The COVID crisis never ended for America’s nonprofit theaters

Professional nonprofit theaters across the country are still struggling to attract patrons who stopped attending live shows during the COVID-19 pandemic, and shifts in audience behavior combined with depleted federal support will likely conspire to create an even more uncertain future for performing arts organizations, large and small.

That’s according to a sobering new report from Theatre Communications Group (TCG), a membership organization for professional theaters, which analyzed detailed attendance figures and financial data on 131 venues for a five-year stretch from 2018 through September 2022, a period that included the height of pandemic lockdowns.

The report reveals how the industry’s post-COVID recovery has been precarious at best. Although theater attendance did rebound significantly in 2022 when compared to the dismal year prior, revenue from ticket sales and subscriptions was still 55% lower than what it was in 2018.

At the same time, the costs associated with producing theater were up 60% year-over-year, with labor and equipment expenses seeing double-digit increases in 2022, even as total compensation ticked downward 4% over the full five years.

Karena Fiorenza, TCG’s interim CEO, said in a statement that the report “reveals both the resilience and the incomplete recovery of our theatre ecology amid the second full year of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

When the show doesn’t go on

The analysis comes at a time when even storied venues in solidly theater-friendly urban centers are facing headwinds that have them cutting staff and reducing their seasons. Back in July, New York’s Public Theater, one of the foremost nonprofit theaters in the country, laid off 19% of its workers. Chicago’s influential Steppenwolf Theatre axed 12% of its staff a month later, citing declines in attendance and revenue. And just last week, a report in the Boston Globe detailed the vast tapestry of existential hurdles facing theaters in that town.

Of course, nonprofit theaters have faced challenging times before. Even people who have worked in the business for decades might have trouble recalling an era when theater wasn’t in trouble. The 2008 financial crisis and its aftermath were especially devastating for the sector, with subscription revenue and attendance languishing for several years after the recession. And while many theaters have made strides in attracting younger and more diverse audiences in recent years, they have also grappled with a drop-off in older patrons who were more inclined to buy subscriptions for an entire season.

TCG’s report included data from theaters with budgets ranging in size from under $500,000 on the lower end to $10 million or more on the higher end. One ominous question raised by the data is what might happen to theaters that have become overly reliant on government support. In 2022, such support was 43 times higher than it was in 2018, the report reveals, likely due in large part to temporary COVID-era programs.

“With historic levels of federal relief funding running out, the need to innovate and welcome a multitude of new ideas is necessary to shift the field from a state of surviving to thriving,” the report reads.