99 and Under - December, 2008

Our guests -- Jonathan Bank, Artistic Director of The Mint Theater, Sarah Benson, Artistic Director of Soho Rep., Susan Bernfield, Artistic Director of New Georges and David Van Asselt, Artistic Director of Rattlestick Playwrights Theater -- all share the distinction of running theatres that are quite different from Broadway...venues with 99 seats or under. They discuss their mission statements and how each of their companies got started; making sure they are able to balance new voices in playwriting with more established writers when choosing and presenting plays; how, instead of competing with one another, their companies serve as resources for each other; the wealth of material, and talent, available to them; who their base audiences are and marketing strategies for broadening that base; funding challenges, particularly in difficult financial times; the pros and cons of subscriptions for their companies; how pricing structure for their smaller theatres affects the bottom line; and their goals for expansion beyond their current theatre size.