Shakespeare & Company announces new season attendance record
LENOX, Mass. - Shakespeare & Company’s 2009-2010 season has set a new on-campus attendance record, bringing the Company within striking distance of a historic benchmark. Additionally, the season’s box office revenue is already the second-highest in the Company’s history, and on track to set a new all-time record sometime during the run of upcoming winter show, Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Dangerous Liaisons).This year’s attendance figures show more patrons attending shows at S&Co. than ever before. So far this season, 49,021 tickets have been issued (with additional ticket sales for Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Dangerous Liaisons) still to come), compared to 47,195 throughout all of the 2008-2009 season. With intense audience interest expected for the upcoming, Tina Packer-directed winter show, this makes it likely S&Co. will surpass 50,000 tickets issued for the first time.
The Company has earned $1,085,892 at the box office so far in the 2009-2010 season. With one major production still to go, this puts S&Co. in an excellent position to surpass its box office record of $1,141,409, set last year.
“As an actor and a director myself, I can tell you that we get validation each and every performance, when the audience responds to our work. But to see that enthusiasm reflected in these amazing box office figures obviously is extremely gratifying,” Artistic Director Tony Simotes says. The ambitious 2009-2010 season was programmed under the leadership of Founding Artistic Director Tina Packer.
“We’re delighted to see our patrons feel they have a home here, and that even in tough economic times, the community feels the dollars they spend to experience the transformative power of theatre are well spent,” he continues.
These figures are released at a time when the artistic output of the Company is receiving a historic level of acclaim. In his year-in-review roundup, The Wall Street Journal’s theatre critic Terry Teachout described S&Co. as “the most consistently impressive summer drama festival in America,” before declaring its production of Twelfth Night as “first class Shakespeare” and the “best” Shakespeare revival of the year. Of S&Co. actor John Douglas Thompson, following his universally celebrated portrayal of Othello at Founders’ Theatre the past two seasons, The New York Times declared he “staked his claim as one of the most compelling classical stage actors of his generation” in 2009. Thompson returns to S&Co. to play the title role in Richard III next season. The Company recently announced its mainstage titles for the 2010-2011 season, which also includes The Winter’s Tale and the world premiere of Joan Ackermann’s The Taster. More info is available at www.shakespeare.org.
The 2008-2009 season was the first full season employing the new Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre, as well as three new rehearsal studios that double as ad-hoc performance spaces for special events. As a result, S&Co. was able to offer 18 productions this season, versus 10 the previous year. The productions in the Bernstein Theatre have earned $439,355 so far, one month before the opening of Les Liasons Dangereuses (Dangerous Liaisons), compared to $200,798 last year.
One area of growth within the Bernstein Theatre revenues is found in the dramatic increase of in-house performances of the Education Program’s annual New England Tour of Shakespeare. This year’s production of Romeo and Juliet followed its highly successful tour with a three-week residency at the Bernstein Theatre, earning $29,939 in ticket sales. In a limited number of performances at Founders’ Theatre last season, the touring production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream pulled in $2,146 at the box office.
