Frank Rizzo (Hartford Courant, Variety) who I tend to agree with on most topics posted the a very ill-informed take on student matinees: they are done more or less for funding purposes only and not having any true impact on attendees or developing audiences. Basically Frank suggests we give students free tickets to attend a regular performance and give up on student matinees.
Here is my the response to Frank’s post that I put in his comments section – ironically I think that my posting of the comment or trying to crashed the Courant site because I can’t get on it since – so I will check throughout the day to make sure my comment got through:
I couldn’t disagree with you more about student matinees (of which I have attended dozens). The logistics of attending a show outside of school hour are virtually impossible to arrange in most cases.
First and the largest issue, your plan assumes that the students can find transportation to the theater. Without buses, which are expensive many students can’t even get to the theater. You may argue that they make it to the mall or to the movies which is true, but some parents view malls as babysitting services and frankly malls are cool social settings where kids already gather – not exactly what most kids think of when they think of their local theaters.
Second, your plan also assumes that children are old enough to attend the theatre on their own. If we wait for every students theatre-going experience to begin when they are old enough to attend on their own, we might as well write them off? If you haven’t experienced something, you won’t miss it. The reality is that movies, sports, etc a geared towards children at a very young age. If we aren’t providing a similar point of entry for the theatre (and all of the arts) we will become even more irrelevant. And once again we can’t rely on parents to seek out this experience alone.
Third, the factors above and your plan would likely create an even smaller audience in that those who would choose to attend or could attend are those that could AFFORD the transportation or whose parents didn’t work at night and could take their kids to a show or didn’t have other children or can afford a babysitter. Our ticket prices are already too high why would we want to create more barriers for attending.
This is why schools have such strict rules about what can be required as class room activities and field trips. And I am pretty sure we aren’t going to convince the school system to provide after school buses or teacher support for theatre attendance when the arts are being cut out of many of our schools.
My childhood and formative years were filled with professional arts experiences via student matinees. And I had a mother who firmly believed in providing these experiences outside of the school hours but as a school teacher didn’t necessarily have the time, energy or money to make it to the few arts experiences that were available in El Paso, TX. Without those matinees, I would never have pursued a career in theater.
A well prepared audience at a student matinee (by both the school and the theatre) can be one of the best audiences around with completely honest reactions. Certainly adults can and should be encouraged to attend with the students – at 10:30am. It is an opportunity to give tickets to local partners or a special subscription or discount offer. Frankly any actor or other theatre artists who wants to complain about it should take a moment and try and remember what brought them to the arts. And then they should take some action to participate in either the preparation of the audiences or the day’s experience – it can be as simple as asking what the preparation was. I am not suggesting more work for the actors – the theatre should be doing the heavy lifting, but we all are responsible for making sure theatre is available to audiences of all ages. Or get used to the fact that our audience will be smaller and smaller. You don’t miss what you never have. I know first hand how much work the matinees are and how frustrating they can be but the alternatives are unacceptable to me. It reminds me the stereotypical self-indulgent directors who are so concerned about their “art” that they have forgotten completely about the audience and the reasons for creating theatre in the first place.
The point of the matinees isn’t to convert everyone into as die-hard theatre attendee. It is a chance to reach a few future theatre participants, to enhance the education curriculum and to foster an understanding of the importance of the arts.
Your suggestion for free vouchers (and a way to make sure the students actually attend)is a fine idea for summers, a one time specific project, or a way to encourage students to attend a show. I actually have always been a proponent of all student tickets being free or at least lower than the price of a movie ticket (often free tickets remove the value of the experience completely). But if that is the only access provided, we won’t be doing our jobs as theatre practitioners or meeting the missions of most nonprofit theatres.
No related posts.
I agree with you, Jodi. Student matinees are vital to expose many students, who wouldn’t otherwise have access (even if free tickets to regular shows were provided becuse of the circumstances you describe) to the theater. I cannot tell you how many theater professionals over the years have shared with me that their love of the theater started at a performance which their class attended (or at a event brought to the school). And many peformers also have shared with me that student matiness are their favorites– the kids don’t hold back their enthusiasm, which fuels the performances.
When I was 7. Our elementary school presented “The King & I” as its Spring musical and my second-grade class was cast as the children of the King. It was my first exposure to the world of the theater and I’ve never been the same since. My enthusiasm must have been noticed by my teacher as I was assigned one of three speaking parts given to the “Siamese” children. Near the end, when Mrs. Anna is preparing to leave Siam, I was to deliver the incredibly moving line, “Please do not go away.”
Finally the week of performances arrived and before a packed auditorium, I awaited my cue to get up from my cross-legged sitting position stage right center, walk up to Mrs. Anna, step out from behind her billowing dress, hit my mark and give my heart-wrenching plea for her not to leave us. My moment came and I delivered my line to uproarious laughter from the audience. I returned to my seat bewildered. “I must be a really talented actress.” I thought, because I hadn’t realized that line was supposed to be funny. Later I was told that my costume, hiked up to my waist to accommodate the cross-legged sitting position, had remained there when I appeared at center stage and that my line was delivered with my underwear displayed for all the audience and the court at Siam to see.
I gave up thoughts of being a great actress, but went on on to produce, write and direct so that more deserving actresses can have their moment on stage.