Monday, September 22, 2014
Theatre’s Economic Reality
Opening the Curtain — KCRW: If LA theater were a pyramid it would have a really wide base with really, really steep sides. At the bottom of that pyramid, in terms of numbers of seats not quality, would be the under 99-seat theaters - there's a ton of them. At the top of the pyramid would be our resident theaters - Center Theater Group, The Geffen - there are only a couple of them. In between those two levels there isn't a lot of middle ground or midsize theaters.
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2 comments:
This article (I'm not sure how clearly I got the take-away message) makes me feel inspired by the people who work very hard in these small theatres for next to nothing. They know what they are getting into when they sign up and they work for this near-nonexistent wage to put on a show fed - not by the audience - but by the donors. Sure, it is nice to have an audience but everyone in the show knows that the tickets aren't what are keeping them above water.
I’m not too sure how I feel about the whole 99-seat plan. It just seems as though theatre’s are trying to push out as many shows as possible, instead of fully allowing the creative process to put the show together. I feel as if this style is just force feeding plays to the people. Going from one show to the next, makes for a quick turn-around time, and for me it’s bothersome. It effects those working on the show itself, it’s essentially cheating the actor out of money, due to the fact that it’s not a guarantee to have a full house. I just honestly don’t see how a theatre like this survives for as long as they do have. Sure black-box theatres are that size, but again it’s just how quickly they are pumping out shows, because there are thousands of actors in Los Angeles, and they need to build up a resume somehow, so best way to do it, as get them cheap.
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