What do you feel about wokeness in film and theater?

[Marc in Calif]

47 minutes ago, unicorn said:

C'mon. That self-serving statement is completely ridiculous and you know it. There are almost countless theater groups in the Los Angeles area, and this is the only one I've heard of which has folded. Everyone else has been thriving, and they folded just a few months ago. I suppose it's possible that those who ran that theater group may have been delusional enough to believe that statement, but you are neither stupid nor delusional, so I cannot imagine for a moment that you yourself believe that statement. It should be shameful to even present that statement as evidence of anything. Theater (and opera, etc.) groups depend on donors, subscribers, and ticket holders for their existence. Obviously they pissed off too many of them. Blaming it on the pandemic is absurd. 

Again, you don't read very widely about theatre. 

Steppenwolf Theatre announces staff cuts in the wake of falling revenue, drop in attendance

Tony Award-winning Steppenwolf in Chicago -- probably the most honored regional theater in the U.S. -- recently imposed staff cuts and eliminated open positions. "Unfortunately, like many non-profit theaters across the country, Steppenwolf Theatre Company has been negatively impacted by a protracted post-pandemic economic recovery for our sector and the rising cost of inflation. To be sustainable well into the future has required some very difficult decisions. We found that factors keeping our subscribers from coming back included traffic concerns, safety concerns and not wanting to come into the city, and long-lasting COVID concerns."

And of course it's happening all over the country:

Many US theaters have been contending with similar financial challenges – namely decreasing donations, low attendance rates post-pandemic, and high production costs.

Chicago’s Tony Award-winning Lookingglass Theatre has announced a year-long pause in new productions and layoffs impacting 50% of its staff.

The Public Theater in New York City, one of the nation’s most prestigious and successful nonprofit theaters, laid off 19 percent of its staff in July as a financial crisis sweeps across the field. The move, which cost about 50 people their jobs, followed a 13 percent layoff (and program cuts) at the Brooklyn Academy of Music 

Smaller theaters and institutions such as the Oregon Shakespeare festival and the Dallas Theater Center also have dealt with similar cuts and cancellations.

And of course it's also happening in Los Angeles, the home of "countless" (!!!) theatre companies:

Theater is back, but its recovery is proving to be perilous (Los Angeles Times, May 11, 2022) — After nearly two years of pandemic closures, live theater has returned. But attendance is down and operational costs are soaring.... A recent study conducted by a group of arts organizations, L.A.'s Performing Arts and Reopening Survey, found three troubling trends: Both operating capacity and audience attendance are down to almost 50% of pre-pandemic levels, and ticket revenue is about one-third of what it was before COVID-19 struck.

https://larchmontbuzz.com/larchmont-village-life/opinion-we-need-theater/

Local theater was fraught even before the pandemic with the 2019 passage of California AB5, which was meant to protect freelance artists but has decimated the economics of the “blackbox” theater community where new talent and productions traditionally percolate... 

[Latbear4blk]

The one thing more annoying that mindless wokeness is mindless anti-wokeness. 

[unicorn]

4 hours ago, Marc in Calif said:

...Steppenwolf Theatre announces staff cuts in the wake of falling revenue, drop in attendance...

Wow. You just admitted I was more right than I even imagined. I just said I hadn't heard of any other theater group going belly-up in LA, and you just admitted that you scoured our entire nation from coast to coast and couldn't find one other theater group, in the entire nation that has had to close shop?? Just a few that have had some cutbacks? Well, while it's certainly a weak apology and admission of wrongfulness, I'll take it. Thanks for confessing you fell flat on your face (and for doing the research)! 👍

 

[Travelingguy]

West Side Story was a modern (at the time) take on Romeo and Juliette.  It also tackled issues like race, immigration and the role of women in society.  Oh!!!!! The horror!!!!!!!

Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.  I saw this version of Oklahoma and I thought that its’ biggest crime was that it was boring.

[Travelingguy]

There was also this modern dance number, that on its own would have been fine.  But it was a complete non sequitor dropped into the middle of this play (either right before or right after intermission).

[Marc in Calif]

On 11/21/2023 at 11:50 PM, unicorn said:

... you just admitted that you scoured our entire nation from coast to coast and couldn't find one other theater group, in the entire nation that has had to close shop??

The Center Theatre Group hasn't closed shop at all. Tha't's just BS. What are you talking about? 💩

There are two productions currently playing onstage, with two more opening in the next 10 days. 

 

[unicorn]

22 hours ago, Marc in Calif said:

The Center Theatre Group hasn't closed shop at all. Tha't's just BS. What are you talking about? 💩

There are two productions currently playing onstage, with two more opening in the next 10 days. 

 

This was the reporting on June 15th of this year (2023):

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2023-06-15/center-theatre-group-programming-pause-staff-layoffs-turmoil

"...Facing a significant budget shortfall, Center Theatre Group on Thursday announced that it would lay off about 10% of its full-time staff and pause season programming at the Mark Taper Forum after “Transparent” concludes its run on June 25. The pause is expected to continue through the 2023-24 season, but there is no confirmed end date yet.

The first show to be affected is the world premiere of L.A.-based playwright Larissa FastHorse’s “Fake It Until You Make It,” which was scheduled to open on Aug. 2. Fasthorse was going to be the first Native American writer to have a mainstage production at the Taper, and the postponement marks a disappointing end to a season slated to exclusively feature plays written by women-identifying or nonbinary playwrights, the majority of whom were BIPOC artists...".

After completely shutting down, with no plans to re-open, they smartened up and switched to non-woke productions, which the viewing public was actually interested in seeing. QED