Tuesday, December 05, 2023
What Happens in the Lobby
ASTC: Lobbies require many features to meet the core mission of serving the audience and potentially as a source of revenue. Some organizations want to activate their lobbies during the day, and often it’s important the public can see something exciting and creative is happening day and night.
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2 comments:
This was an interesting and succinct article. As a theater technician, I really never have to think about the lobby and the strategies used to get theatergoers to spend more money on merchandise, tickets, and concessions. The lobby is a very important part of a theater and is vital to the success of any given show. Living in Cleveland, we have Playhouse Square as our local theater district and most people don't that it is the second-largest theater district in the country, only beaten by Broadway. One of the records that Playhouse Square holds is strange but extremely relevant to this article, the longest theater lobby in the world. The lobby of the biggest theater at Playhouse Square is the longest in the world and that contributes heavily the to income of the theater and shows but also to the enjoyment of the costumers and employees of the theater.
This article made me realize how much work the lobby actually needs to do, which is something I have blissfully neglected to pay attention to until now. While it doesn't seem like the lobby is connected to the backstage world, they are the ones who make audience members happy when they come see shows, which means they might come back again, which means we keep our jobs. I have never worked directly in front of house, but have done odd jobs for them and had friends who worked there. I always thought that their job was much easier than ours, which I still think is true but to a lesser degree after reading the article. The jobs of a stagehand versus front of house staff does require different skillsets, and both are valuable in their own way. In order to make audiences happy, front of house must be all smiles all of the time, which is definitely not something I am great with. They must be ready to help all members of the audience at any moment, and this article helped me see that they are a more vital part of the theatre than I originally thought.
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