Thursday, September 05, 2013
TDF and TBA Team Up on New Study on Audience Engagment
Stage Directions: Two sides of the country are meeting up to make sure audiences and new work meet up. Theatre Development Fund in NYC has received a $78,750 grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation to team up with Theatre Bay Area, in the San Francisco Bay Area, on a new project called Triple Play. The project aims to “explore the crucial relationship between playwrights and other generative artists, theatres and audiences” in order to “create a paradigm shift in the way the field thinks about audiences and the way audiences experience new work, and in so doing will help to restore theatre’s relevance as a national art form.” That’s a high goal, but TDF and TBA have been engaging in deep level thought about this for some time. TDF’s study about new play development Outrageous Fortune, spurred a large discussion in how plays get developed currently in the regional theatre system, and TBA’s Counting New Beans studied theatre’s intrinsic impact on audience members separate from any financial gains a theatre may bring to an area. The Triple Play team will build on the knowledge and methodology of these studies as they conduct their research.
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2 comments:
The idea of conducting a project on the relationship between the playwrights and other generative artists, theatres and audiences is a fantastic idea. Many (if not all) of the productions I have ever worked on have aimed to tell the story. However, it can sometimes be very hard to judge if this was successful or not. Many theaters do have post show surveys, but I don't think you get accurate measure from this because people don't want to really spend them filling out a survey. Nevertheless, there are a few things that I'm confused about with "triple play." My main question is, why the Bay Area. I understand why you wouldn't use New York because it is too commercial. I have nothing against the Bay Area, but different cities respond differently to different things. With that being said, I'm excited to see the findings from this project.
Although artists may create their work to satisfy their own creative interests, the impact their piece can have on the community to which it is presented is very important. By stirring and analyzing the conversation between artist/writer, the producing institution, and the experiences of the art, it will hopefully be possible to see where the breakdown lies between the artist's intended reach and their actual impact.
Jason: It says that the study will extend across six theatre centers around the US so the Bay Area will only be a portion of the study; other cities will be included too! Which should give a really cool scope/contrast within the research.
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