing a currentrevival with young people, Rosenstein feels, not only because they see it as a delicious alternative to today’s coarse comedy but because, with works like his 1931 Cavalcade, Coward pioneered the upstairs-downstairs class study now so popular among fans of the miniseries “Downton Abbey.” “The fact that he was expected to be witty and charming all the time definitely took its toll,” Rosenstein sums up. “But it wasn’t all a performance; that’s really who he was.” Visit www.nypl.org/events/exhibitions.
Deep Impact
NATIONWIDE: Single-ticket buyers are more passionate than loyal subscribers; theatres should sell audiences on a play’s story, not the talent behind it; postshow talkbacks are a must.
These are just a few of the takeaways from “Understanding the Intrinsic Impact of Live Theatre,” a sweeping new theatre-audience study by the research firm of WolfBrown, commissioned by Theatre Bay Area. The study surveyed theatregoers within the purview of not only TBA but partner organizations LA Stage Alliance, Arts Midwest, ART/New York, Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia and Helen Hayes Awards/Theatre Washington.
Results of the study, conducted among audiences for 54 productions at 18 theatres between November 2010 and September 2011, will be published in late March. TBA’s communications director, Clayton Lord, previewed some of the key findings and challenges the study brings to light.
Most striking was what he called the “central riddle of impact”—that single-ticket buyers on average report “significantly higher impacts than subscribers,” which poses some tough questions. As Lord phrases it, “If firsttimers and low-frequency attenders are more satisfied than high-frequency attenders, on average, why are they not attending more frequently? This seems counterintuitive, and might speak to an underlying driver of the ‘churn’ phenomenon. It seems to suggest that satisfaction with the artistic experience, alone, is not enough to drive repeat purchase. If excellent artistic work is not enough to retain satisfied patrons, what is?”
Another part of the survey digs deep into the importance of anticipation in a theatregoer’s experience, finding that “as familiarity rises, so do anticipation levels.” Afraid you’ll give away too much if you tell audiences what to expect at a given play? Get over it. As Lord puts it, “Familiarity with the story of the production contributes twice the predictive value compared to familiarity with the cast or the playwright.” (Not to say that if there’s a star or a familiar named involved, one should hide the fact.)
On the other side of anticipation is satisfaction, and here the study gives post-show talkbacks a resounding endorsement. “Structured postperformance engagement activities such as talkbacks were found to have significant predictive power over ‘insight or learning’ outcomes,” says Lord.
The survey’s high response rate—45 percent, on average—by itself indicates a highly engaged audience. That percentage, Lord says, suggests “theatre patrons are willing, able and ready to provide meaningful feedback on their artistic experiences. The quality of responses to open-ended questions was high. The investment of time and psychic energy on the part of patrons in completing almost 19,000 surveys was staggering.”
For more information, or to request a copy of the report: www.theatrebayarea.org/programs/intrinsicimpact.cfm.
Three’s a Company
HOUSTON: The notion of timeshare is usually reserved for the summer-beach-home market. But three theatre companies in Texas are adopting the concept. In January, Stark Naked Theatre Company, Mildred’s Umbrella Theater Company and Classical Theatre Company moved into a shared venue. “None of us had the money right up front to lease the space, so we decided to go in on it together,” says Jennifer Decker, artistic director of Mildred’s Umbrella.
The space, previously known as Divergence Music & Arts at Spring Street Studios, has been rechristened by its new tenants Studio 101 at Spring Street Studios. The black box will host these theatrical roomies in alternating fashion, though administrative duties and individual season planning will continue separately. The main benefit is stability: “Now we’ll know in advance what our shows will be,” says Decker. “We will have more time to come up with sets and build them. Before, a lot of times we were moving into a space in one day and then we’d be in tech. I think now we will be able to do more creative work.”
The inaugural production in Studio 101 is Stark Naked’s Dinner with Friends, running through March 11. Next up is Mildred’s Umbrella’s Dead Man’s Cell Phone, from March 22 to April 7.
The new home will also be a relief for patrons who were required previously to follow the roving companies from space to space. “Sometimes I’ve had people call me because they’ve gone to the wrong venue,” recounts Decker. “Hopefully that won’t happen anymore!” Visit www.mildredsumbrella.com, www.starknakedtheatre.com, www.classicaltheatre.org.
Solo Sampler
TRENTON, N.J.: Who says one is the loneliest number? Not Passage Theatre Company, whose 11th annual Solo Flights Festival will host five solo artists (plus two ensembles) March 2-25. In a press release, Passage artistic director June Ballinger describes the festival as a “Whitman’s Sampler” that “allows us the opportunity to introduce stylistic and artistic diversity to our audience.”
The selection for the 2012 Solo Flights, with the theme “In Good Company,” includes Comes Love, A Tribute to Billie Holiday, written by Demetria Joyce Bailey and Vince di Mura; Donna Orbits the Moon, performed by Andrea Gallo and written by Ian August, in which a housewife and mother finds herself being pulled into space; and an homage to ninjas and superheroes, Punchkapow!, featuring two actors from Team Sunshine Performance Corporation. Visit www.passagetheatre.org.
The Bucks Restarts Here
NEW HOPE, PA.: It’s 73 years old, but the legendary Bucks County Playhouse isn’t ready for retirement. So thought the nonprofit Bridge Street Foundation, which purchased the building for close to $2 million, answering the prayers of the Bucks County Playhouse Conservancy. Mission accomplished after just two years of the theatre’s closure, the conservancy will now be dissolved and absorbed into the management of the playhouse, under the leadership of producing director Jed Bernstein.
The 450-seat venue was converted from a former grist mill into a theatre in 1939 in an effort headed by playwright Moss Hart, and it hosted a who’s-who of stars, from Grace Kelly to Bert Lahr, as well as a series of pre-Broadway tryouts (Harvey, Barefoot in the Park). The presence at the helm of Bernstein, a producer of such recent Broadway revivals as Driving Miss Daisy, Equus, Oleanna and Hair, would seem to promise similar ventures in the future.
Conservancy founder Peggy McRae will now serve as the playhouse’s director of community affairs. The playhouse is expected to be up and running, and with reinstated Equity status, for two productions this summer and a holiday show. Visit www.bcptheater.org
More Downtown Drama
LOS ANGELES: When the Latino Theater Company took over operations at the Los Angeles Theatre Center in 2006, it looked like both the company and the venue had finally achieved peace. The tumultuous history of the two organizations stretches back to the 1980s, when the city bankrolled a Public Theater-style multi-theatre venue in the former bank building, then closed it in 1991. The LTC staged a lock-in at the time to prevent that closure, but eventually the city’s Cultural Affairs Department took over the venue.
In the early aughts, the city sought outside operators, eventually awarding a 20-year lease to LTC, under the leadership of José Luis Valenzuela, in a joint management agreement with the Latino Museum of History, Art and Culture. LTC began presenting work in the four-venue complex in 2007, bringing in a consortium of L.A. theatres as partners and co-producers.
But troubles lay ahead—including a lawsuit filed in 2009 by the Latino Museum over financial and operational issues, which was met by an LTC countersuit. According to Valenzuela, this legal tangle lies behind the disturbing news that came in January—that the City Council had voted in a closed session to evict LTC and the Latino Museum from the property, and to seek another operator.
At press time, Valenzuela said he and the LTC board were hopeful the council’s eviction would be overturned. “We’re printing the season brochure, and hoping to be able to move forward,” Valenzuela said. He hoped to be able to make the case for LTC’s leadership in economic terms: “We bring 60,000 people here each year, all with single-ticket sales. We’ve brought almost $12 million into the downtown area, and we hire more than 100 people a year.”
The LATC season, should it go forward as planned, is ambitious: It’s slated to include the Vault Ensemble’s Bankrupt; Michael Premsrirat’s The Girl Most Likely To, in a production by Playwrights’ Arena; LTC’s own Charity: Part III of a Mexican Trilogy; Marcus Gardley’s the road weeps, the well runs dry, a co-production with New York’s
Lark Play Development Center; TeAda Productions’ Refugee Nation; Celeste Bedford Walker’s Camp Logan, a production by Robey Theater Company; and Lisa Loomer’s Café Vida, a Cornerstone Theater Company production. A remounting of last year’s revival of Miguel Pinero’s Short Eyes, co-presented with Urban Theatre Movement, was also scheduled to run through March 11. Go to www.thelatc.org.
Bullies in Boulder
BOULDER, COLO.: Last August, LOCAL Theater Company produced its first show in Colorado for one night only: Stories By Heart with John Lithgow. “We focus on the development of new American plays and reimaginings of the classics,” says Pesha Rudnick, LOCAL’s artistic director. To further that mission, the company will host a new-play festival, LOCAL Lab, March 23-25. Three staged readings, one per night, will be followed by talkbacks. One play will receive a full production later in the year.
Chosen from more than 50 submissions, the plays are 100 Planes by Lila Rose Kaplan, Elijah by Michael Mitnick and Small Prophecies by David Myers. The three works share a common thematic strand of abuse of power. “In one form or another, all three plays deal with power dynamics, particularly the issue of bullying,” says Rudnick. “And not just in the context of young people. Adults bully and are bullied, but we don’t talk about that.” Visit www.localtheatercompany.org.
