Thoughts About StarKid, Theatre, and Money
StarKid is severely underlooked within the professional theatre industry as a viable source for providing theatrical entertainment and performing professional theatre worthy of artistic criticism.
Though the company has gained a significant amount of internet fame and name-recognition within the laymen theatre community over the past decade, their mode of production and artistic work has gone undocumented by the greater professional theatre culture and been either flat-out ignored or deemed not worthy of taking the time of noting in academic journals or wide-reaching theatre influencers. While watching the evolution of their productions throughout this semester and tying my recent rewatching experiences with my personal knowledge and history of StarKid as a theatre company, I’ve come to the (easily reachable) conclusion that the only reason as to why more production companies do not take after StarKid’s multimedia, digital-heavy access to theatre is a combination of the desire for capitalist gain and the elitism that accompanies modern-day theatre culture. I’ve outlined both positive and negative points of comparison for StarKid Productions and traditional, commercial musical theatre, such as one sees on Broadway or the West End, to simply sum up my overall final thoughts regarding the work I’ve done in analyzing how StarKid produces their shows and hope that in some way, the points I’ve made will impact at least how one other person sees theatre from now on.
Before theatre was about the best way to make the most money, which in relation to the rest of human history is a fairly new development, theatre was simply about providing entertainment. Because StarKid emphasizes artistic value and the enjoyment of their audience upon watching their productions, StarKid Productions has become successful in a way that no modern commercial theatre company is currently (there’s a reason why there are blogs like mine dedicated to StarKid Productions and not the Shubert Organization or regional companies like the Los Angeles Theatre Center). The reason why theatre kids (and I mean kids in the colloquial sense of the term-StarKid has fans in all age demographics) appreciate StarKid so much and allow them to continue making musicals so successfully is because of the combination of their dedication to access and good content. That does not mean to say that StarKid is perfect by any means; they are, in fact, people too. It just goes to show that theatre does not have to live in the exclusive little bubble that it’s built for itself within the past hundred years or so. I think that within the next hundred years, as theatre evolves and thrives in various corners of the globe throughout whatever our society throws at it *cough* Covid *cough*, theatrical content creators will look back at StarKid and think, “Wow, I wish I would have done that first!”, not because they would have made a fortune but because they would have made art.
StarKid
Negatives
Modems (rip) and other tech issues
Camera lens chooses perspective of audience, taking away individual viewer’s experience of choosing who/what/where to look at in any given moment
Still a developing area for theatre-what are the protections for content producers
Can online performances be equity? Can equity members perform in non-equity online performances (like performances during Covid in which little to no actors are currently working or making enough money to balance out what their wages would have been if Covid did not impact their work)?
Should payment be different? Production costs are generally lower but people still need to make a living
To what amount can the community control the distribution of other people’s IP? Live theatre already debates the negatives and positives of bootlegs. Providing theatre online for free and to purchase lessens bootlegging and increases audience accessibility but opens up opportunities for people to take advantage of online creators and the content they put out. Anybody can transcribe an online production, perform it either online or in-person, and charge tickets for people to see that production, but because it was transcribed from a production and not licensed, no money goes back to the creator which prevents the creator for making more of their accessible content
Positives
Accessibility
People in different geographical locations can access the same production as people experiencing it live
Online performances generally cost less to view online
Travelling is not always an option for viewing theatre-some people don’t have the financial ability to travel to places where a specific production is being performed
Physical and mental disabilities-not all theatres are physically accessible for people with wheelchairs, eyesight issues, hearing issues, or people with invisible disabilities (MS, chronic migraines) that are unable to sit in the average theatre seat for the length of a production. People with emotional anxiety, spatial anxiety, or sensitivity issues (ex. autism) may find live theatre too overwhelming to attend. Any person with a physical or mental health issue that has the financial ability to attend a live performance may find purchasing a ticket or making travel plans too risky because health issues can happen at any time and canceling tickets and reservations at the last minute is difficult at best, especially when one is dealing with the added stress of coping with a health issue
Less elitism
The lack of accessibility has created a culture of elitism in theatre. People with more financial ability or people with higher professional education in theatre have more access to experiencing live theatre, making traditional commercial theatre, like Broadway and the West End, only available to a small percentage of the theatre community.
Rewatching
It’s just nice to be able to rewatch a live performance for fun
Rewatching for academic purposes!
Free or significantly reduced price
Negative: Risk of price gouging for online performances and non-explicit processing fees
Live performances are also at more reasonable prices - average highest value Starkid ticket that includes set tours and meet & greets are still less expensive than the average cheapest ticket on the commercial theatre market for Broadway or off-Broadway, which averages at $79
Commercial Theatre
Negatives: ACCESSIBILITY IN ALL FORMS
Extremely limited accessibility for people with financial burdens
Buying theatre tickets shouldn’t require hours of research searching for the best prices so that you can go to a single performance (ex. 5 Ways to Buy Affordable Theatre Tickets https://www.playbill.com/article/5-ways-to-buy-affordable-theatre-tickets, http://www.broadwayforbrokepeople.com/, https://www.cheaptheatretickets.com/, https://officiallondontheatre.com/tkts/, https://www.todaytix.com/)
Many of these websites and third-party apps charge high fees for discounted tickets that make the cheaper ticket only $15-30 cheaper than a direct purchase from the theatre)
Outdated accessibility for people with physical and mental health issues, etc.
Programs like the Theatre Development Fund and theatre-specific programs at the Segerstrom in LA, the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, West End productions run by the Society of London Theatre, etc. are not commonplace and offer very limited performance dates
Not all audience members are respectful of live performances-talking, loud drinking/eating, etc.
Lack of accessibility provides incentive for people to make bootlegs that creators (actors, crew, directors, writers, composers) do not get any share of profit from. Producers have more to financially gain from a production than the average actor so making an illegal bootleg instead of a professional recording takes away an opportunity for a performer to make more money and get more financial recognition for their work
Cultural accessibility (see “Less Elitism” point in StarKid positives)
Historically disenfranchised groups have less access to live theatre because of social and financial burdens on top of mental and physical health issues that they get disproportionately less treatment for which would allow wealthier people with more access to healthcare attend the theatre more comfortably
Positives
Cultural capital!
Concentrated production areas in urban settings, regional or otherwise, give money back to the performance community in that area and boost the general economy by providing cultural centers in areas that rely on tourism for cashflow. It also legitimizes the production value of performances available in that geographic location by working with the given environment to create a culturally-specific niche for that location’s theatre scene (ex. The MUNY is St. Louis, The La Jolla Playhouse in California, Hartford Stage in Connecticut, etc. http://lort.org/theatres)
The live experience
Live theatre is simultaneously an individual and group experience. Each person attending a production interprets the performance differently and physically experiences the environment in ways unique from other audience members by sitting in different areas closer to/farther from/in different angles from the stage, lights, speakers, etc. Yet, the audience as a whole experiences the same unique production all at the same time, witnessing acting choices, understudies and standbys, or even stage mishaps all at once that a different performance of the same exact production may not have. The energy of a live performance in any venue changes with each performance and physical environment.
