6 May 2008
Butts in the Seats
Posted by Colin Mitchell under: ponderings .
The million dollar question: How do you get ‘em in the seats?
Quality production, topical subject matter, spectacle, controversy, established theatre, name actors, great reviews, word of mouth, creative marketing, heavy advertising.
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes and yes.
And even with all of those elements humming at their highest pitch, they still might not come. This is Los Angeles after all, folks. So what is the Los Angeles Theatre artist supposed to do? And how does this relate to the theatre critic? I’m glad you asked.
Let’s for a moment assume that there is a finite number of people who could actually be called the “Los Angeles Theatre Audience,” or to put it more succinctly - and quaintly - LATA. This is the hardcore pool of Los Angeles theatre. The ones who see live theatre regularly. Who read the reviews, keep an ear to the pavement, catch the hot shows, know the regularly produced playwrights, the hottest actors, the innovative directors, the companies making waves, these are the people who’d rather pay money to see theatre than movies. They are a unique bunch and they are, most definitely, my friends, a LIMITED number of people. But they are the people we want to connect with. In many cases, they are us.
So for the sake of argument, let’s say LATA consists of about 10,000 people. You might find this number miniscule for a city of about 6 to 8 million. Well, it is. I have no idea if it’s accurate, but it feels about right. LATA is this tiny pool of people that LA Theatre recycles in and out of their theatres. The more I work and see shows in this town, the more it makes me feel like this “smallish” number might be right. Certainly there are probably another 10,000 out there that SOMETIMES go see theatre, or only see stuff at the Taper or Pasadena Playhouse or the Geffen, but they are NOT LATA. They are a provincial lot that stick to THEIR confines, eat at THEIR restaurants, go to THEIR theatres, THEIR cinemas - if you spend your energy going after them - you will more than likely fail. Unless of course you ARE them. But that’s a topic for another day…
Okay. So how do you get LATA to come see YOUR show as opposed to the fifty other productions going on at the same time? And how does the critic help in this endeavor? Three fundamental questions. And they have to be answered by BOTH the theatre artist AND the theatre critic:
Know your audience
Know your place
Know your self
What does this mean practically?
Okay, say you are a struggling stand-up comedian living in Van Nuys who wants to find a path onto a sitcom. Fine. you write a breezy comedy, rent a theatre on Magnolia or Lankershim, try to get some reviewers down, get a good review, go after some TV execs, some agents, some producers who think your play has pilot potential and go from there. But don’t try and put on a Hamlet set in Los Angeles with your funny pals and then get pissed when you get panned by serious theatre critics and your friends who DO come then never want to talk to you again.
Know your audience
Know your place
Know your self
Okay. Now say you’re a expatriate from Seattle who had an up and coming theate company but outgrew the city, came to LA because the costs of producing were better and saw an emerging audience hungry for quality, innovation and provocation. Fine. Go see shows. Gauge the temperature of the community. Gather like-minded individuals. Find a cohesive vision that taps into the zeitgeist of the community. Find a play that speaks to that vision. Raise the money, put it up. And sound the trumpets as loudly and as confidently as you can that YOU HAVE ARRIVED. And then be prepared for no one to show. Adjust. And do it again. And again. And again. Make a name for yourself. Carve a niche.
Know your audience
Know your place
Know your self
And what about the critic? Do they know their audience? Do they know LATA? Do they know what they want? What issues they are dealing with? Are they in touch with the world around them? The traffic, the struggles, the housing crisis, the weather, the cost of theatre? Is the critic immersed in their own community? Do they want their community to succeed?
As I’ve said many times before, when I first came to LA in the early 90’s, 90% of the theatre being produced was awful - the kind that made people NEVER want to come back, including me. Luckily I’d seen enough quality theatre and was discerning enough and so I was able to survive that drought. Some fifteen years later I’d say that percentage is down to about 75%. Not great, but not bad. 25% of theatre in LA is very good, as good as or better than any theatre going on in the country. And 10% of that is verging on brilliance and probably outdoes anything being done in America. That’s something to be proud of, something to build on. But we need everyone to know this, understand this, be a part of this.
And then we need to trumpet it as loudly as we can.
THAT’S where you, the critic, comes in. You’ve got a louder trumpet than we do. Play it wisely.
Know your audience
Know your place
Know yourself
Damn, I was just gonna talk about marketing today.
6 Comments so far...
Enci Says:
7 May 2008 at 11:06 am.
Colin,
You are making great points but you are missing one that is dear to me and that the theater companies are ignoring, with the exception of a few.
1. Access:
Many theaters are ONLY giving driving directions to their venues. I don’t drive by choice and there are many people who don’t drive. Also, many Angelenos are stuck in their cars on their home commute and I don’t think they want to get back into the car to be stuck in traffic again and be late for a show. I have been asking on BigCheap for two years (!) for theaters to put public transportation options with their nearest bus stop info AND to linkBikeMetro on their directions page. In two years only four theaters have done so. ONLY FOUR! This would be free information, that doesn’t cost theaters anything and they are ignoring their constituents. I ride my bike everywhere and I have been encouraging people all over LA to get on their bikes, but the theaters seem to ignore my request.
Which goes to my next point:
2. Communication:
Do theater owners and or managers know what their audience wants. Do they know if their audience is too hot, too cold, if the seats are comfortable, etc. Do they talk after the show and ask for input? Do theaters have a suggestion box and of those who do, do they really take the suggestions seriously? The big theaters have ushers, who say hi to the customers. Why don’t the small theaters have someone greet the patrons? Why don’t the small theaters have someone (the stage manager or the tech or the owner, etc.) thank the patrons after the show?
I’m an actor myself and I have done lots and lots of theater in LA, all over the place and I’m also a Member of the SkyPilot Theatre Company. Here is where I think we, the artists (Directors and Actors) could also contribute, in getting people into the seats.
Actors:
Take care of the place that you are performing in! Don’t trash it! Clean up after yourselves! Let your friends know of the discount tickets that are available on-line, don’t try to sneak them in for free. The Venue that you are performing in, is giving you an opportunity. Be thankful and respectful to them. Greet the audience after the show. Shake their hands and thank them for coming. This is going to make their night, I promise! Promote the production, not just yourself. The director will love you forever. Give back to the community. And lastly, ride your bike! I do it in high heels and in curlers, so you can do it too. :-)
Directors:
Make the actors feel proud of the production so they will promote it. Teamwork is important. If actors get along, they will hang out afterwards and clean up together. Thank the audience after the show. Shake hands with everybody, not just your friends who came. Recognize people form other shows. If you make them feel important, they will come back.
I could go on and on about my personal experience, the good and the bad. But all in all I go back to the theatre to see a show where I’m treated well. I would go back to a theatre in a heartbeat where people are friendly and approachable, even if the show wasn’t that great. And there are theaters in town that I’m not going back to, even if they offer free tickets.
Camille Brown Says:
7 May 2008 at 11:20 am.
ExperienceLA.com, the official website for arts & culture in Los Angeles, does provide a variety of transportation options. All LACAC grantees are required to publicize all of their events on ExperienceLA. It’s a great site.
Colin– when the Arts Commission merged about a hundred mailing lists from arts & cultural institutions of all sizes, they found that 70% of the addresses were unique. There are many more than 10,000 arts patrons in the city. The problem is a lack of awareness of the arts community as a whole on the part of the audiences. ExperienceLA.com is awesome but poorly publicized to the LA community at large.
Sharing mailing list information and fostering partnerships among arts organizations would increase audiences for everyone. The idea that we’re competing for a small group of audience members is unquantified.
Enci Says:
7 May 2008 at 11:42 am.
I like ExperienceLA and I use it to promote my events as well as to search for events. But ExperienceLA is not providing transportation option for people on bikes. And unfortunately people can submit their events even if they don’t give alternative transportation options. Also the Trip planner is not ideal, because it leaves out Subways and it doesn’t provide the local DASH route info.
That’s why it’s up to the theaters to educate the public and the neighborhood, to use public transportation, walk or bike and not bring the car.
For example, the Open Fist is giving driving directions, but parking is very difficult in the neighborhood. They still don’t give public transportation directions even though I asked many times.
Why not promote your show by saying, hey, if you ride the metro to our theater, after all the bus #… stops right in front of our door, we’ll treat you to a two for one evening. Or hey if you come on a bike, we’ll lock it up inside (there is plenty of room in the lobby) and we’ll give you a discount.
Sacred Fools posted public transportation AND BikeMetro on their site within 5 minutes of me asking for it. They gave all cyclists 1/2 price tickets at one of their shows and I organized a ride and brought 10 people to their show. That was an easy win for them. Could be an easy win for many theaters. Encourage and promote easy access for ALL MODES of transportation, not just cars!
Colin Mitchell Says:
7 May 2008 at 11:46 am.
Excellent point both from Enci and Camille. And I agree, my LATA number is an absolute and total guess. It would be wonderful if their was a way to actually measure what that LATA number truly is! One of the ways, as you suggested, is for companies to share their mailing lists, but I wonder how many companies would actually do this. I’m a member of EST-LA and they are VERY protective of that mailing list. I’m not sure why - any ideas?
But I stand by my main point that the LATA number - that hard core RELIABLE theatre audience pool - is very very small compared to the overall population of this city. I say this from my experience of going to see shows and running into the same people over and over again. Granted I don’t go to see EVERY show, but the circle seems small, comparably…what would you say the number is? A million? Are there really a million people in Los Angeles who go see, say, ten shows a year? Hell, I myself probably only go six or seven actual productions. I see lots of readings and whatnot, but actual productions, not that many. My move to the valley and lack of funds has contributed to that…
Would love to hear from critics who see many more shows than any of us. What is a truer estimate of LATA? And how do we measure them?
And provinciality has a lot to do with it. That 70% of “unique” audience is as much a result of location as anything else. And what exactly IS an “art patron”? Someone who goes to a museum? The opera? I’m talking about people who go see theatre. Period. If I’m doing a show in the Valley, why would I target audiences in Santa Monica, or Pasadena? I might get a few stragglers, but overall it’s a waste of time. Know your place. Know your audience. I still stand by my idea that LATA exists and it is a very small pool of people to draw from in this town.
Camille Brown Says:
7 May 2008 at 12:42 pm.
Thanks, guys. Enci, I’ll try to make sure Circle X lists public transportation and BikeMetro on all future productions.
Colin, I think probably LACAC and/or LASA have the data you’re talking about. I know that survey data from our last production indicated that 40% of our patrons see “a few” theatre productions per year, 31% see 1-2 per month, 13% see 1-2 per week, 9% see “very few” and 6% had never seen an LA theatre production before. We produce near Theatre Row and near enough to North Hollywood to make sharing feasible. I think increased communication and trust would be good for everyone. We’re really not going to take audiences away from each other.