How TO REVIVE AND GROW AMERICAN THEATRE

[KeithfrromQueens]

Posted: 10/4/25 at 8:07pm

HOW TO REVIVE AMERICAN THEATRE

FREE THINKING:  It is a very challenging undertaking that demands innovative, inspired strategies.  A successful business strategy must solve two major problems:  1) Today, people are fearful of traveling to a city such as Chicago or N.Y. to see a show because of all the crime.  It is a safety issue.  2)  Technology has given consumers the opportunity to buy and place huge televisions in their homes for watching sports and films, in total comfort, over networks like Tubi, HBO, etc. 

Also, it does seem that a successful strategy must provide sufficient financial return for talented actors, directors, playwrights.  Producing a new play for 50 or 100 people in a live theater setting is not financially rewarding for all involved.  You do all that work and walk away feeling apathetic.  Imagine a highly talented actor who memorizes and performs hundreds of lines of dialog, and he/she has no chance of reaching thousands of people. None.

So – 1) Produce plays that are exciting, entertaining, inventive, make people forget the dreariness in their life for 2 hours or so.  Forget politics or social engineering.  2)  Contract with a national TV broadcasting network like HBO or Showtime to broadcast the live premiere of a new play.  Or create a network to do the same.  BROADCAST THE PLAY NO MORE THAN THREE DATES.  3)  IF THE PLAY IS ENJOYABLE TO PREMIERE AUDIENCES, contract with the network or a film production company, to fund a low budget film [not as a stage play] for distribution in theatres across the country or over HBO or Showtime.  Now, huge audiences can watch the play story on film at a motion picture theatre or at home over their 65-inch TVs.  Humongous televisions have taken over in America.  They are the future.

There has to be some variation of this strategy that has potential for introducing new, exciting works to American audiences, nationally.

 

   

[Highland Guy]

Posted: 10/7/25 at 2:59pm

KeithfrromQueens said: "Today, people are fearful of traveling to a city such as Chicago or N.Y. to see a show because of all the crime. It is a safety issue. "

BALDERDASH  

[KeithfrromQueens]

Posted: 10/14/25 at 6:52pm

Do you live in the real world?  Several weeks ago 55 people were shot over the weekend.  My cousin was murdered and left in the alley in Chicago. Several of the neighborhoods in Chicago like West Garfield Park are some of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the USA. 
the most dangerous neighborhoods in Chicago - Google Search

10 Dangerous Chicago Neighborhoods (2023) - YouTube

It wouldn't hurt to read and inform yourself before posting gibberish on the internet.
 

Updated On: 10/19/25 at 06:52 PM

[SteveSanders]

Posted: 10/15/25 at 4:55am

I'm sorry for your loss.

The data is mixed on how perceptions of safety affect leisure travel to Chicago and NYC.  Just one example: earlier this month it was announced that Chicago had record tourism over the summer months.

 

 

Updated On: 10/17/25 at 04:55 AM

[MysteriousLady]

Posted: 10/15/25 at 6:14pm

KeithfrromQueens said:  My cousin was murdered and left in the alley in Chicago.

 

Lol!!! Thanks for the laugh. 

[KeithfrromQueens]

Posted: 10/17/25 at 3:01pm

 

You think that is humorous to have your young cousin murdered and left for dead in an alley?  Sick!  He was in his early 30's.   Along with that, the neighbor across the street from me was shot, but lived.  It wouldn't hurt for commentors on this topic to do some reading.  There are numerous articles on the Net detailing all the crime in Chicago, and the dangerous neighborhoods.  One neighborhood, Washington Park, has a crime rate 701% higher than the national average.   

[John Adams]

Posted: 10/18/25 at 4:40pm

RE: KeithfrromQueens:

It's very possible that the posts coming from that handle are all artificially generated.

One dead giveaway is that who, or whatever is generating them does not have a solid grasp of the English language. WTF is "the Net" (other than an extremely outdated movie title from the 90s)? 

Also if the source is "frrom Queens" (with 2 "r"s btw), why would it imply a connection to Chicago? (which it attempts to support with numerous examples of inaccurate data).

Just a suggestion, but it might be better if we all prove our own AI (actual intelligence) by never responding to it.

[The Bandstand]

Posted: 10/21/25 at 9:38pm

Theater needs to be cheaper to see and cheaper to do.  this will revive casual theater going and get more butts in seats and allow producers to take more chances.