The power of place brings a lot of variables with it. In the Baltimore area, Everyman Theatre is building a new theatre (http://everymantheatre.org/new-theatre) , but overall, Baltimore has had little 'building' investment in the arts for years. Washington, DC, however, is coming out of a boom. Read the following article and discuss, using the text, why DC might be such a boon town for theatre (who attends the arts?)? Why have so many organizations chosen to invest in buildings (versus rent or lease?)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/theater-dance/washington-dc-theaters-have-they-overbuilt/2011/12/23/gIQAm6TIfP_story.html
This is not to say Baltimore doesn't have theatrical chutzpah -- just that it comes from a different vantage:
http://dctheatrescene.com/2012/01/06/new-year-big-deal-for-baltimore/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+DcTheatreScene+%28DC+Theatre+Scene%29
How are Baltimore and DC different (demographical, sociologically, etc) such that they would generate such different theatre communities?
In the Baltimore area, theaters have found their own way to help expand their spaces and increase their audiences. However, what stands out the most to me is their new approach to have Open Theatre in the 2012/2013 season. This means that starting in March "FREE THEATER" will arrive in Baltimore. The question of why may come into several minds which explains the mission of this idea. According to Berry,"The Mission is expanding a theatre audience and artistic dialogue in the Baltimore/DC region and elsewhere."
ReplyDeleteTheater in the Washington area however, have spent the majority of their time expanding theaters and seating. This may be a plus for theaters that have had sucessful shows such as musicals, but this can be very expensive.The major question in the Washington Post article was whether theaters in Washington are overbuilt. I think if its benefiting the growth of audiences and sales then it shouldn't matter. What are your opinions on the approach both area's are doing?
DC might be such a boon town for theatre because theatre is starting to become more and more popular in the area. Theatre at first attracted a more older,artistic and sometimes religous crowed; now theatres and performances are reaching out to all types of crowds and genres. Theatres are also becoming more affordable in the area. After the expainsion of theatres and building new theatres in the city, people are just simply wanting to experience a new theatre space.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Charmise. Organization want to invest in buildings versus rent because although it is expensive at the time, it will eventually pay off and become a huge sucess.
As far as the differences in The Baltimore are and Washington DC area with theatres, I just feel that Washington DC has more money to invest in theatres. In addition, DC is a very historical city and very tourist based. Therefore organiztions and compaines would probably rather build a theatre in the DC area, expecting more traffic in the theatre versus Baltimore which isn't so much of tourism or popukar city.
Yet, interestingly, tourists almost never go to DC theatre ;-) Note who lives in DC and what the typical audience member is for the theatre . . . (in the text). And, more on this in class, I'm not sure where the building "will eventually pay off" comes into play :-) As an arts organization that spent $14 Million to build a building and is paying 1 million year just to maintain it . . . I'll never recoup that investment and make $ on top of it.
ReplyDeleteCheck out this photo tour of Arena Stage's new, improved facility: http://arenastage.org/plan-your-visit/the-mead-center/photo-tour/
ReplyDeleteIn DC emerging troupes of theatre artists are causing new theatre spaces to be created or renovated. In addition to the already existing spaces in the capital city these new spaces are making theatre experiences even more available to the general public. Because of funding cuts most of these new spaces are being funded by producing shows that appeal to general audiences even if their spaces were not constructed to accommodate such productions.I think that DC may be booming because of the shows that are coming out of these companies. DC is also home to a number of educational institutions. Theatre may be growing due to the result of education and in an effort to educate audiences. Another possible reason could include the fact that DC is the heart of political movement in this country. I believe that theatre for social change may have the most effect here because of its location and proximity to important political headquarters and people. Press is heavily covered in this area and the ideas are not only available to people in the area, but because of media can also reach people in other places.
ReplyDeleteUpon reading the articles (and even before) my mind tended to keep going towards the actual performances being presented by the multiple theaters in both the DC and Baltimore areas, and what they meant for the people attending them.
ReplyDeleteTo begin with, the DC area seems to be the hot new place to go for a theatrical experience, but it is interesting to see just what people are willing to see there. It seems that the only theatres which are not suffering in some way, are only the ones that have determined the "big name shows" are the moneymakers. Amy Marshall's comment of changing up the theatre's season to shows like "The Sound of Music" boosted sales. This seems to tell me that people are only willing to see these well known plays in DC and nothing else. While this may be great for financial reasons, is there any chance for artistic growth in the city if these small theaters keep opening and not doing well both financially and attendance-wise? However, DC does have the money to keep these theatres running, even on a tight budget, so in time, the views of the theatre customers may change. Of course, while talking to people about theatre, even outside of the DC/Baltimore area, DC never really comes up in the conversation as a great city to see great plays. But DC's artistic population is growing with a large number of college students and younger people choosing to move to the city.
As for the Baltimore area theatres, it seems that people in the city or traveling to the city are more than willing to pay (or in some cases not as mentioned by the free theatres) to see lesser known plays or works by local playwrights. The city seems to have always had an artistic reputation as well. The money put into the expansion of the Everyman Theatre and the upkeep of the Hippodrome, mixed with the unconventional "facelift" given to Center Stage and the copious amounts of smaller theatres in the area shows that Baltimore is a city with a great mix of both mainstream and independent theatres, and both have wonderful results.
I feel that if DC keeps trying to integrate the independent and lesser known plays into the community, the outcome will most likely mimic what we have here in Baltimore. I am sure Baltimore's theatre scene did not pop up over night. It took years of hard work and a lot of money. In time, I am sure DC will emerge as a great city in which to see both types of plays.
This was a bit scrambled and unclear, but I hope my point was made!
I agree with the point previously made that the gravitation toward popular works as opposed to new works has aided in the ability of various DC theatre troupes and companies to stay in the new venues they are building for themselves. An additional thought comes from the notion that when these new theatres are built, old buildings become vacant and available for new companies. This occurred to me when Pressley mentioned that Synetic moved into a space previously utilized by Arena. Is DC a boon town for theatre? The number of theatres surrounding the area suggest it. However, data, according to Pressley, is somewhat inconclusive or is up for debate. Figures show a steady, though not rising, theatre attendance, with record showings of various works. Again, these works are all popular and recognizable. DC might be learning that a diverse community responds to familiarity. The article goes on to indicate that there is research being conducted to indicate whether the DC theatre scene "overbuilt" during the economic bubble. My impression of the various directors of the local DC companies is while they watch the data, it will not change the building strategy employed. The economy may continue to dictate the whether the work leans toward populistic crowd-pleasers, or the new and experimental work, while popular among the affluent, young DC crowd, does not draw audiences en mass.
ReplyDeleteThe Baltimore theatre scene is in transition, and the new push seems to be aimed at getting serious theatre-goers back into play. Barry's entry does not contain hard data as to who attends theatre in Charm City, but given his description of CentreStage's change from "cool/savvy" to "join the conversation", not to mention Kwame Kwei-Armah's changing of the interior to focus less on the experience of attending theatre and more upon the actual theatre itself, we can determine that the DC and Baltimore approaches are quite different. While Everyman is moving to a nicer location, and one closer to the Hippodrome at that, the change seems to come for artistic reasons just as much as commercial ones. Further, CentreStage's opening its doors to WordBridge, a workshop for unfinished and developing works, is a stark contrast to previously mentioned Arena's cancellation of new work being performed. In defense of Arena, budget cuts ARE budget cuts, and CentreStage is not faced with the same financial restraints as Arena.
There are many theatre goers in Washington. It is the capital of our country in which many tourists, businessmen and woman, and other white color workers come to visit or work. The theatres have had much audience participation while “ troupes across the region outstripped the capabilities of small, compromised or outdated facilities […] and have set up shops in attractive new complexes large and small.” However, because of the downturn in the economy many theatres are finding themselves in the red because of various costs such as the Wooly Mamoth theatre. The arena Stage is paying “six figures in rent, a high percentage of costs compared with its peers nationally.” Perhaps it would be better to build another building instead of continuously trying to renovate the buildings to meet standards.
ReplyDeleteBaltimore has had issues pertaining to what kind of audience they need to appeal to. Unlike Washington with much experimental theatre, Baltimore practically has had none. Many theatre goers are found to be excluded from the conversation. One group in particular seems to have been the younger generation. To try to appeal to it, Centerstage has gone back to their original blackbox form in the head theatre while others have shot the idea of “free theatre.”
How does space affect the Baltimore scene? Where can small companies perform?
ReplyDeleteDC has become such a boom town with how many people come to DC. Not particularly tourists going to the theater as was mentioned above but the fact that so many people are moving to and living and working near DC that going out at night to the theater is the way to go. In Baltimore there is the scene that most theater majors at towson are even involved in, new theater, new playwrights, smaller ventures all being born in Baltimore so the theaters are much smaller to give the shows and playwright their chance trial runs i will call them. They dont need the big stages in DC like Arena Stage or the Kennedy Center who host the big budget performances, they just need enough space to present the theater pieces the way some wrote them, for small audiences or they need the small audience for again as i called it, the trial run.
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