| re: I'm sure you're right and I mourn their absence. | |
| Posted by: ryhog 05:09 pm EDT 07/15/24 | |
| In reply to: re: I'm sure you're right and I mourn their absence. - Billhaven 10:57 am EDT 07/15/24 | |
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| This thread has "evolved" from where it started (double page ads in the NYTimes on Sundays), and in the process I said and didn't say things that didn't come out exactly as intended. First, I am certainly sensitive to the post-pandemic plights of regional theatres all over the country and extending to many off-Broadway companies as well. It is a confluence of unfortunate events including the high cost of maintaining one's presence without having any audiences for a long time, the reluctance of a significant share of former audiences to return, the failure going back long before Covid to develop more diverse (younger, less white, etc) audiences, etc. Second, I used the word "regional" intending its broader meaning and not just the theatres operating as "regional theatres" (that are mostly bigger and "finer" than what I was trying to relate). My intended point (admittedly poorly made) was that (because I look) I have been seeing "robust" theatre communities well below theatres like the great ones you mention. These are theatres where the "elders" are millennials and some Gen X for window dressing. And this is a round about answer to the very good question with which you end your post: the younger audiences are not going to build audiences on the back of us boomers (any more than 20-40 year olds would have been enticed by the depression generation. A brief coda. Westport's new season features a work by Karen Zacarias (sp?), a theatre person who has not only written words of resonance for young audiences but has also nurtured young artists as well as the audiences they bring. If you ever have the opportunity to meet her, ask her to answer that question. She is way more articulate and knowledgeable than I am. |
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