I'm just going to leave this here for discussion.
This little article sums up a lot of the math we did at SDC with regards to the cost of performing in theatres. As we don't own our venue our break even would price us out of our market to the point of costing us substantial amounts to perform
https://www.middleclassartist.com/post/the-post-covid-concert-hall-catastrophe-why-audience-attendance-is-the-least-of-our-problems
A little of the groups and foyer are considered in the chat.
Like the current conversations about movie theatres the entry and exit to the theatre is an interesting one. Does post performance exit need to be on a row by row basis? How does one handle cloak rooms etc.
I would really depend of the standard deviation from the order size of 2 seats. I know for our performances we have quite a wide spread.
Hi Chris, We are in the camp of people who would like to try social distancing seating so something that would allow us to set up rules online would be helpful. For example, we want to have groups of three or four but will require rules that will prevent anyone from buying part of our groups rather than the full group. So we would be interested in seeing what automation is possible.
I hope that everyone is doing well and having a lovely weekend.
Heath Wilder, thanks so much for posting this. Although I think that the packing approach used by the author is not the best.
I completely agree with his main point. That the reduction in seating capacity is going to be a huge impact on the income side of our organizational financial equations.
As analysts, in the cultural non-profit sector, it is our job to help our organizations sort out these issues.
What we are looking for is a new equation that we can balance to allow us to keep our missions going forward.
Beyond packing and FOH logistics, I believe that the solutions are also going to have to come from product selection. Works are going to have to be shorter without intermissions. To allow for the long entry and exit times. Doing less extravagant smaller staff count works. One person shows like "The search for signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe" may become more important. Rather than doing Large Symphonies, organizations may have to go to more chamber music. Rather than doing large musicals like "The King and I", wtih a full orchestra in the pit. Taking on smaller works, more like "Company" and yes using pre-recorded music or music piped in from another part of the building.
Back in the post-1918 Spanish flu pandemic, these same kinds of questions were under discussion within the Cinema community. Many of the choices then were to show a lot of what we today would call "re-runs" in the movie theaters. Because the cost of the product was lower. And that would better balance the available income.
It's time to continue to look for new viable equations. It can be done. For example many of the US East Coast and Europan Symphony Orchestra survived the Spanish Flu. What's our solution for COVID-19.