Monday, October 08, 2007
Theater Tickets for Movie Prices: Behind the Dramatic Reductions
washingtonpost.com: "When Scott Fortier proposed reducing ticket prices for his company, Catalyst Theater, to the fire-sale level of $10 for all seats at all times, his board took a great big gulp."
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5 comments:
What a brilliant idea. Lots of theatres get student audiences by reducing ticket prices. And they get huge turnouts. Cheap tickets can work for and against a theatre, though. While students are just glad for the discount, older audiences have a level of prestige associated with theatre. They want to see something grandiose performed in a traditional space. $10 tickets cheapen than experience somewhat and often say something about the quality of the show. Pricing has to walk a fine line.
I don't know how I feel about it. I'm assuming that the price drop could really only work in areas (like my home) that people don't want to pay to be entertained. On the other hand, I can see this not going over so well in big budget Broadway where you can sell out a house every night at $60 a head. The best part that could come out of this is that more people go to the theatre, see what it's about and learn to enjoy it.
I feel a little offended at Chase's statement about people not wanting to pay to be entertained. Its the kind of attitude that makes me feel like a hick. I've only seen a few real productions, but that certainly isn't because I don't want to pay for a theatre experience. For some people (and most young people) anything over twenty dollars feels like a lot of money. When the price of a theatre ticket is the same as the cost to feed your family for a week, a play that will probably be made into a movie at some point seems a lot more dispensable.
I think this is a great idea. The fact is that going to a night on broadway or any quality theaters could cost hundreds of dollars. Its no wonder that young people would rather see a movie than a live performance. I think this is a great initiative to bring younger audiences to the seats. Also, its no fun to perform to a nearly empty house. If you can pack them in, bring in a new and different audience, and still make money, its a win-win.
finally, theaters have wisened up and realized that people want to be entertained, but our american spirit tells us not to pay too much for that entertainment. in most people's minds, theatre is an art form inferior to movies when it comes to their wallet. they figure they can enjoy the same experience at a movie theater watching brad pitt's head at 15 feet tall rather than watching a real brad pitt walking in front of them (okay, brad pitt will never work stage, but never mind that). what i wonder is, what took us so long to realize that lowering ticket prices would work. we do theatre to share our views with the world. the smartest part of the story was the comment: who cares if your show is phenomnal if noone sees it?
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