In some of my earlier theatre posts, I’ve mentioned a issue I have with the audience I see when I attend “black” theatre in Los Angeles (by “black” theatre I mean shows with a primarily African-American theme, cast, or authorship). I sense a distinct change in the audience, and I always bemoan the fact that those attracted to theatre seem not to be color-blind: To me, good theatre is good theatre, irrespective of the color of the cast, theme, or author (in fact, I’m looking forward to an East-West Players production of Pippin).
Well, it seems Los Angeles is not unique. Yesterday’s New York Times had an article about the change in audience for the new “Cat On A Hot Tin Roof” with a predominately black cast. The show is doing outstanding business:
“Cat,” which stars James Earl Jones, Terrence Howard and Anika Noni Rose, has a large audience, all right; last week it sold nearly $700,000 in tickets, an outstanding number for a nonmusical. Stephen C. Byrd, the rookie producer of “Cat,” estimates the audience to be between 70 percent and 80 percent African-American.
The article goes on to note:
…just five years ago there were questions about whether black audiences would come to a Broadway show in significant numbers. But now, said Marcia Pendleton, the founder of Walk Tall Girl Productions, a marketing and group-sales company that reaches out to nontraditional theatergoers, “we have hard facts that this is a viable audience that can sustain a production.”
My opinion: First, I have no doubt that a black audience can sustain a production: I’ve seen it here in Los Angeles with some of the Pasadena Playhouse productions. My question is more: “Where ‘da white folks at?” — in other words, why won’t a white audience sustain a “black” production (and vice-versa)? Is this just an illustration that supposed racial tolerance is just an illusion (insert appropriate Avenue Q song here)? Why can’t audiences just focus on the quality of the production, writing, and acting?
Yes, people have accused me of living in a fantasyland.
