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Copyright © 2015 by Yu Shen, Managing Editor of the Yale Theater Management Knowledge Base, advised by Edward A. Martenson,

Chair of Theater Management. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, used

in a spreadsheet, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without

the permission of the Author.

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Do not copy or distribute without permission.

THEATER MANAGEMENT KNOWLEDGE BASE | YALE SCHOOL OF DRAMA

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1


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3 The number of theaters in the Research Population varies slightly from year to year. Some were founded after 1989.

For some theaters, production histories for certain seasons are not publically available. 4 The trend line is a visual representation of the general pattern or direction of a time series data. The line is drawn

based on the results of linear regression. In Graph 1, the red dotted line represents the trend of overall productions, while the blue line represents the trend of average productions. All trend lines shown in this report, unless otherwise noted, follow the same color-coded rule. 5 All data used in the report, unless otherwise noted, is compiled by the Author.

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Total productions Average productions


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Plays Musicals Devised work and contemporary performance None of the above

RESEARCH FINDINGS

The number of productions for plays has dropped, whereas the number of musical

productions has grown.


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250n

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Great works of the past Modern work New work, devised work & contemporary performance None of the above

RESEARCH FINDINGS

The production capacity of modern plays and musicals—no longer new but not yet of

the past—has expanded.


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Great works of the past Great works % total productions

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Season

Great plays of the past Great musicals of the past

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RESEARCH FINDINGS

The capacity to produce great works of the past has declined. The decline in

capacity largely reflects the capacity to produce great plays; the capacity to produce

great musicals of the past has actually increased.


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(1)

6 There were one production of Agamemnon, and three productions of the entire trilogy.

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89-94 94-99 99-04 04-09 09-14

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ARTSTIC CAPACITY INDEX

The capacity to produce great works of the past has contracted by 22% between 1989 and 2014.


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(2)

7 We analyzed the thirty-six plays included in the First Folio of 1623, as well as the two co-authored plays, Pericles,

Prince of Tyre and The Two Noble Kinsmen. 8 The number in parentheses indicates the number of times the play has been produced.

0 1 2 3 4 5 6

Ajax by Sophocles

The Persians by Aeschylus

Medea by Euripedes

The Bacchae by Euripides

The Birds by Aristophanes

Iphigenia by Euripides

The Oresteia by Aeschylus

Electra by Sophocles

Oedipus Rex by Sophocles

Antigone by Sophocles

The Trojan Women by Euripides

Number of productions

Pla

y ti

tles

89-94NP=8

94-99 NP=9

99-04NP=10

04-09NP=5

09-14NP=3

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Season (five-year interval)


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0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Henry VIII

Two Noble Kinsmen

Timon of Athens

Henry VI, part 1

Henry VI, part 3

King John

Henry VI, part 2

Troilus and Cressida

Titus Andronicus

Coriolanus

Antony and Cleopatra

Cymbeline

Richard II

Pericles, Prince of Tyre

Henry V

All's Well That Ends Well

Love's Labours Lost

Henry IV, part 2

The Merry Wives of Windsor

The Merchant of Venice

Henry IV, part 1

Richard III

Two Gentlemen of Verona

Measure for Measure

The Winter's Tale

Taming of the Shrew

Julius Caesar

King Lear

The Tempest

The Comedy of Errors

Macbeth

Much Ado About Nothing

Othello

As You Like It

Hamlet

Romeo and Juliet

Twelfth Night

A Midsummer Night's Dream

89-94NP=189

94-99NP=155

99-04NP=164

04-09NP=150

09-14NP=162


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Total Shakespeare productions

Total Shakespeare productions % Total productions

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(3)

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20

The Flying Doctor

A Doctor in Spite of Himself

The Imaginary Cuckold

The School for Husbands

The Learned Ladies

Don Juan

The Imaginary Invalid

The School for Wives

The Misanthrope

The Miser

Tartuffe

Number of productions

Pla

y Ti

tle

89-94… 94-99… 99-04… 04-09… 09-14…

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10

15

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25

89-94 94-99 99-04 04-09 09-14

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Num. of productions Distinct titles

RESEARCH FINDINGS

The diversity of great works of the past being produced has decreased, and the

portion of the dramatic canon being produced has contracted.


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New work and devised work & contemporary performance New work and devised work & contemporary performance % total productions

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New plays New musicals Devised work & contemporary performance


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RESEARCH FINDINGS

The capacity for producing new work and devised work & contemporary performance

has been expanding, though only by a small margin. However, the capacity for

producing new plays has contracted, while the capacity for producing new musicals,

as well as devised work & contemporary performance, has expanded


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9 We continue to use the definition of “new play” as a play that had only been produced less than three times since

1989/90.

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89-94 94-99 99-04 04-09 09-14

Median- aggregate Median-new plays

Median - new musicals Median -devised work & contemporary performance

ARTSTIC CAPACITY INDEX

The capacity to produce new work and devised work & contemporary performance has expanded overall by 6%. More specifically, the capacity to produce new plays has contracted by 12%, while the capacity to produce new musicals has expanded by 113%, and devised work & contemporary performance expanded by 64%.


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Reproduction ratio -current season Reproduction ratio-5 seasons

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89-94 94-99 99-04 04-09 09-14Median-reproduction ratio-current season Median-reproduction ratio-5 season

RESEARCH FINDINGS

The number of subsequent productions of a new play beyond its first production has

declined.


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Season

Raw conformity ratio Adjusted conformity ratio

RESEARCH FINDINGS

Overall, American theaters have become more homogeneous in their programming

over the past 25 years.


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http://blog.contextures.com/archives/2013/06/11/create-a-simple-box-plot-in-excel/


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