I found a survey on OrlandoSentinel.com's blog and chose to share some answers here. Thank you Elizabeth Maupin for finding this survey. Below is the letter sent out to bloggers. And below that, my response.
-Theatre should not be compared to movies, radio or tv. It has many more downsides to it than these things. It's expensive, location-based (you have to go to it; you can get it to come to you), and always comes with a built-in possibility of it, well, sucking. The other mediums can suck. Anything can suck. But if a patrons pays $50 to $100 for a show and it sucks, you better believe they will be more affected than if they'd plopped down on the couch and watched a crap tv show. All they lost during the tv show is time. During the piece of theatre? Time and money. And lots of it.
-A good side of theatre, like all the other mediums, is that it can be magical. I've been moved to tears by a piece of theatre. I've also been moved to sit down at my laptop and unleash loads of creativity from listening to a free podcast about technology. So each medium has it's own brand of magic. Theatre must find it's own brand of magic and be happy with it. I appreciate podcasts AND theatre. They both live in my world. Theatre doesn't have to change for me.
-The value of theatre is coming away from a performance as a patron and feeling like you would go another time. If a patron feels that way, theatre succeeds.
-Theatres need to not market. Their greatest marketers are the patrons who've paid to see your show. Your show is an ad made for patrons promoting your skills. If it works, if you've done a good job making your ad (your show) then people will (a) return and (b) tell their friends about it. So skip the traditional marketing (or figure out all the ways to do it for free/cheap) and focus on your big ad on the stage.
-I DO think exposing children and young adults to theatre has he possibility of creating tomorrow's audiences. I DO NOT think children's theatre is the answer. Take them to real theatre, for adults. Children's theatre can sometimes be watered-down theatre... and why? Are children stupid? Treat children with respect and don't create a whole genre of theatre for them. And STOP using government money for it. It's unneeded.
Hello Blogging friends -Ok so here's my take (and I already left a comment on the Theatreforte blog). And I am no writer, so I'll just ramble a few key points.
On Wednesday, March 19, a small by determined group of theatre bloggers will blog about the value of theatre. Here's a summary of what we'll be attempting to tackle.
What is the "value" of theatre? We need to figure out what it is that theatre does well and better than other art/entertainment forms. And then we need to figure out a positive way to describe those things to people who do not already identify themselves as theatregoers. Ideally, we'll describe things that most theatres have in common, regardless of the differences in the content of their productions. Some suggested topics: community, group experience, theatre is local, theatre is sensually rich.
We hope that'll you join us that day. You could write your own post, comment on ours, or make fun of us. It's all up to you.
Also, please pass this on to your blogging friends. I'd like to include everyone, but I don't have as many email addresses as I wish I did. I'd hate for anyone to be/feel left out.
Also, please let me know if you do plan to post that day. I'd love to put together a list of all the inter-related threads.
Thanks so muchttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifh,
Matt (Slay)
→
Matt Slaybaugh
slay1975@mac.com
Available light [theatre]
http://avltheatre.com
Theatreforte
avltheatre.com/forte/
-Theatre should not be compared to movies, radio or tv. It has many more downsides to it than these things. It's expensive, location-based (you have to go to it; you can get it to come to you), and always comes with a built-in possibility of it, well, sucking. The other mediums can suck. Anything can suck. But if a patrons pays $50 to $100 for a show and it sucks, you better believe they will be more affected than if they'd plopped down on the couch and watched a crap tv show. All they lost during the tv show is time. During the piece of theatre? Time and money. And lots of it.
-A good side of theatre, like all the other mediums, is that it can be magical. I've been moved to tears by a piece of theatre. I've also been moved to sit down at my laptop and unleash loads of creativity from listening to a free podcast about technology. So each medium has it's own brand of magic. Theatre must find it's own brand of magic and be happy with it. I appreciate podcasts AND theatre. They both live in my world. Theatre doesn't have to change for me.
-The value of theatre is coming away from a performance as a patron and feeling like you would go another time. If a patron feels that way, theatre succeeds.
-Theatres need to not market. Their greatest marketers are the patrons who've paid to see your show. Your show is an ad made for patrons promoting your skills. If it works, if you've done a good job making your ad (your show) then people will (a) return and (b) tell their friends about it. So skip the traditional marketing (or figure out all the ways to do it for free/cheap) and focus on your big ad on the stage.
-I DO think exposing children and young adults to theatre has he possibility of creating tomorrow's audiences. I DO NOT think children's theatre is the answer. Take them to real theatre, for adults. Children's theatre can sometimes be watered-down theatre... and why? Are children stupid? Treat children with respect and don't create a whole genre of theatre for them. And STOP using government money for it. It's unneeded.