From Stage To Screen: How Live Streaming Expands Access And Revenue

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Welcome to Moving Forward with Evolution Management Consultants, the podcast where we deep dive into the dynamic world of nonprofit arts management.
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I'm your host, Tiffany Vega, and I'm thrilled to have you join us on this journey.
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In each episode, we'll explore the ever-evolving landscape of the nonprofit art sector.
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We'll bring you thought-provoking discussions and innovative strategies to equip you with the knowledge and inspiration to take your organization to new heights.
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Let's get started.
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I'm Tiff and today I'm diving into a topic that I think about a lot, which is live streaming theater, live streaming performances.
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It's something that I think theater, the theater field needs to think more deeply about, and what role does it play in the future of our industry?
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I'm going to break it down with a little help from the New York Times, who recently ran a piece on Inter Alia, which is the National Theater's latest NT Live production.
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And I'm also going to pull some thoughts from my blog post that's on the EMC website, which is titled Beyond the Priscenium, where I laid out why live streaming is not just a pandemic era patch, but a real strategy for longevity, accessibility, and sustainability.
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So whether you're tuning in from your rehearsal break, on your car ride, on the subway, or on your couch and your fuzzy socks.
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Let's get into it.
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Okay.
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So in September, the New York Times covered the new MT Live piece called Inter Alia.
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And what caught my attention wasn't just the show itself, but what it represents.
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This production lives in that in-between space.
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It's not fully a stage play and it's not quite a film either.
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It's a hybrid.
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But it asks, what does it mean to perform live when your audience might be 3,000 miles away watching from their laptop?
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And what even counts as live anymore?
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The article also surfaces some questions.
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For instance, can we still call it theatre if we're not all breathing the same air in the same room?
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Um, how much power does the institution hold when the camera steps in?
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And does a strange performance carry the same weight as one seen in person?
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For me, Inter Alia isn't just a one-off or a trendy experiment.
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It's a glimpse of what of where we're heading as an industry, especially if you want theater to be more than just a room for the people who can afford to be there.
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So in my blog post, I made this case that live streaming isn't a compromise and it's an expansion.
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And here's why I think that.
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Too often we equate audience engagement with butts in seats, but that mindset is dated.
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Not everyone has the ability to physically show up to a theater.
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Think about rural communities or folks with mobility challenges or working class audiences juggling multiple jobs or caregiving responsibilities.
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I mean, think about it.
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If you have children or you are a caregiver for your parents or another relative, you have to pay at least$100 to a babysitter or respite care.
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Uh, you have to pay for a meal, you have to pay for gas and pathologically parking.
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And um it's just it's and then you have to play on top of that the ticket price, right?
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It's just way too stressful.
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It's for folks to have to physically go to the theater, um, which is why so many people really enjoy watching streaming services, watching, you know, their law and order every Friday night, right?
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Um, on the Peacock streaming service.
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Um it actually removes the barrier from many people, many audience members from experiencing the arts and community and engagement that your organization provides.
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So it's just not equitable overall.
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Um, the other thing is thinking about um scalability, right?
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So your theater might have 150 seats, it might have 599, it may have 999 seats.
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Um, but the internet has no limit, okay?
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Uh a strong digital strategy lets you multiply your reach without multiplying your overhead in the same way.
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And if you're worried about live streaming, stealing live ticket sales, that's not gonna happen.
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There has been evidence that shows that it actually does the opposite.
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So, for instance, um Broadway shows like Death Become Her have had have posted several scenes, uh several numbers uh on TikTok and Instagram, and they've gone viral.
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And uh people viewing it actually wanted to see the show more in person, live, because they wanted to see what they found engaging on the internet on their phones.
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They wanted to see it live in person, and that is just relationship building with a new audience, with mostly a younger audience and a more diverse audience.
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Um, you know, I actually saw Ja Ja's African hair braiding um on uh live stream theater, theater of live streaming, um, that the production that was done at Matt and Theater Club.
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And I watched it while laying in my bed here in New Orleans with Jeff Rowe.
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And I felt like I was in the room.
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Um and I was just so grateful because Jocelyn Bio is a is a dear friend of mine.
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This was her Broadway debut as a playwright, and I felt like I was in the room.
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Um, and it made me so happy.
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And I think I paid$60 for that ticket.
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Um, so you know, not only is it um it has no limit, so you can actually sell as many seats, as many tickets as you want, um, but also it helps people want to try to maybe see it in person.
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Uh sustainability, too, as well, is really important to think about.
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So during the pandemic, we saw that relying solely on in-person uh ticket sales and income is really fragile.
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A lot of organizations have still not bounced back from the pandemic, and we've seen that audiences, live in-person audiences are not attending theater in the same numbers they did pre-pandemic.
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We're seeing that across the board in the United States.
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So live allows you to weather the storm, whether it's a literal storm like a hurricane, um, or a viral storm like the pandemic, or a fiscal storm, the fact that people now don't have a lot of disposable income because of the economy, the way that the economy is.
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Um, but I'm gonna say this, okay?
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If you're gonna do, if you're gonna live stream your performances, please do it well.
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And I say that because you are competing with streaming services that everyone has in their living rooms, right?
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Really quality television and movies.
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Um, so please do it well.
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This isn't like a setup, a camcorder in the back row energy.
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You know what I'm saying?
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We're talking like a real investment in labor and in equipment.
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You gotta have someone to do direction, someone to do camera work, sound missing, mixing, editing.
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You are inviting work, uh, you are inviting folks into your work through a screen, and it has to be intentional.
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And let's stop uh treating digital theater like a theater's weird little cousin.
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If theater is about presence and connection and truth, then live streaming is another path to that, not a lesser path, it's just it's just a different one.
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Um, so let me keep it real with y'all because I I believe that live streaming um is the future of theater and something that will change our industry rapidly.
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And uh, but I'm gonna keep it real and say that there are some challenges, right?
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Production costs.
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You have cameras, mics, people to run them.
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It adds up.
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Um, and if it's not done with care, um, it can hurt the work more than help.
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I do argue, however, that I think that the production cost of it isn't going to be the same as the production cost of actually running a show, right?
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Um running the show, you know, um uh an extra three or four weeks just so that you can have more people uh with butts and seats, right?
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Um, not every show translates.
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So some pieces rely on so much on the live audience presence that capturing digitally sometimes doesn't do it justice, right?
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So I think about I saw uh Fuerza Bruta way back when um in Washington, um no, in Union Square.
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And that, if anyone saw Fuerza Bruta, you had to be in person for that, okay?
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You needed to actually experience that.
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You had to like physically get wet, okay?
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Um, so I get that.
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Not every show is going to be appropriate for live streaming, and that's fine.
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Um, not everything has to be a hybrid, or not everything has to be something that works well for that.
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Um, but we do need to be discerning in recognizing whether or not a show is appropriate for live streaming.
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And, you know, some people are scared that live streaming will kill live attendants.
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Um, and once again, I'm saying this is a strategy issue, um, but it is inevitable.
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It's not an inevitability, right?
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Um, you can create differing experiences for in-person virtual versus virtual audiences.
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They don't have to compete with one another.
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Um, and just because something's online doesn't mean everyone can access it.
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Not everybody has access to fast internet or the latest tech.
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Um, so we do have to think about digital justice as well.
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And a lot of our institutions are still operating, I'll be honest, like it's 1998.
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Um, boards don't get it, funders are skeptical, um, staff might be burnt out from tech overload, and that's real, but change takes more than good ideas, it takes buy-in and capacity building um within organizations.
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Uh so this is where I think we're moving, right, through um a series of phases when it comes to live streaming theater.
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We are um experimenting, right?
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We're dipping our toes in, we're trying it out, and we're learning what works.
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That is what's happening mostly right now.
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Um and then you have folks like the Wilma Theater or like the National Theater, um, where it's now integrated, right?
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Where live streaming becomes part of the season.
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It's not just like a crisis pivot or something you're doing for during, for instance, like the pandemic.
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Then there's a fluency where artists start designing shows with hybrid storytelling in mind from day one.
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And then transformation, where we're making work that not only lives in a digital space, but seamlessly shifts between formats, kind of like Inter Alia at NT Live.
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So here's my question for you.
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What happens uh when a Black led ensemble in Chicago performs a piece live and their community in Atlanta and Oakland watches together online in a shared digital ritual?
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What could it mean for a rural company to live stream in public schools in cities that have shut down their arts programs?
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What if live streaming doesn't dilute theater but democratize it?
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And that's where I think we're heading.
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And I think it's really beautiful.
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So that's it.
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That's what I have for you today.
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If any of this resonated with you or sparked some big ideas, I would love to hear more about it.
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Uh, you can comment uh on our Instagram, shoot me an email at um emc at emcforward.com.
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And let me know, have you seen a live stream performance that moved you, that worked, that didn't work?
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Is your theater exploring hybrid models or you stuck somewhere in the process?
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Um please uh check out my blog, um the emcum at emcforward.com.
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Um and uh it's called Beyond the Brascenium.
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So let me know if um that resonates with you.
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Um and um hey, if you're a director or a tech wizard navigating this hybrid space, let me know.
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I'd love to feature you in a future episode to talk about how you are integrating live streaming into your work.
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So until next time, take care of yourselves, take care of each other, and keep imagining what you're gonna do.
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Let me break down the wall and expand.
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Bye, y'all.