Visitors to this site know that one of my standing obsessions is audience development. I'm convinced not enough mental energy is being devoted to the question of what makes someone hungry for theatre of any kind. I remember when I attended plays in Lithuania, I was struck by how young the audiences were compared with my experience here in the U.S.
I thought it might be interesting to profile some of my favorite audience members, highlighting certain traits I admire or get a kick out of. I'll start with an old pal of mine named Susan Tunis.
Susan is on my mind because she recently visited New York for a conference. Professionally, she is one of Amazon's top book reviewers. Her blog, In One Eye and Out the Other is a go-to destination for bibliophiles. But I digress.
When Susan lands in New York, almost before unpacking her bags (or possibly on WiFi at the airport) she scans the theatre horizon for two things: new work and deals. And she is expert at finding them. I had the pleasure of joining her to see Bette Midler's Broadway debut on this last trip. We were seated in the very last row of the modest Booth Theatre. Thankfully, Bette Midler's style of acting plays well to the very last row. And thanks to Susan's exceptional skills as a theatre ticket deal excavator, we paid something closer to the actual value of that show.
A couple days before that I was taking my Mom to see John Guare's new plays at the Atlantic and who should saunter in to sit directly behind us? My friend Susan! Basically, while she's in town, if there's something new and interesting on stage, she's going to see it.
When Susan moved to San Diego, one of the first things she did was get hired as a Stage Manager in the local Off-Off theatre community. Prior to that, she had been our favorite House Manager at New Opera Theatre Ensemble, developing a veritable fan base of her own among our subscribers who looked forward to her curtain speech and her polka dot dress.
I'm not sure what all this adds up to precisely except that Susan is one of the most unselfishconsciously enthusiastic theatre lovers I know. She loves theatre and acts accordingly. If only we could clone her.
Who's your favorite audience member? Or is it too hard to narrow it down? I'll be thinking of others who I adore in other ways. [and I don't mean, this type of audience member!] One obvious example for me, I suppose, would be my Dad, who was never shy about voicing his enthusiasm. [for more on this, see my post: Loving John Yearley's Play]