RAT Re: Tickets

["Erik Ehn" <shadowtackle@worldnet.att.net>]

All-in-all:

     This is a re-hash from NY, but regarding tickets, consider also the option of abandoning them altogether. The difficulties incurred by the loss of income may be the same or less substantial than the difficulties attendant upon handling money. If theater is having a hard time surviving on the basis of earned income, maybe we are not meant to be earning income. Maybe we are meant to be darlings of fate or royalty or schools or the state (rising order of peril). Subsidize productions by outside means (grants or large individual donations) - let the grass roots keep the green. A further possibility: give stuff away in addition to putting on the show for free, e.g. bread or soup. While many inside the theater believe that theater feeds the soul, many outside (a distinction I don't know that I accept, more later) don't get this central concept. Feed the body as an emblem of our deeper purpose. If audiences will only value a show if they pay for it, accept donations, and then give the donations to another cause. Loyola says what we get for free (inspiration) we should give for free.

     Running a theater on the basis of box office can be like using the lottery for a retirement account. A lot of us do... In working through the problem, two tactics: use the system better or find another system. Which assumptions are axiomatic and which are only habitual?

     Loss of box office would mean ruin for some. Improved box office could mean ruin for others.


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