<div>One of the things that motivated me to move to Cleveland was how vibrant the arts scene is and how accessable it is. Ticket prices are, for the most part, reasonable quality is good, and choice is nearly endless. What concerns me, though, is the graying audience; maybe it's the productions I make it to at the times that I make it, but it seems that each year the average audience member gets a year older. </div>
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<div>I've commented on it here before, but I think some of the "arts" eduction in schools does more harm than good. I can speak from personal experience that I still have a profound hatred of Shakespeare's works thanks to one too many monotone "Rome, uh, o...oh Rome-o...where was I?" recitations in my High School English classes. [GLTF, among others, has provided therapy to ease that reaction]. </div>
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<div>Had I not discovered the power of Musical Theater or well-staged drama... there's a very good chance I would have said "Forget this" long ago. </div>
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<div>La Jolla Playhouse in [the] San Diego [area], on the UCSD campus had both "rush" (unsold tickets at, IIRC, 30 minutes before curtain were available for some ridiculously low rate) and a "student" program where anyone under a certain age (22? 23?) could call any time during the week before a performance and get the same low-low rate. I was fortunate enough to see the original staging of Jersey Boys twice, among others, through this program. (And assuming I can make the scheduling and finances work on my end, I'm planning on attending the touring production rolling through Playhouse Square later this summer) <br>
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<div>There are also younger theater companies producing with an eye toward younger audiences, such as Fourth Wall Productions that I hope will grow awareness not only of their own mission but theater in general. </div>
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<div>And Cleveland is a fantastic theater market, at least for the audience member -- there are still literally dozens of companies/venues (Beck, etc. etc.) that I haven't yet had the opportunity to "try out".</div>
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<div>It is kind of depressing though to be browsing profiles on a certain .com singles site and see plenty of mentions of professional sports and not one mention of [live] theater, opera, or the orchestra. </div>
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<div>When any live production is bad, it's bad, but when it's good it's pure magic. Theater is a very "in the now" experience -- no two performances of a work are identical, and what you are seeing is not going to be repeated. </div>
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<div>Lincoln</div>
<div>(Cleveland Heights) </div>
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<div><span class="gmail_quote">On 2/13/08, <b class="gmail_sendername">Fred Dolan</b> <<a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="mailto:fjdolan@windstream.net" target="_blank">fjdolan@windstream.net</a>> wrote:</span>
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<div><font face="Arial" size="2">When I was a kid in the 50s maybe 5th grade, I remember going on a field trip to see the Cleveland Orchestra at Severance Hall. It was a life-changing event. </font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">When I was in high school in the 60s, it was possible to get student tickets to some of the annual Metropolitan Opera performances through school for about $1.25.</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">When I was teaching in the 70s, I offered those same discounted student opera tickets to my students and sometimes the most unlikely students would dress up and go to the opera.</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">I don't know how various theaters handle encouraging young audiences to attend their performances today, but when I see empty seats at theater, ballet, and opera performances,</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">I wonder if any effort is being made to offer high school or college students those tickets at drastically reduced prices - like those Met Opera tickets that I grew up using.</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">I understand that most theaters are understaffed and that a program like this takes someone to be in charge of it, but the first order of business in building an audience for tomorrow</font> <font face="Arial" size="2">is getting them in the seats today.</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">Fred Dolan</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">WJCU-FM, 88.7 & <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://wjcu.org/" target="_blank">wjcu.org</a></font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">Arts On The Heights &</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">Visiting The Folks on Sunday nights from 9:00PM - Midnight</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2"></font> </div>
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