The trend, it seems, is professional theatre companies producing well known plays and musicals in hopes of a more commercial success, and Universities producing obscure, important works like Ubu Roi. (A play I love, but typically leaves audience scratching their heads and wishing they had stayed home to catch “Flavor of Love” which, ironically, has a very similar protagonist.)
So where is the middle ground? What falls between the important classics and the commercial plot-less wonder? Why can’t I get Six Feet Under on stage?
It’s because new work is being ignored. Great playwrights like Martin McDonagh, Connor McPherson, and David Auburn have answered my call for the “Middle Ground” of theatre, but their work has only been noticed because it was picked up on Broadway. Unfortunately, there is only room for about four new dramas on Broadway each year.
Don’t wait to be the first theater in your area to reproduce this work. Dig up your own gem. Yes, some of your patrons will be weary to pay full price to see something they don’t already know. Guess what, new work is cheap – or even better, free. Playwrights are dying to get their work produced, and they may very well let you produce it for nothing more than a playbill and a free seat.
Sure, theatre production is expensive– so cut the production costs, get back to basics and explore simple representational design. (The bare bones designs of Ming Choe Lee are some of the most influential scenic designs in the American theatre to date.) Seek out plays with small casts that don’t require much. The less money you put in, the less you need to get back out– the margin for profit is higher, too.
Hopefully, your theater has produced a quality of work that the audience trusts. Consider yourself a brand name. Don’t forget what got you going, but remember to put out new products. It is the direction that theatre has to move toward, so you might as well help start the new trend.
