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Re: RAT Marx in Soho (in LA)
I don't know if I buy all of this justifying of
ticket prices by comparing them to other
over-priced stuff. Do we really want theatre
prices to become so status-quo?
Besides, isn't this the same Howard Zinn who
wrote A PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES?
Besides the fact the play is about Marx of all
people, it seems more than appropriate for a Zinn
(this is the man who attempted to shift the
paradigm of historical understanding) piece to at
least TRY to shift the disheartening paradigm of
overblown ticket prices.
as a side note, I can't say how angry I get when
people make comparisons to Broadway ticket
prices. Like they're the example we're supposed
to follow or something. Good grief.
And perhaps we've all felt 56 bucks was worth
seeing some things-- However, how many people can
afford that?
And as far as the comment, "Production costs
don't
come down just because of your subject matter."
Don't get me started! I just don't understand
how theatres expect to reach people when the
ticket prices are so high that only a select type
of audience (in some cases-some subject matters--
the WRONG audience) can even afford to be
reached. The proletariat can't afford to see
Marx. That's a tragedy and a half.
Tell Mr. Zinn we'll do his play at rm 120
theatre-- where theatre is FREE.
--- The Independent Eye
<bards@independenteye.org> wrote:
> Friends-
>
> I too start to cringe at $18 tickets. But be
> real. Movies are
> over $8 now, CD's are between $15 and $18, and
> those are mass-produced,
> mass-marketed items. To see Robert Lepage in
> San Francisco right now, the
> cheap seats are $30. On Broadway, The
> Producers is $100. Our own show,
> Hitchhiking Off the Map, opening next week, is
> $16. Production costs don't
> come down just because of your subject matter.
>
> I paid $56 to see Theatre de Complicite in NY,
> and I felt it was
> worth it. I wish I'd seen them in a structure
> entirely different from the
> buy tickets/sit down/see the show/go home
> ceremony we're accustomed to, and
> cheaper seats would have been nice too. But
> they're doing work within the
> conventional paradigm and doing it brilliantly
> and with great commitment;
> they need that structure and they use it in a
> way that brings it alive.
>
> I share the basics of Erik Ehn's propositions
> that inspired RAT,
> but as long as you're within the conventional
> structure of theatre as it's
> evolved, you're going to be caught, ultimately,
> in the logic of that
> structure. If you want to get the press notice
> that will bring in more
> people than the dozen friends you could cram
> into your liviing room, if you
> want good lighting and sightlines and acoustics
> and a place for people to
> park, etc. etc., then you add up the figures
> and set the price you need.
> Add to it the oddity of people's expectations:
> if we priced our seats at
> $10, many people wouldn't come because they'd
> presume it was amateur stuff.
> For the "fringe" audience that goes to see
> "Cyber-Barbie Meets Godzilla,"
> that's not a factor, but those people don't
> come to see us, or, I imagine,
> Howard Zinn.
>
> Yes, there are a billion valid exceptions to
> what I'm saying, but
> I'm offering pretty much our own experience
> over the past 31 years. We've
> done interesting experiments with all
> performances being pay-what-you-will
> and gotten larger audiences as a result, but
> negative consequences too. I
> realize I'm speaking from a different
> perspective than that of a
> 25-year-old with a day job who's part of the
> hot new ensemble in town. But
> most of the time, the structure of
> theatre-as-we've-known-it claims its
> due, and Marx becomes just one more commodity
> (at what, to me, sounds like
> a K-Mart price).
>
> But to create an entirely different paradigm-
> Well, I guess that's
> what the RAT conference is about, and it's what
> we've started trying to
> conceive with our Dionysus Project (no, not a
> staging of The Bacchae),
> which I'll try to describe when I know what I'm
> talking about. The
> promotion, the box office, the seating, the
> artists' presence, the whole
> *occasion* of the event - these make a
> statement much more powerful (except
> on very rare occasions) than the play itself.
> That's no new realization:
> it's impelled theatrical experiment for the
> past 100 years. Which suggests
> that it's a big job. But a worthy mammoth to
> chase.
>
> Meantime, if you're going to see Marx in The
> Theatre, pay $18 and
> call it a bargain.
>
> Peace & joy-
> Conrad Bishop
>
>
>
> Visit The Independent Eye's website
> at <http://www.independenteye.org>.
>
>
>
>
>
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=====
Greg Romero
Dramaturg
rm 120 theatre
PO Box 300165
Austin TX 78703
(512) 481-8366
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