Is regional theatre in danger of succumbing to diminishing expectations?
You can economize so efficiently you no longer have an audience that feels compelled to come to the theatre. That is a very real danger. We’ve been through some economic ups and downs, and when we’ve had to contract, we’ve always pushed against the tide to go back towards expansion afterwards—and not just out of reasons of size. I came of age in the professional theatre working at Robert Brustein’s American Repertory Theatre, and I’ve never forgotten Bob talking about the notion of “the McTheatres”—those theatres who just pluck so much from recent Broadway and Off-Broadway work that they are no longer distinctive entities or have an audience that feels compelled to come to the theatre. When a theatre takes on a risky endeavor—where you wouldn’t expect big numbers at the box office—oftentimes those shows indeed do well because those productions become “events.” Many feel the mere ambition of taking on a project with the theatrical sweep of the “Orphans’ Home” Cycle will compel audiences
