alex ungerman

Intentionally Small Theatre Companies

Theatre companies, like any kind of company, are not immune to the allure of growth.

It's easy to believe that Bigger is Better, and that increased size will also equate to an increase of funding and an increased ability to produce the sort of work you'd like to produce. And to some degree, that's true. But being small can offer a lot of advantages too.

1-Every Voice Carries More Weight

What's the difference between being in a symphony and being in a punk band? Besides the dress codes, the numbers of people involved are vastly different. When it comes time to make creative decisions, how much input can one violinist have when there are thirty violinists? A violinist in the symphony, and a bassist in the punk band both consider themselves artists, but the degree of creative volition they each have varies immensely. Really, it comes down to the question: Do you want to work for an organization that values every member's input, or do you want to work at a place where you're the paid labor?

2-Focus and Agility

The more people you have working on a project, the harder it is to keep everyone on the same page. Communication is expensive, and buy-in is expensive--and you need good amounts of both in order to operate efficiently in a creative environment. Keeping your team small and agile will allow you to focus on what matters most.

3-Ability to Take Risks

Staying small allows you to take risks. The bigger and more established your company is, the less likely it is that you will be able to defy established traditions or change audience expectations. Some of the best theatre companies in the world are intentionally small for precisely this reason.

More often than not, the business sector's goal of growth-for-growth's-sake runs counter to the goals of the artist: independence, autonomy, and innovation.

Producing Theatre that capitalizes on the inherent strengths of the art form

Where is the future of theatre heading?

I wrote a short article on Medium about the long, slow decline of Theatre and what I think could be done to stop it.

It Takes an Audience: The Art of Creating Performances That Cannot Exist Without an Audience

Charlie Miller & Emily Tarquin, Off-Center Curators, Denver Center Theatre Company

Key Points:

If you want new audiences, you have to create new programming.

"Theatre" is a bad brand. (say some)

Recipe: Immersive Convergent Connective Inventive Now

  This week, at the Maker Faire in Rome, (I didn’t attend, but I did read about ithere) Design Critic Bruce Sterling spoke about about his diagram (above) which categorizes just about everything that human beings have made, or could dream of making.

He says some things, like weapons, are Buildable and Profitable, but not Desirable (at least not by the majority of society). Other things, like public roads are Desirable and Buildable, but not Profitable.

According to the Diagram, there are seven different categories, and he lists examples of things that would fall under each.

I thought, as an exercise, that it would be interesting to relate the categories to the Theatre world and come up with a few examples for each division.  Disclaimer: What follows is 100% fallible opinion.

Buildable: (but not Profitable or Desirable.)

Greek Theatre Re-Enactments:(and I’m not talking modern interpretations—just straight-up Greek style performances) I’ve never seen one yet that I really loved or that was particularly successful. I blame the text.

Most Opera: Not a fan.

Bad Community Theatre 

Most Shakespeare

Profitable: (But not Buildable or Desirable)

Road Houses/Presenters: These organizations are making money by selling theatre, and yet, they are not producing anything at all. They are consumers, not producers.

Movie Theatres/Filmed Performances: No other invention has done more to erode the demand for live performance.

Desirable: (But not Profitable, or Buildable)

An American National Theatre: Great Britain’s National Theatre is both profitable (sort of, sometimes. read: War Horse) and was in fact built. (Though it did take almost 50 years of dreaming and arguing for them to make it happen) Sadly, I don’t believe the political climate in the United States will ever be conducive to a National Theatre.

Buildable+Profitable: (But not Desirable)

Jukebox Musicals: There. I said it.

Big Production Broadway/West End: Not everything—but a good portion is textbook “Dead Theatre”.

Profitable+Desirable: (But not Buildable)

The Vaudeville Circuit: But wait, this is a thing that existed!? Yes, but like the mighty and beautiful dinosaurs of ages past, it’s never coming back.

True Repertory Companies: These are like Panda Bears today: Beautiful, rare, and on the verge of extinction.

Desirable+Buildable: (But not Profitable)

Regional Theatre

Shakespeare Festivals

The Not-For-Profit sector

Most Fringe Festival Productions

Buildable+Profitable+Desirable: (The Sweet Spot) This is where things get really interesting. I can’t come up with too many examples of Companies that are able to consistently meet this standard.

Shakespeare’s Globe: This juggernaut receives no government subsidy, produces great art, and continues to expand their operations.

Punchdrunk Co: Has had remarkable success while still producing art that is engaging and innovative.

Kneehigh Theatre: They’ve had a few hits that have allowed them to stay true to their creative processes and goals.

Graffiti genius Banksy is now in the middle of mounting a month long residency on the streets of New York he is calling "Better Out Than In".

Every day in October, Banksy will create a new work somewhere in the city: ”The plan is to live here, react to things, see the sights—and paint on them,” he writes. “Some of it will be pretty elaborate, and some will just be a scrawl on a toilet wall,” he said in an interview with Village Voice.

While I have never (this might be a lie) defaced public property, I can relate to Banksy’s impetus for using public space as an artistic venue. He states: ”I started painting on the street because it was the only venue that would give me a show, now I have to keep painting on the street to prove to myself it wasn’t a cynical plan. Plus it saves money on having to buy canvases,” he said.

When Mark Oram and I started the Grassroots Shakespeare Company, it was partly because our school wouldn’t allow us performance space, and we couldn’t afford the rent at any local venues. As a result we decided to start staging shows in public parks.

Even beyond his occasional forays into interactive works, (like "the elephant in the room" or "The Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill") Banksy’s pieces display one of the prime characteristics of Theatre: ephemerality. 

"Banksy debuted his first work on the streets of New York: a stencil on a building in Chinatown, titled prophetically The Street Is in Play. The work shows two old-fashioned paperboys in overalls and flat caps reaching for a can of spray paint contained in a “Graffiti Is a Crime ” warning sign that had previously been affixed to the wall.

The sign was promptly stolen and the piece painted over—defaced, then erased in less than 24 hours.

How does Banksy feel about his work disappearing almost instantly? "There is absolutely no reason for doing this show at all. I know street art can feel increasingly like the marketing wing of an art career, so I wanted to make some art without the price tag attached. There’s no gallery show or book or film. It’s pointless. Which hopefully means something."

In addition, Banksy recognizes the performative nature of grafitti writing:

Over at For What It’s Worth, Arts Admin Michael Rushton weighs the ups and downs of changing your ticket prices mid-run to maximize profit margins:

"At any potential set of prices, you would ask, “how much additional revenue would we gain if we lowered our prices a smidgen in order to sell one more seat [economists refer to this number as marginal revenue]?” If you would gain an amount greater than marginal cost, then you should go ahead and lower the price: you gain more than it will cost you. But if you would not gain an amount greater than marginal cost, or if you would actually lose revenue (which would occur if you had to lower the posted unchangeable price by a great deal just to sell one more ticket), then you would not lower the price, even if it would leave you with some empty seats.”

When it comes to ticket prices, I’ve always been a fan of using discounts early in the run to incentivize early sales and early attendance.

"Can New York change its trajectory a little bit, become more inclusive and financially egalitarian? Is that possible? I think it is. It’s still the most stimulating and exciting place in the world to live and work, but it’s in danger of walking away from its greatest strengths. The physical improvements are happening – though much of the crumbling infrastructure still needs fixing. If the social and economic situation can be addressed, we’re halfway there. It really could be a model of how to make a large, economically sustainable and creatively energetic city. I want to live in that city.”

Ben Power: As Shunt and Punchdrunk have shown, makeshift spaces are a reminder of what theatre is all about. Even we at the National are trying one out

Ben Power: As Shunt and Punchdrunk have shown, makeshift spaces are a reminder of what theatre is all about.