The Death (again) of Theatre and the Future

by Tom Berger, Guest Editorial

As written recently in the New York Times as its yearly (or so) lament about the death of live theatre, it’s been a rough couple of years for those of us still toiling in the biz. I’ve often said, post-Covid, that the pandemic was hardest on artists, educators, and parents, and as I’m all three, it was a rough 2020. I mean, we all had a rough 2020 but some of us struggled a little more than others.

However, I get exhausted reading about how this art form that has survived nearly 3000 years of war, famine, extremism, plague, and civil upheaval is constantly dying. However, this shouldn’t be a sign that everything is wine and roses for live entertainment either.

Does theatre, in general, and do organizations in particular need support and help? Absolutely and there’s a myriad of sources that can be tapped to help the industry through a combination of factors that make this a challenging moment. But to presume that all hope is lost and that theatre is dead as an art form is as cynical as the people writing the op-eds.

To give some context, I’m on the tail end of Gen X and the artistic director of a small but scrappy Indie theatre in Wisconsin. We’re not really looking to do huge, glossy commercial shows but we’re happy to produce modest, thoughtful productions to fill our community’s particular need. Have we struggled post-Covid? Absolutely. But I fear more for a lot of our larger nonprofit titans of regional theatre; institutions like the Public, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and the O’Neill continue to struggle to meet ambitious goals that would have been daunting even if the world hadn’t stopped in 2020. I think a better view is to look at why these titans of nonprofit theatre are struggling.

One of the biggest concerns, obviously, is that as regional companies embrace more DEI approaches to casts, writers, and directors, it will alienate what is largely an upper-middle-class, white audience base. So we may see a trend of large nonprofits that normally would attempt projects outside the commercial box leaning more towards more traditional and conservative titles and authors.

But the question seems to remain in those offices: “How do we seem inclusive but prevent alienating our traditional base?” instead of “How do we include underrepresented voices, keep them palatable to our base, and invite BIPOC / Queer / Underrepresented artists and audience members to stick around, too?” There are problems with both of these approaches. One of the biggest is theatre’s gate-keeping tendencies.

To state that regional theatre will die without established institutional playwrights’ work being featured is both tone-deaf and wrong. Look, there’s nothing wrong with classics; I’m as comfortable with Shakespeare and Tennessee Williams as I am with Michael R. Jackson and Taylor Mac. But we don’t give our audiences enough credit.

A few years ago, I was running a long-established community theatre and was told that a certain title we were considering (a musical from the 2000’s with some nudity, language, and adult themes) was going to be “too risky for our blue-hairs.” But where some see “old biddies,” I see the generations that embraced rock ‘n roll, Hair, nudity, and F-bombs on stage, as well as significant social change; they just grew older. I keep being told that I’ll become more conservative as I sojourn through middle age but I find myself increasingly more progressive and open-minded. That unnamed musical was our biggest single-ticket seller that season, by the way.

We start by accepting more than one idea. Does virtual and live-streamed theatre scare you? Sure. It scares me a little, as a guy who got his start chain-smoking backstage in a converted barn just like many of you. But the world has changed and theatre has survived by being adaptable to change with it. For more intelligent outlooks on virtual theatre, please check into the important work the brilliant Jared Mezzochi is doing both at the University of Maryland and Andy’s Summer Playhouse. And virtual work is just the beginning.

There are lots of other resources out there: idea-sharing and collaborating with other companies, sharing staff and materials resources, fresh approaches to fundraising, expanding and better articulating a business’ advantages in patronizing the arts, shoes-to-the-ground audience and talent-building, cost-cutting by deemphasizing spectacle and emphasizing substance.

We live in a theatre world that has an embarrassment of riches; BIPOC, AAPI, and Queer artists are blowing wide the gates that have long been kept by established theatres and our audience has the ears to hear if we’d only listen. If you’re producing in a small market, don’t let the current climate keep you from producing work that speaks and sings to you, that is alive and vibrant with new voices and perspectives. We do ourselves and our audiences a disservice.

To quote an oft-quoted quote, if you’re wondering who needs representation, look around the room and see who’s missing. The answer, and its benefits to both your organization and your audience, might surprise you.

Tom Berger is a freelance director, music director, teaching artist, and consultant, and serves as the Executive Artistic Director of Seven Ages Theatricals in Sheboygan, WI.