White man’s burden

Monday, September 28, 1998

White man’s burden

THEATER: Theater venues

hope to attract

the movie-going

audience to broaden the pool of people

who enjoy plays

By Louise Chu

Daily Bruin Staff

It’s a warm summer Friday night on Santa Monica Boulevard.
Around 10 p.m., "A New York Romance" wraps up in the Coast
Playhouse, and the audience spills out of the theater. Clusters of
white men and women, generally no younger than 30, load into their
BMWs and Mercedes and cruise down Santa Monica Boulevard past
Century City Shopping Center, where "Armageddon" is playing at the
AMC Century 14. Outside the mall, audiences young and old of
different ethnicities and economic statuses, gather by the box
office to purchase tickets for the latest summer blockbuster.

This contrast in demographics seems a common sight at theater
venues and movie theaters throughout Los Angeles. While the bright
lights of Broadway shine on thousands of theatergoers each week,
the Los Angeles theater scene suffers from stigmas that stunt its
already glacial growth. In the heart of film and music, mainstream
audiences have shied away from what many conceive of as an older,
elitist, white institution.

"There’s always been a very traditional theater-going audience
which is primarily upscale, primarily Caucasian audience," says
Gary Murphy, press representative of the Geffen Playhouse. "I think
that that’s always the backbone for the theater, and there’s always
room for it to grow by attracting a younger audience."

Joan Stein, executive director of the Canon Theater, refutes
claims of the stereotypical theater audience by drawing the
tradition back to an earlier time.

"I do not think that theater is an elitist event," Stein
contends. "The tradition of theater is that it is for the masses.
If you study your theater history, you will see that theater was
the most popular form of entertainment for the common man."

However, theater’s original function in society has changed
dramatically since William Shakespeare’s time, when groundlings and
royalty alike would gather to revel in the day’s cornerstone
activity. In the years since, the birth of film and television has
stolen the public’s attention from the classic art form.

"We happen to live in an industry town where the emphasis is on
television and theater, and where the media concentrates on
television and theater," says Stein. "So the media sends out a
message to the public that this is what’s important. And I think it
is the lack of sophistication sometimes of the media about getting
out the message."

Jim Royce, marketing director of The Centre Theater Group which
controls the Ahmanson and Mark Taper Forum, finds striking
differences between New York and Los Angeles media that define the
two’s divergent priorities.

"If you read the New York Times, you’ll see that, unlike the
calendar section of the L.A. Times, there’s a lot of theater
represented up front in the newspaper," Royce observes. "You can’t
avoid it … But here, you wander through the movies, and you
eventually come to a very different characterization about how
theater is represented here."

Though perpetuating the vicious cycle, perhaps the media is
simply reflecting the thriving Hollywood culture that Angelenos
have already embraced.

To appeal to a younger demographic, the stage must accommodate
the fast-paced lives that leave the under-30 crowd seeking
immediate gratification. In satisfying this need, theater must give
way to the burgeoning film scene, a scene in which people can open
up the newspaper to the movie guide on a slow Friday night and find
several entertaining options.

"(The Geffen is trying) to go after that younger audience, to go
after an audience that doesn’t have a very flexible schedule,"
Murphy explains. "See, one of the reasons why you get an older
audience is that they like the ability to know that on Nov. 10,
they’re going to the Geffen Playhouse. Young audiences, they’re not
willing to make that commitment. It’s like, ‘Well, I don’t know
where I’m going to be in November.’"

Theaters have recently made attempts to adapt to the demands of
a spontaneous younger public by creating more flexible subscription
plans, having student discounts and offering rush tickets (hours
before the performance, the ticket office sells the remaining seats
at lower prices).

Rush tickets are not the only way to minimize the complaints of
young audiences. Industry professionals have also reached out to
those of lower economic bearing, hoping to dispel the myth of
wealthy elitism that characterizes this entertainment medium.

"I think certain pieces of theater, by virtue of the venues in
which they perform and their budget structure, demand ticket prices
that can be far-reaching," Stein admits. "However, there are
discounts in the theater."

Both the Ahmanson and Mark Taper Forum hold pay-what-you-can
nights for each show that they feature. Only required to pay a
minimum of $1, theatergoers usually donate $5. Stein also
encourages avid stage fans with meager budgets to volunteer as
ushers in non-profit theaters, including the Geffen and the
Taper.

"I produced ‘Picasso at Lapin Agile’ at a theater across the
street from UCLA, and I tell you that we had so few UCLA students
take advantage of the inexpensive tickets, free tickets. It was
very, very disheartening.

"If you want to go to theater, you can," Stein continues.
"Theater is not a lazy activity, and I’m afraid that our culture
has embraced a more lazy attitude."

Possibly theater’s largest obstacle is crossing racial and
cultural boundaries. While Hollywood, to a great extent, has
succeeded in attracting a diverse population of moviegoers, theater
fans remain segmented in specialized groups.

"The thing is, you’ll always have a group that is there for that
particular play," Murphy says. "There was a huge black audience for
‘Harriet’s Return’ because Debbie Allen is a major star, and we’re
trying to tell the story of Harriet Tubman, this great American
hero. So the black community will show up for that, in the same way
that the gay community showed up for ‘Love, Valor, Compassion.’
That was a huge percentage of the audience."

Murphy believes that these plays ultimately draw in audiences to
return for future performances; performances that do not
necessarily cater to their niche of interest.

"We’re seeing more and more of that audience returning because
you have to get people in and have an enjoyable theatrical
experience. Once they are there, they’ll want to return over and
over again. I’d love to see it be a lot more diverse that it
actually is, and I think that that will happen in time."

The current goal of organizers of Los Angeles theater is to
expand their demographics and delve into the mainstream market.

"Theater is for everyone, and it has to be for everyone, which
is why we try to keep (ticket prices) at a minimal amount," Murphy
insists.

But Royce argues that there may be a limited pool of interest
from which theater organizers may draw.

"People who are only going to things like ‘Armageddon’ are
looking for experiential entertainments that are fairly external,
but if I were looking for people who went to ‘Armageddon’ to come
into theater, I really wouldn’t be looking at ‘Armageddon,’" Royce
says. "I would be looking at people who buy books. That’s where the
biggest crossover is.

"In the mix of everything, if that’s the only thing that you, as
a consumer, are going to – the ‘Armageddons’ (and) ‘Halloween H20s’
or those kinds of things – if that’s how you entertain yourself,
there’s probably not much that’s going to interest you in my
theater," Royce continues. "However, if you go to ‘Armageddon,’ and
you also read books, and you also get into some pretty good
discussions, and you’re a thinking person, (and) you really want to
stretch your imagination …"

The discovery of theater by the average, mainstream individual
may not only depend on the variety of interests that it caters to.
Murphy and Stein agree that it is difficult to penetrate the scene
without a head start during youth.

"The problem that theater has is that unless you grow up with
theater as part of your life, it’s hard to discover it later on,"
Murphy says. "And what happened over the years, is that arts in
public schools for the last 10 years has been on a decline, and the
arts are always the first to go. I think that that’s gradually
being corrected. Unfortunately, I hope we don’t lose an entire
generation because of funding cutbacks in the ’80s."

Although Murphy encourages early exposure to the stage, his
personal experience suggests that developing a love for theater
later in life is not out of the question. Not a fan of plays until
his mid-20s, Murphy fostered a passion for the art form and
ultimately committed to it professionally.

Stein agrees with the importance of exposure to theater in
schools.

"We have to educate children about theater," Stein says. "It’s
not just something that just falls into their lap. They have to be
brought to the theater until it becomes a tradition within their
lives."

With reports by Ryan Fujitani, Daily Bruin contributor.

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