History Plays Catching up With Inflation

From the Summer 1997 U.S. Outdoor Drama, pages 1-3

by Jeffrey Campbell

For outdoor drama the question of ticket prices is always a tenuous one. Producing a quality product costs money, but charging too much costs at the box office. Find the fine line between a sufficiently funded production and affordable prices and you've hit upon a magic formula that lasts about one year.

In 1995, the Institute conducted a study of ticket prices for each branch of outdoor drama -- Shakespeare festivals, passion plays, and historical dramas--and compared them to the rate of inflation, also known as the Consumer Price Index (CPI). The CPI measures goods and services purchased for everyday living by urban residents; it covers about 80% of the total civilian population.

Focusing on the 1990s, IOD's research in 1995 concluded that while Shakespeare festivals and passion plays kept ticket prices at or ahead of the rate of inflation, historical dramas had fallen well behind the CPI; suggesting that in order to remain solvent history plays would have to catch up to inflation soon. Two years later it appears as if they have: historical drama average paid ticket prices increased 6.78% in 1996, more than double the CPI of 3.02%, a dramatic improvement from the previous five years.

Among the historical dramas that recently raised ticket prices is Blue Jacket (Xenia, OH), whose average paid ticket price went up 17% in 1996. General Manager Jan Abel met with some resistance from her board when she first proposed the increase--in fact they rejected it--but she didn't give up. "We basically compared Blue Jacket's ticket prices with the CPI since the show's opening in 1982," said Abel. Convinced by the data, the board changed its position and supported the price increase. Abel did not expect the raise in prices to affect attendance dramatically, though she did expect a "stutter-step," or a brief slowing of the steady attendance increase Blue Jacket had been experiencing. Abel was right, as attendance increased a modest 4%.

Unlike Abel, Curtis Smalling, general manager of Horn in the West (Boone, NC) and Shirley Page, general manager of Worthy is the Lamb (Swansboro, NC), had little trouble convincing their boards to raise ticket prices. "The board wanted to raise prices $2, but I thought it would be better to keep the increase to $1," said Page. Smalling, on the other hand, needed only to demonstrate to his board that before 1996 Horn was among the lowest-priced historical dramas in the country; after that they increased ticket prices 24%. Both Worthy is the Lamb and Horn in the West experienced a drop in attendance last year, though Smalling attributes this more to bad weather and a limited PR campaign, and Page had to contend with two major hurricanes hitting the North Carolina coast.

In contrast, when Marion Waggoner, producer/artistic director of Tecumseh (Chillicothe, OH), and his board raised ticket prices they expected a drop at the box office, at least initially. In deciding whether to raise ticket prices, and how much to raise them, Waggoner and his board simply conducted "comparisons to live attractions in our area," including amusement parks, concert venues, and Broadway road shows. Not surprisingly they found that Tecumseh was dramatically less expensive, and in fact remains so, even after the increase in ticket price.

Among the Shakespeare festivals that continue to outpace inflation is the American Players Theatre (Spring Green, WI), whose general manager, Sheldon Wilner, points out that ticket price decisions are made less difficult when performances are consistently sold out. "The box office is booming right now; we try to keep pace with inflation [with our ticket prices]," he said. Because Wilner is able to go to his board with positive attendance numbers, the matter of ticket prices becomes more a question of budget than impact on attendance: "It really comes to down to the budget," said Wilner. At American Players Theatre, Wilner and his board can make ticket price decisions with the assurance that a gradual increase is unlikely to hurt attendance.

Tecumseh's Waggoner points out that for the history plays the greater issue underlying ticket prices is whether or not they can sustain the interest necessary to justify the price of admission. If a history play presents essentially the "same product for 24 years how many people are going to keep going?"--and paying, Wagner asked. This question becomes doubly relevant as outdoor dramas attempt to maintain, and ideally, cultivate new interest in their productions while remaining financially afloat. What is the magic formula that will allow outdoor drama to operate a quality production while continuing to be affordable as a family event? The question is admittedly a different one for the Shakespeare festivals, which draw on a different socio-economic base than either the history or passion plays, and can change their product from year to year.

Institute of Outdoor Drama Quarterly Newsletter

History Plays Catching up With Inflation