See It Live for the Price of a Movie?

by David Dower

Sunday morning, October 7th. There are two major articles this morning about discounting theater tickets to try to attract younger audiences: Washington Post & New York Times. I wonder what Stage Banter readers think: is price the primary barrier to a wider popularity for live theater? Is it especially a barrier for younger culture consumers?

Arena Stage is cited in the Post's article for our $10 tickets for the 30-and-under set.  They didn't quite get the details of the program right, but you can find those here.

In an earlier post, I listed other discount options for tickets to our shows.

So, many people can see Arena performances for under $30 now, and for as little as $10.  Or see the final dress rehearsal for free. So will they?

I'm fascinated by the question of how to reach the under-30 audience and whether the attempt to do it through price will prove effective in our community. Clearly it has worked for New York City's Signature Theater but I wonder: what role does play selection play in this outcome.

We first introduced the $10 program this summer, with the run of Daniel Beaty's Emergence-See. See Daniel Beaty's "Knock Knock" video. With only the playbill for that show to promote the discount program, we saw results almost over night. Hundreds of people suddenly took advantage of it for the second and third weeks of limited run. We were thrilled and a bit puzzled: like the Lisa character in Well wonders, "HOW ARE THESE PEOPLE COMMUNICATING WITH EACH OTHER??"

But after that whiz-bang start, the use of this discount program cooled for both 33 Variations and Well. There have been people taking us up on it for both shows, yes. But not in the same numbers and not with such explosive growth. It'll be interesting to see if the numbers pop during The Women of Brewster Place or the November workshop of Danny Hoch's Takin Over.

Also, what role does institutional profile play? Arena Stage is 57 years old. In the year that I've been here I've been stunned by the number of patrons at Arena who have been subscribing for 30, 40, 50 years. How great is that? They started coming here when they were the age we're reaching for now. In what ways are we relevant to people that weren't even born when we started out? Where will the next generation of 50-year subscribers come from? Is the first step offering a ticket for the price of a movie?

All of these questions will get more focus once we get our new space opened and can start programming in The Cradle. Does a 200-seat theater, with the intimacy it offers and the aesthetic risks it embraces, become our best feature for building the audiences of tomorrow? And does the lobby space where audiences for each of the three spaces will co-mingle both before and after performances become the community forum space we need to cross pollinate the audiences for our whole artistic program? And do the deep discounts remove a barrier to entry for all sorts of people who don't currently think of Arena Stage as their first and best alternative to another night on the sofa?

I hope so. I came to be part of making that true. I am so glad we get to try!

What do you think?