Industry Pro Newsletter: Are audiences worse behaved? The Antonyo's (Renamed) Returns

Recent reporting from the UK has many, anecdotally at least, convinced that post-pandemic shutdown audiences are significantly worse behaved than they were before the pandemic. While we don't have hard data to back up that claim, the stories in the linked article below about the audience behavior are certainly eyebrow raising. We've also got a great story from an event that our friends at Situation held last month, with their key takeaways about the way audience buying behaviors - and thus the ways in which we reach those audiences - have been changing as live events emerge from the pandemic.

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Industry Trends

Takeaways from "5 Conversations that Can't Wait" from Situation

Last month, Situation held an event about the live event industry, and then published 10 takeaways from their conversation about producing and marketing live events - a few of the highlights: the consideration window has expanded, audiences are getting younger, and audience development is one of the key early building blocks for productions bound for Broadway. Click here to read more...

AEA Open Access Now Permanent

The Actors' Equity Association is committing to maintaining its Open Access membership policy. The union will start a three-year phase out of its Equity Membership Candidate Program now that all stage managers and actors with professional experience have a pathway to membership. Any theater employee who can show they have worked professionally as an actor or stage manager within Equity's geographic jurisdiction is eligible to join the union as of July 2021. When Equity first opened membership to more people, the policy stipulated that it would end on May 1st, 2023, and that union leaders would work on a strategy to permanently increase access. Click here to read more...

Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS Awards $2.8 Million in Grants

The grants went to 141 food service and meal delivery programs across the country and were the direct result of fundraising appeals during last fall's Red Bucket campaign on Broadway, off-Broadway, and National Tours. Click here to read more...

Broadway/New York

The Return of the Antonyo Awards (With Another Name) by Cara Joy David

On October 7, 2022--a mere three days before 2nd Annual Antonyo Awards were supposed to take place at the Apollo Theater--the Antonyos were canceled. The related press release was light on details. Rumors swirled. Broadway Black founder Drew Shade, who originally conceived of the awards in 2020, stayed silent publicly.

"I didn't--and I don't--want anything hijacking the mission of what the awards is," Shade said in a recent interview. "The awards are about bringing joy to life."

Shade created the awards to celebrate black excellence in the theater. He foresaw it as a show that would supplement and live alongside the AUDELCO Awards, which also honors black theater and its artists. The inaugural Antonyos ceremony, presented on Juneteenth, 2020, was streamed on YouTube.

"I see a lot of artists that deserve recognition, that deserve acknowledgment for things that they break their backs to create," Shade said. "They deserve a time just to feel good about themselves and dress up, come together and hug on each other without limitations. I also want people to know there is a lot of stuff happening that you should see, that you should support."

Shade considered the first Antonyos a rousing success and sought to get sponsorship and additional support for the second year of the prize. Because of the pandemic, 2021 was not the year, but rather 2022. While the public voted on both nominees and winners for the first edition, a more formal nominating committee was created for the second awards. Nominations for those awards were announced on Monday, June 20, 2022 (the day Juneteenth was legally observed last year) and, in August, it was announced that the awards would be held in-person at the legendary Apollo. All seemed to be going well, until it was not.

While Shade did not want to speak about what led to the cancellation, it appears it was all in the name. The American Theatre Wing was, rumor has it, not happy with the name the Antonyo Awards, which bears an obvious similarity to the Tony Awards. Discussions ensued. While the Wing seemingly did not force the cancellation (by legal means or otherwise), the name change pressure is likely what led to it. The producers of the Awards Formerly Known as the Antonyos are now soliciting name suggestions from the community.

The good news is that the delay allowed additional time for the public to vote on their favorite nominees. Voting is currently open through tomorrow, February 14, 2023, on the nominees announced in 2022. Voters can also suggest a new award show name on the voting form.

Shade declined to say when and how the 2nd set of awards would be given because he wished it to remain a surprise, but he did promise recipients will be acknowledged. And nominations for the 2022-2023 season will be announced in May with an eye toward a large in-person ceremony.

"My whole goal has been to get black people that normally would not feel as though the theater was meant for them, or would welcome them, to get them to come along for the ride," Shade said. "I try to cultivate ways to make that happen. This is a great tool for that and it will happen every year."

Regional

School Board Reverses Decision on "Spelling Bee" Cancellation

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee was scheduled to be performed in the spring, but the Cardinal Schools Board of Education decided against it because it was "not family-friendly." According to the Geauga County Maple Leaf, the board "received a complaint from a resident on Jan. 11" and numerous other families "expressed reservations about the play," BroadwayWorld earlier reported. The production had always planned to utilize an alternate version of the song "My Unfortunate Distraction" that is made available to schools, according to The Leaf, but the board had taken problem with the song "My Unfortunate Erection." Click here to read more...

48 Regional Awards Programs Set for Jimmy Awards

On Monday, June 26, 2023, at 7:30 p.m. at Broadway's Minskoff Theatre, the 14th annual Jimmy Awards will be presented by the Broadway League Foundation and 48 Regional Awards Programs. Two student performers will receive top honors from each participating Regional Awards Program, and these programs will also pay for their airfare to New York so they can take part in The Jimmy Awards on June 26. These annual activities, which are presented and/or sponsored by Broadway League member performing arts venues, include more than 140,000 students from 1,800 high schools in 25 states plus the District of Columbia. Click here to read more

Michael John Garcés to Depart Cornerstone

Michael John Garcés has served as Cornerstone Theater Company's artistic director for 16 years. He has decided to resign from the position as of June 30, 2023. Early in 2006, Garcés took over as artistic director of Cornerstone, succeeding Bill Rauch. Upon his arrival, he contributed to the creation of the Justice Cycle, a new six-production series that studied the impact of laws on communities. The Hunger Cycle, which featured nine full-scale community-collaborative shows and defined "Creative Seeds," a new engagement practice, came after the Justice Cycle and included an anniversary year in which three communities from Cornerstone's earlier work were revisited. The Change Series, Cornerstone's most recent thematic investigation, started in 2019. Click here to read more...

International

Audience Behavior is "The worst it has ever been"

According to the theatre director of the Edinburgh Playhouse, staff members are "nervous and afraid" as a result of an increase in verbal and physical abuse from customers. The problem, according to Colin Marr, has "seriously worsened" since patrons started coming back after the Covid outbreak. He noted that since theaters reopened, the police had been called twice, the most recent one involving a staff member who had been punched during a performance of Jersey Boys. Click here to read more...

Missed our last few newsletters?

February 6, 2023 - Innovate to Survive, Tony Eligibility Decisions Raises Eyebrows

In both the US and the UK government funding decisions have shifted the way that many companies are able to go about their business - in England, the massive shift in Arts Council England funding has left many major stages looking to fill huge gaps in their books. In the United States, the end of government funding related to the pandemic, combined with changing audience behaviors have forced many theaters to look at their leadership and business models and reimagine their whole model of doing business. Click here to read more...

January 30, 2023 - A Look at Broadway's Comeback, The Leadership Shuffle Continues

One of the most interesting pieces of information included in the Variety article linked later in this newsletter is the way in which the buying cycle has shifted for tickets to Broadway shows. At BroadwayWorld, we're not only tracking Broadway data, but in regular meetings with regional theatres and survey's of our audience, we're seeing these same trends play out in regional houses across the country. Audiences are buying tickets closer and closer to the actual show date - but that doesn't necessarily mean they're making the decision to see the show late. In a post-COVID era, audiences are more attuned to the fact that things can shift, and so in an effort to protect themselves from navigating a cancellation, they're waiting to purchase their tickets. Click here to read more...

January 23, 2023 - Alive Downtown Alliance, Labor Issues on the West End

With more frequency, we are starting to see alliances of theaters come together across different regions to create a stronger entity. And that isn't a surprising development. Given the rising costs within the industry, collaboration continues to be one of the best ways to keep those costs down. As Cara Joy David has been reporting, the regional theater scene continues to face new challenges resulting from the pandemic, and working together has been one of the key ways that they are able to see themselves through the situation. Hence, coalitions like Alive Downtown in New York state are great examples of how organizations used to operating in a silo can come together to overcome these new challenges. Click here to read more...

BroadwayWorld Resources

BroadwayWorld Stage Mag - A Fully Interactive Show Program

The digital solution to your show program needs - want to see what's possible? Check out the Stage Mag's for A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder and for The Musical of Musicals (The Musical!)! Then start building your own at stagemag.broadwayworld.com.

Add Your Show to our Regional Events Calendar

As audiences get set to return to in-person performances, and as your company works to market your own return to the stage, make sure you've got your upcoming shows in our regional events calendars. Listings are free of charge, with boosting options available. Get your show listed now

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