There are a wide variety of theatre options open for your consumption, from New York (Broadway) to local (community) theatre. Each level of performance has different and various expectations associated with it.

1. Professional vs. Amateur Theatre
By definition…
• Professionals make a living doing theatre
• Amateurs may be paid, but usually are not
• Most theatre is amateur
– University
– High school
– Community theatre

2. Commercial Theatre:
Broadway, Off-Broadway, Touring Shows
• Theatre created to make a profit
• Commercial, professional, for-profit
– All Broadway shows are Equity shows
– All Off-Broadway shows are Equity show
• …despite what actors might tell you.
– Touring shows may not be Equity, but many are
• …this is a cause of some friction between the union and non-union producers

4. Broadway
• Audiences tend to be primarily older, white, middle class, and
tourists
• Many shows today are based off of movies
– Why might this be?
• Extremely expensive tickets
– Book of Mormon’s top price was about $350 per ticket for weekend
shows for non-premium seats.

5. The Lion King on Broadway
• The Lion King on Broadway

6. Off-Broadway
• Named for both the location of the theatre and the contract
actors sign
• Shows tend to be deal with more challenging subject matter
• Often works as a try-out for Broadway, gauging audience
interest and allowing artists to make necessary changes to the
script

7. Carrie Off-Broadway (2012)
• Carrie Off-Broadway

8. Off-Off-Off Broadway and Regional Theatre
• Tends to deal with more controversial subject matter still
• Work tends to push the boundaries of what theatre is and how
it works
• Regional theatres play a major part in developing new works
for larger contexts

9. Regional: Synetic Theatres’
Midsummer Nights Dream
• Synetic Theatre - A Midsummer Night's Dream

10. Educational and Community Theatre
• Most geographically accessible form of theatre
• Hybrid of amateur and professional artists working together
• The point is not to make money, but to experiment with form
and style

12. Where Can Performance Be Done?:
Major Questions
• For any play you have read (or one selected by the instructor), imagine that you are the producer and must select a theatrical
configuration in which to produce the play. What are some of the issues related to that configuration you must consider? How might
the audience experience the play within that space?
• Describe the development of the proscenium theatre. Why do you think it continues, at least in the Western world, to be the most
prevalent theatrical configuration?
• Trace the creation of professional theatre. In which contemporary American contexts is professional theatre produced? What may
account for shrinking audiences for professional theatre in the twentieth century and today?
• What accounts for the rising costs of Broadway theatre? How have those costs affected the theatre produced there? How has the
theatre produced there affected the costs?
• This chapter includes photos from a university production of Hair. What are some factors any theatre must consider when deciding
whether to produce potentially controversial or offensive material?
• What functions can educational theatre serve?