Good Person of Szechwan hands out budget spreadsheet instead of playbill

#1

Good Person of Szechwan hands out budget spreadsheet instead of playbill

Posted: 11/4/13 at 2:03pm

http://thewickedstage.blogspot.com/2013/10/making-good.html

#2

Good Person of Szechwan hands out budget spreadsheet instead of playbill

Posted: 11/4/13 at 2:05pm

Public Theatre budget

#3

Good Person of Szechwan hands out budget spreadsheet instead of playbill

Posted: 11/4/13 at 2:50pm

And the point is?

#4

Good Person of Szechwan hands out budget spreadsheet instead of playbill

Posted: 11/4/13 at 3:24pm

That the truth is concrete. Duh.

#5

Good Person of Szechwan hands out budget spreadsheet instead of playbill

Posted: 11/4/13 at 3:25pm

Do they do this every night? I got a playbill.

#6

Good Person of Szechwan hands out budget spreadsheet instead of playbill

Posted: 11/4/13 at 3:47pm

I feel like my head is concrete 'cause I have no idea what this is supposed to mean. If I got one of these in lieu of a playbill I'd be hollering "Yeah but WHO PLAYED THE BUTLER?"

#7

Good Person of Szechwan hands out budget spreadsheet instead of playbill

Posted: 11/4/13 at 4:19pm

How much is the estimated gross for the run?

This would offset the production costs although nowhere near completely.

---

"If my life weren't funny, it would just be true. And that would be unacceptable." --Carrie Fisher

#8

Good Person of Szechwan hands out budget spreadsheet instead of playbill

Posted: 11/4/13 at 5:32pm

I feel like my head is concrete 'cause I have no idea what this is supposed to mean.

It means you've just been Breched.

---

"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian

#9

Good Person of Szechwan hands out budget spreadsheet instead of playbill

Posted: 11/4/13 at 6:08pm

Welcome to the Alienation Effect.

THEATER IS NOT MAGIC.

THEATER IS WORK.

---

#10

Good Person of Szechwan hands out budget spreadsheet instead of playbill

Posted: 11/4/13 at 6:24pm

But if it isn't magic for the audience and paying customers, then there will be no work and no spreadsheet.

Welcome to the theatre.

---

"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."

---

blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22

#11

Good Person of Szechwan hands out budget spreadsheet instead of playbill

Posted: 11/4/13 at 6:25pm

What happened to "never let them see you sweat?"

Oh, wait, that was a Right Guard commercial.

---

"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."

---

blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22

#12

Good Person of Szechwan hands out budget spreadsheet instead of playbill

Posted: 11/6/13 at 4:41am

I think putting budgets instead of Playbills makes a good point. Metatheatre, and if I recall Brecht used this device a lot, comments on itself. This tears down the illusion that theater, or for that matter society, just "happens". It's the same when you buy a candy bar. One sees the shiny wrapper and eats the tasty chocolate, but forgets about the workers picking the coco beans.

#13

Good Person of Szechwan hands out budget spreadsheet instead of playbill

Posted: 11/6/13 at 10:42am

I think that's clever.

#14

Good Person of Szechwan hands out budget spreadsheet instead of playbill

Posted: 11/6/13 at 10:48am

I saw people with the playbills-I liked them. The playbills were really nice and I was hoping for that when I see the show. This is just trying too hard, in my opinion.

#15

Good Person of Szechwan hands out budget spreadsheet instead of playbill

Posted: 11/6/13 at 10:55am

When I saw this at LaMama I found it interesting--and staggering--to see what unbelievable costs went into a production that looked as low-tech as GOOD PERSON is.

---

"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.” ~ Muhammad Ali

#16

Good Person of Szechwan hands out budget spreadsheet instead of playbill

Posted: 11/6/13 at 11:03am

I think it's a great reminder to patrons who simply do not understand or realize the enormous cost of producing a stage play.

#17

Good Person of Szechwan hands out budget spreadsheet instead of playbill

Posted: 11/6/13 at 11:08am

I understand it-and I do not need to be reminded. I wish I'd seen it before they started doing this. It's really stupid.

#18

Good Person of Szechwan hands out budget spreadsheet instead of playbill

Posted: 11/6/13 at 11:10am

Good thing they don't care what one person needs or doesn't need. It is a bold choice the company made. Kudos to them for making it.

#19

Good Person of Szechwan hands out budget spreadsheet instead of playbill

Posted: 11/6/13 at 11:14am

It's their prerogative, but I think it's overkill. You don't need to bang the audience over the head with the idea that we're not going to the theater to escape, but to be reminded that the people on stage are WORKING, and, wait for it, the show costs money to mount. (Gasp! As if those of us in the audience don't work, too, and don't realize that things cost money?!)(I've been to productions where they did something similar-it feels fake every time. It's like something my cousin and I would have done around the age of nine.)

Also, I don't NEED to GO! (And for the record I don't care if I don't get any Playbill at all, but this is just excessively phony and forced to me.)

Updated On: 11/6/13 at 11:14 AM

#20

Good Person of Szechwan hands out budget spreadsheet instead of playbill

Posted: 11/6/13 at 11:22am

Not nearly as excessive as the reaction to this. Is it really that big of a deal that they did this?

---

"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.” ~ Muhammad Ali

#21

Good Person of Szechwan hands out budget spreadsheet instead of playbill

Posted: 11/6/13 at 11:23am

I just think it's a bit excessive in its own way. It strikes me as amateurish.

#22

Good Person of Szechwan hands out budget spreadsheet instead of playbill

Posted: 11/6/13 at 11:56am

So I am supposed to enjoy it more because they spent buttloads of money providing it? This is just stupid.

#23

Good Person of Szechwan hands out budget spreadsheet instead of playbill

Posted: 11/6/13 at 12:05pm

I think the problem arises with the intended reaction.

Am I supposed to be impressed? Shocked? Guilty?

Do they want to see how much of a percentage of my monthly income it cost me to buy a ticket to their show? Will that make them better performers? More appreciative of their audiences if they know the trouble and expense I took to see it?

I'm not pissed off by it, but I think it's trying too hard to prove something ... I don't know what. I don't think they know either.

Yes, it's "work" to put on a show. It's "work" to see a show, too.

Now shut up, and let's all enjoy (as much as we can) the fruit of "our" labors.

---

"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."

---

blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22

#24

Good Person of Szechwan hands out budget spreadsheet instead of playbill

Posted: 11/6/13 at 12:37pm

i'm sort of surprised people can't discern the ideological reason of handing this out after a Brecht play.

---

"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."

#25

Good Person of Szechwan hands out budget spreadsheet instead of playbill

Posted: 11/6/13 at 12:57pm

You want to send a message? Call Western Union.