AT25: An Eye on the Future
Diane Paulus, artistic director, American Repertory Theatre, Cambridge, Mass.
As the new artistic director of American Repertory Theatre, I am grappling with questions that many theatrical institutions around this country are asking: Why are we losing our audiences, and why aren't new audiences coming to the theatre? It is common to explain these trends by pointing to the changing world outside the theatre: Video games and interactive digital technology have shortened attention spans, and have therefore changed our audiences' appetite for theatre; how can we possibly compete, given the multitude of entertainment choices available in our world? Even worse, perhaps audiences have lost interest in "culture." The problem with these explanations is that they blame the audience. I believe the responsibility lies with the people who create theatre. Could it be that as arts producers, we are failing to provide a theatrical experience that values the audience's engagement and empowerment? If we want to truly broaden our penetration into the culture at large, we have to concentrate our attention on the total arts experience for our audiences.
This is an idea that I have been passionate about in my own work as a director, and it will be the focus for A.R.T. as we move forward in the 21st century. Our new initiative, "Experience A.R.T.," seeks to revolutionize the theatre experience through a sustained commitment to empowering the audience. This audience-driven vision will completely transform the way we develop, program, produce and contextualize our work. A new allocation of A.R.T. resources will give equal importance to the social aspects of theatre and the potential for a full theatre experience, including interaction and engagement before, during and after the production. A.R.T. will be the first theatre in the country that has a club venue as its second stage. Club Zero Arrow will be a unique environment that will foster the development of work that encourages a whole new relationship with the audience. Club Zero Arrow will be the venue where cell phones can be turned on. People will be told from the get-go that they are allowed to participate as they would at a rock concert or a sports event—capturing images, making videos and recordings, using Twitter, sending text messages while they are experiencing the event, and then sharing their responses with friends on networking websites such as Facebook and MySpace. Club Zero Arrow will promote an open-source culture in which creative content (such as video footage, audio clips, photographs and other forms of creative commentary) can be generated and shared, making the events more accessible and widely distributed. I believe that if theatre is to remain a vital art form, it must give audiences a voice, a sense of ownership and a feeling of importance in the theatrical event.