Thursday, March 21, 2013
Going Once, Going Twice Come for the shopping, stay for the theatre
American Theatre – March 2013: The prevailing hunch about auctions and tag sales is that they are aimed at generating revenue. Generally, they are. But when Philadelphia's Gas & Electric Arts tacked on a tag sale to Cabinet of Wonders: An Impossible History, a Kira Obolensky commission produced in 2009, the company was more focused on extending the audience's experience of the world of the play beyond the play itself—and on appealing to and connecting with new theatregoers.
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2 comments:
I think it's a little weird, but hey, what works works. To me, it doesn't seem natural to turn a show into a yard sale, or the other way around but I guess it's basically selling the props from a show. Of course the ingenious part is getting shoppers who stay for the show and buy a prop to become regular patrons of theatre. It's an interesting concept, and if it's working all the better. Still seems weird though...
I think it is a very interesting idea to combine a show and an auction. It kind of makes the audience part of the production, which creates a certain relationship between the audience and the show, which probably makes the show more enjoyable. However, I was a little confused, but if sounded as if the auction was open to online buyers. I don't understand how that would bring buyers to the town and theaters themselves. I think one of the examples was a man buying Justin Beiber tickets in Chicago might just stop off in Bushwick before he sees the show. No he's not. This is just like buying something from ebay. If I buy some lights on Ebay, and they come from Magee, Mississippi, that doesn't mean I actually want to go to Magee, Mississippi. Other than the computer auctions, I like how the auctions bring buyers to the theatre and the show brings theatre-lovers to the theatre. Perhaps the buyers will become theatre-lovers and the theatre-lovers will become buyers?
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