$250,000 needed to keep the 200-seat theater open. That’s $1,250 per seat. 36 shows a year at $40/ticket will cover it. I guess they don’t teach “how to manage a theater without going broke” at the school?
Heck they don’t even need to put on their own productions all the time. Just book the theater more often. Let bands play there and promote it for you. Have some stand-up comic nights. Run a few classic movies that people will pay to go see. But I get the impression that this place suffers from “that’s not my job” syndrome. The students aren’t there to run the place, and the teachers are there to, well, do something unrelated to actually working to keep their theater and their jobs I guess.
I’m going to guess that the productions put on by this campus had zero public appeal. I’m sure Shakespeare wasn’t performed, because white patriarchy and all.
They’re too good to book such pedestrian events. They’re ARTISTES, man! Their version of theatre involves naked fat girls rolling around in chocolate or queers fighting with stuffed parakeets. You know ... THEATRE!
It’s not their fault that you Neanderthals don’t appreciate great art.
Excellent points and ideas al around!!
“Have some stand-up comic nights.”
And risk the students burning down the theater because they were offended by a politically incorrect joke? :-)