THEATER: INCREASING THE DEMAND

According to the New York Times online, "At a conference about new play development at Arena Stage in Washington, Rocco Landesman (the new chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts) said: “You can either increase demand or decrease supply. Demand is not going to increase, so it is time to think about decreasing supply.”

More creatively, he should be thinking about increasing demand by...

(a) increasing the quality of the productions (for example, with more development resources);
(b) improving the relevance of productions to their potential audience (not just same-old same-old popular old plays, but new plays to cater to a young and fresh new audience);
and
(c) educating and motivating the audience to appreciate and want to see the productions.

There is a reason that movie studios spend a lot of money on advertising, and great effort on promotion, including arranging for interviews with the films' actors and directors. The reason is that people have many alternative ways to spend their time. To go to a particular film, or play, or read a particular book, or watch a particular TV show, people have to be motivated and interested. Learning about the importance of the work, understanding the work, having personal contact with the creators and even just hearing a lot about the work all generate interest, and interest generates an audience.

There is no captive audience for any particular entertainment (nor do audiences suddenly appear as if by magic), the audience must be impressed into spending their time there. Note: "Impressed" here is being used both in the sense of "affected strongly, often favorably" and "compelled to serve (as in a military force)".

"Decreasing supply" (instead of building an audience) is a disturbing phrase coming from the head of the National Endowment for the Arts.
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