Feet That Don't Touch the Floor: Perceptions in Marketing Theatre for Young Audiences

<p>It was once my dream to build the theatre of the future: to develop a new organization in the theatre community that would provide new ideas and imaginative learning. Reality and research, however, have pointed me in a new direction. From my perspective, we do not currently need another organization to add competition within our theatrical community. Though it is often appealing to start from scratch, what we need most now is to enhance our status and quality. Existing theatres must work toward a balance of competition and collaboration. Disparity is not the issue. Countless theatres in our nation and around the world produce amazing new material and provide incredible environments for their patrons to learn, to explore, and to discover. As technology rapidly creates new expectations of this field, our response must be to expound upon our mission statements and diversify our future options and current product. We need to provide the audiences we so cherish with the best entertainment, education, and escape available. Only when we pay closer attention to our audiences, will our under-funded sector receive more attention.</p> <p>As a young child (and no - I do not deny that I am still young and I do intend to remain thus for years to come) I didn't know I would pursue theatre. The first thing I aspired to be was a dentist, simply because of the magical treasure chest where I chose a treat after each check-up. Next, I was going to be a country-western singer following in the footsteps of LeAnn Rimes by singing "Blue" at my first-ever theatre audition for Wizard of Oz. Luckily, I was cast (as the tallest and most awkward munchkin) and my life in theatre began. I still did not know it, however, since I dreamed of being the Chick-Fil-A cow and working at Disney during my summers off. By the time I reached high school, theatre had been eliminated from my school so I continued in choir and performed annually in a community theatre program. Though my dreams were crushed when I learned my height limited me from becoming a princess at Disney (unless you count an evil stepsister) my sights had changed a bit once again.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Theatre Education

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Theatre Department

Year dc:date.available

2012

Author dc:creator

• Slotnick, Melora

Contributors dc:contributor

• Becky Becker
• Dr. Amanda Rees
• Krystal Kennel

• TYA
• Theatre For Young Audiences
• Columbus Georgia
• Performance Studies
• Theatre and Performance Studies

Language dc:language

English

Repository record dc:identifier

https://csuepress.columbusstate.edu/theses_dissertations/127

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:csuepress.columbusstate.edu:theses_dissertations-1127