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Tuesday, April 13, 2021
Will theater become even more segregated and inaccessible? Scott Rudin=Bully. #Stageworthy News of the Week
New York Theater: Ten days into the much ballyhooed reopening, April has been as busy a month for theater as it usually is — I’ve seen a play every day this week (see my reviews)– but the April overload is due to streaming theater, not the handful of in-person shows, all of “limited capacity,” most one-offs, some by invitation only.
3 comments:
Vanessa Mills
said...
It’s a very interesting point that the article brought up. I will always push for theatre to be more accessible to those who otherwise wouldn’t get a chance to enjoy it. It’s important to note that with virtual theatre, while not the same as the real thing, more people with disabilities or around the world have been able to enjoy the arts along with the rest of the audience. It is nerve-wracking to think of the world opening back up to allow only an “elite few” to see productions with no option to see virtual theatre at all. Same as the author, I understand that theaters need to make money and thus ticket prices have gone up way more than in the past, but this also closes the door on so many potential audience members. I don’t think that things will always be this way though, and I hope that it doesn’t take that long to open up theatre to the rest of the world once again. Technology is actively allowing people with sight or hearing disabilities to be able to enjoy theatre. Neurodivergent people can perform in and attend productions. We can only hope that accessibility to theatre stays as open as I’m sure we all hope for it to be.
I wrote a news comment a few weeks ago voicing this exact wonder/fear about the reopening of the theatre world and how the limited capacities will change audience demographics and accessibility. While I was hoping I would be wrong, what they're doing does make sense from a business standpoint. For theatres that have members or longstanding patrons, it's important for them to now bring back those portions of their audience and ensure that they are going to stick around and guarantee some kind of cashflow. When there are capacity limits it's hard to not increase the price of ticketing. They still need the show to be profitable if we want to hope for a return of full-scale performances in the future. While I hate to say it, this push towards elitist viewers may be a necessity for the next few months. Theatres need to do what they can to get by, make money, and restart their engines. I obviously don't support narrowing the audience our work is presented to but if this is a temporary thing is it something we can live with to ensure the industry comes back strong?
I think that the accessibility that online theater brings is more of a positive than a negative, but I understand the concerns that the article addresses. I think that certain people getting priority makes sense for a pandemic reopening to be honest. It makes more sense financially to draw in people that buy memberships or people that invest in theaters as a priority to increase their incentive to keep spending their money—which theaters desperately need right now. If you have 15 open seats in a theater, I think it’s only logical for those to go to loyal paying customers instead of one-off audience members when you are in desperate need of money as a theater (as a result of the pandemic). I understand that this article is concerned that this practice will evolve and continue, but I think this is a problem more rooted in capitalism than the theater industry itself. In order to make the most profit, I truly believe theater will eventually return to selling regular seats like before the pandemic. I do not think the articles’ worries are validated in that sense. Honestly, I think the streaming of online theater might even grind to a halt in order to preserve the elitist structure the theater industry holds dear. If streaming theater continues, I definitely understand it could become a problematic band aid solution to a bigger issue. Concerns for accessibility especially for people with disabilities could just be fronted with “just watch the online steam!”, which is clearly not the same experience that some are looking for. Overall this is an evolving issue and a weird small piece of time in the theater industry—I believe it is too early to make any claims about what in might result in yet.
3 comments:
It’s a very interesting point that the article brought up. I will always push for theatre to be more accessible to those who otherwise wouldn’t get a chance to enjoy it. It’s important to note that with virtual theatre, while not the same as the real thing, more people with disabilities or around the world have been able to enjoy the arts along with the rest of the audience. It is nerve-wracking to think of the world opening back up to allow only an “elite few” to see productions with no option to see virtual theatre at all. Same as the author, I understand that theaters need to make money and thus ticket prices have gone up way more than in the past, but this also closes the door on so many potential audience members. I don’t think that things will always be this way though, and I hope that it doesn’t take that long to open up theatre to the rest of the world once again. Technology is actively allowing people with sight or hearing disabilities to be able to enjoy theatre. Neurodivergent people can perform in and attend productions. We can only hope that accessibility to theatre stays as open as I’m sure we all hope for it to be.
I wrote a news comment a few weeks ago voicing this exact wonder/fear about the reopening of the theatre world and how the limited capacities will change audience demographics and accessibility. While I was hoping I would be wrong, what they're doing does make sense from a business standpoint. For theatres that have members or longstanding patrons, it's important for them to now bring back those portions of their audience and ensure that they are going to stick around and guarantee some kind of cashflow. When there are capacity limits it's hard to not increase the price of ticketing. They still need the show to be profitable if we want to hope for a return of full-scale performances in the future. While I hate to say it, this push towards elitist viewers may be a necessity for the next few months. Theatres need to do what they can to get by, make money, and restart their engines. I obviously don't support narrowing the audience our work is presented to but if this is a temporary thing is it something we can live with to ensure the industry comes back strong?
I think that the accessibility that online theater brings is more of a positive than a negative, but I understand the concerns that the article addresses. I think that certain people getting priority makes sense for a pandemic reopening to be honest. It makes more sense financially to draw in people that buy memberships or people that invest in theaters as a priority to increase their incentive to keep spending their money—which theaters desperately need right now. If you have 15 open seats in a theater, I think it’s only logical for those to go to loyal paying customers instead of one-off audience members when you are in desperate need of money as a theater (as a result of the pandemic). I understand that this article is concerned that this practice will evolve and continue, but I think this is a problem more rooted in capitalism than the theater industry itself. In order to make the most profit, I truly believe theater will eventually return to selling regular seats like before the pandemic. I do not think the articles’ worries are validated in that sense. Honestly, I think the streaming of online theater might even grind to a halt in order to preserve the elitist structure the theater industry holds dear. If streaming theater continues, I definitely understand it could become a problematic band aid solution to a bigger issue. Concerns for accessibility especially for people with disabilities could just be fronted with “just watch the online steam!”, which is clearly not the same experience that some are looking for. Overall this is an evolving issue and a weird small piece of time in the theater industry—I believe it is too early to make any claims about what in might result in yet.
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