Industry Pro Newsletter: Smaller Shows Feel the Squeeze, CTG Eyes Transformation

January 31, 2022 -

The virus related news is looking better this week, as New York's COVID positivity rate continues a rapid decline. However, that doesn't mean the wider theatre industry is out of the woods quite yet, as attention can once again shift to the other changes in artist and audience sentiment in the wider Cultural Industry. While we've thought we were looking at this turning point before, that doesn't change the fact that the work to bring further equity to the industry remains ongoing, and as companies continue to chart their paths forward, many are working to build that equity into their recovery.

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Industry Trends

BroadwayWorld Announces Education Expansion

In addition to a new scholarship database, BroadwayWorld has brought on Carian Lynée Parker as our new Director of Education Outreach. Carian will be working closely with schools at all levels and shining a spotlight on educational programming taking place across the country. Read more...

The Black List Expands to Theatre

Originally founded as the annual list of industry insiders' favorite unproduced screenplays, The Black List announced this week an expansion into the world of theater. Four theater companies have already agreed to commission a new play from writers discovered through the list, and The Black List will offer writers a chance to have their work read and evaluated by industry insiders. Read more...

Should Shakespeare Still Be Shakespeare?

As the Shakespeare Theatre Association gathered last week, one of the key questions was how theatre companies should be approaching Shakespeare in their season, for their audiences, and in the wider canon. Read more...

Broadway/New York

Stage Manager Stories: Julie Devore

Each month, BroadwayWorld is featuring the Stage Managers of Broadway, and this month A.A. Cristi caught up with Julie Devore, Production Stage Manager of David Byrne's American Utopia. Read more...

Tony Voters Will Be Required to Take Unconscious Bias Training

New this year, voters for the Tony Awards will be required to complete and self-attest completion of an unconscious bias training course. For voters that have already taken a similar course through other organizations, they will not be required to take a new course. Read more...

American Theatre Wing Announces Obie Awards to Include Streaming

In addition to the announcement that the awards will include streaming productions in their categories, the official season of the award will cover the period since the last Obie Awards were presented since July 1, 2020. Read more...

The Delacorte's Makeover is Approved by Landmark Preservation Committee

The long awaited refurbishment of Central Park's Delacorte Theater (the home of Shakespeare in the Park) has been approved by New York's Landmark Preservation Committee. The work, originally announced in 2018 and then revised in 2020, is slated to start in the fall of 2022 and be finished in time for Shakespeare in the Park in 2023. Read more...

New Law Aims to Reduce Pay Inequity

A new law in New York City requires employers to post the salary range for any given role in the job posting - and includes a heavy fine for any companies that disregard the requirement. Industry insiders feel that this could reduce many of the wage inequities that exist within Broadway. Read more...

Regional

Center Theatre Group Grapples with the New American Theatre

As Los Angeles, and the wider theatre industry, make a major cultural shift, Center Theatre Group is undergoing a seismic transition of its own. As playwright Jeremy O. Harris says, "The problems at the C.T.G. are problems that are alive at every major theater institution in America," and perhaps how they solve them can be a roadmap for other institutions across the country. Read more...

Touring Through COVID

While Broadway has struggled with lower attendance on top of canceled performances due to breakthrough COVID cases, touring venues have reported that their audience levels have remained fairly steady. However, the challenges of moving a touring company from city to city amongst a surge is proving to be an entirely different challenge. Read more...

Michael Bobbit: One Year on the Job at the Massachusetts Cultural Council

At the one year mark of his tenure as the Executive Director of Massachusetts State Grantmaking Body in the cultural sector, Michael Bobbitt is deeply optimistic about the future of the arts in Massachusetts. Read more...

International

A Campaign to Protect Women Experiencing Menopause in the Workplace

In the UK, Equity is developing new guidelines for the workplace to help producers of both stage and screen create workplace environments that are open to women experiencing menopause - including factoring in potential additional breaks. Equity says that this is in response to listening to members and their lived experiences of lost contracts and hostile work environments. Read more...

Smaller West End Shows Feeling the Squeeze

As bigger shows on the West End, often backed by deep-pocketed investors, lower their prices to draw in cautious audience members, smaller shows without the same level of financial backing are feeling squeezed out without the same flexibility to lower their ticket prices. Read more...

Missed our last few newsletters?

January 24 - New Pay Equity Standards, Audiences Want Vaccine Mandates

Much of the industry felt a little bit on hold the last week, as public health officials began more open discussions that the latest wave of the coronavirus may be starting to trend downward in many places. While that still means some restrictions and caution across the globe, it does also mean that many companies that have been able to weather the storm are once again preparing to reopen - holding those plans as loosely as they are able. In New York, some governmental support may be renewed for the performing arts sector in the form of the New York City Musical and Theatrical Production Tax Credit. Meanwhile last week, members of the creative economy were in front of the House Small Business Committee to lobby for more support from a national level. Read more...

January 17 - Closing vs Hiatus, Does the Subscription Model Still Make Sense?

News of more closings - and planned reopenings - highlighted the Broadway news last week, and regionally we've seen a few more delays in productions announced. Broadway and many regions also announced an extension of mask mandates and vaccination requirements for audiences into the spring, serving as a reminder that the path to that final "new normal" will likely have a few more twists and turns before we arrive. Read more...

January 10 - Pauses and Postponements Continue, West End Reduces Weekly Performances

As the industry works to both emerge from the pandemic and deal with the ongoing impacts of the pandemic, responses are starting to differ based on region. Some Broadway producers are prioritizing their ongoing tours, others are pulling people from the tour to keep running on Broadway. In Chicago, no food and drink are allowed in the theatre. In Los Angeles, they're making plans to resist a pause for as long as possible. The first week of the new year was a bumpy one to be sure, and we've got the stories from around the industry in the newsletter below. 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 off-Broadway's Blindness and for Next on Stage Season 3! 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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