Meeting Dates
Six performances (evenings and weekends, scheduled about every other week from late January through April) alternate with six discussion sessions on campus. Discussions will take place on alternating Thursdays from 1:25pm - 3pm.
When you buy a theater ticket, how much of the show does it actually pay for? Who decides which plays get produced, how much a set can cost, or whether a theater can afford a cast of twelve? In this NEXUS, you'll go behind the scenes of the Twin Cities theater scene, one of the most active in the country, to find out.
Over the semester, our group will attend six productions at theaters reachable by the Green and Blue light rail lines, from large regional institutions to small, community-rooted companies. Before or after each show, we'll sit down with the people running the organization, such as the managing director, producer, or director, for a candid conversation about the business of theater: ticket pricing, grants and donors, season selection, labor and production costs, audience building, and the tradeoffs between art and budget.
Between performances, we'll meet on campus to talk through what we saw and heard. We'll compare how different theaters approach the same problems and build a working understanding of how arts organizations survive. No theater background is needed. The experience is led by a former theater managing director and grants manager who has spent years on the business side of the stage.
Students will receive tickets to all six performances. Completion is assessed through attendance, participation in discussions and conversations with theater leaders, and a final reflection, either written or creative, responding to the productions and what students learned about how they were made.
EXPERIENCE GOALS:
- An understanding of how nonprofit and commercial theaters are funded, including earned revenue, contributed income, and the decisions that balance the two.
- Familiarity with a range of Twin Cities theaters, from major institutions to small companies, and the communities they serve.
- Confidence attending, discussing, and interpreting live theater, including work outside their own cultural experience.
- Awareness of the many careers in theater beyond performing, from producing and management to development and marketing.
Application Opens Nov. 2