‘Nobody wants to admit that they’re not selling tickets’

Interesting article from AMNY today (Dec 15) ...



“What happens when the benevolent landlord who gave them that space for a song decides it’s time to sell out and a hedge fund buys it?” Karen Greco said. “Or, if it’s an itinerant company that doesn’t have a space, so many theater rental spaces are gone now, where do they go?”



‘Nobody wants to admit that they’re not selling tickets’: Manhattan’s theaters and entertainment venues are still struggling

Updated On: 12/15/22 at 10:49 PM

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "Admitting that is a way of reinforcing that discounts are readily available. And "crying poor" is generally not a successful strategy when trying to sustain and build earned revenue."



Maybe for individual shows, especially commercial. But for a small non-profit venue like the wild project, I don't see how it could harm them to mention that they're struggling. "high-demand, no discounts" isn't really the reputation they've build they brand/model on.

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Updated On: 12/16/22 at 01:11 AM

Admitting there's a problem - tickets just aren't selling - is the first step to solving the problem and strategizing for a solution. That's the very first step. If you can't identify the problem, then there's no way you will survive going forward. And as Greco says in the interview - 'no one wants to admit they're not selling tickets'.

As far as theatre goes, I think that producers this false narrative about things being back and better before. It’s not. I am sure, for instance, we all know people who, even after all this time are not comfortable for their own reasons to go back to the theatre. And, press releases stating that an actor is out sick due to covid sure don’t help regarding getting people back.


They are living in world of fantasy that they created. Out of touch with the reality of the world around them. If they had acknowledged that things aren’t different then they wouldn’t be in this situation where they now walk away with egg on their face.