AMERICAN THEATRE: I think of Theatre Development Fund (TDF) as a sort of cousin of Theatre Communications Group (TCG), and not only because we’re headquartered in the same building in midtown Manhattan, and not only because my first full-time gig in New York City, for a few years before I started at TCG’s American Theatre, was as a content editor for TDF.
2 comments:
This was super interesting to read, and heartening learning about TDF’s initiatives and what they’ve accomplished. Accessibility for theater is a constant discussion I feel, and one sometimes seemingly difficult to address so it was great reading about what TDF is doing. Especially after COVID, theaters have been hit hard, and it was saddening to read her comment about off-Broadway suffering more now, though I guess perhaps not as many of the tourists who are bringing back revenue to Broadway are also going off-Broadway as much? It is tricky thinking about ticket pricing for theaters, as art and performance are mediums to connect others, and tell stories, and reach out to the community and I feel like seeing theater should be an opportunity everyone gets, and yet many can’t afford the current prices of tickets. However there's also the argument of the budget or funding that theaters may need, it’s all confusing and I have to admit I need to become better informed on the details than I am, though I do greatly hope that even more people than now can experience the joy and wonder of the theater world in the future.
I think that something interesting mentioned in this interview is the steps towards bringing new audiences to theatre. I've always found that really important and moving. Although I haven't had a lot of opportunities to do that kind of performance, it's always been really intriguing to me. I've seen these videos on tiktok of theaters performing for audiences of schools. The audience is always so enthusiastic, and at parts you can really feel them start to grasp the magic that is live theatre. They're one of my favorite types of videos to watch. I truly believe that a lot of performance art has the capability to reach people in such a unique way, and I’m always so thrilled to learn about organizations like these that provide space, time, resources, and experience needed to facilitate these learning moments. I've heard conversations of etiquette brought into this idea, as oftentimes the people seeing these shows are not aware of ‘traditional’ theatre etiquette, but I think it's really nice to see people that are so blown away by the art we do, even if they express that in questionable ways.
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