Last year, a report on the 2022 - 2023 season's Broadway demographics showed that the industry's audience is getting younger and more diverse, though the average is still not as young as it could be with the number hovering around 40 years old.
So, the question still stands: what can be done to increase theatrical appeal to young people?
Well, if anyone knows the answer it's Children's Theatre Company (CTC) Artistic Director Peter Brosius, with over 27 years of experience catering to young people's inclinations as far as theatre is concerned, specifically those aged 2 to 18.
Tried-and-True Formula of Appealing to Young People
In a statement to Playbill, Brosius said that the secret lies in respecting the "complexity of young people" and their capacity to voluntarily understand deeper themes intelligently.
As per Brosius, blindly and forcefully sheltering the young from the "vulgarities and horrors of the world" may hinder the endeavor to get them to enjoy, be part of, and experience theatre. Doing the former is futile in the age of widespread and highly accessible digital media, he adds.
"So what you can do is provide a space for young people to experience, to wrestle with ideas and issues, to see consequences of action, to see what their choices mean," he explained. "And that they can have power."
This wisdom is not theoretical, at least in terms of the CTC's turnout post-pandemic. Especially because It thrived in contrast to many theatres around the country struggling to recoup their audiences to pre-pandemic numbers.
According to the outgoing artistic director, the theatre saw "one of the most successful seasons" across its whole history, with audiences pouring in to see new productions like "Bina's Six Apples" by Lloyd Suh, an immersive iteration of "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea," and the toddler-friendly slapstick performance: "Balloonacy."
One ongoing CTC show by Robert and Willie Reale, dubbed "A Year With Frog and Toad," is particularly poignant for Brosius because it not only brought national acclaim to the theatre but it is also the artistic director's last project before he retires on June 16.
He even describes it fondly and with depth, a characteristic that would usually not be associated with any kind of work for children, calling it an "extraordinarily tender and emotional piece about humanity's capacity to deal with the other."
All in all, Brosius is concerned with multi-generational work, something that this production embodies. He said that he is always thinking of what can appeal to both young people and adults and that this endeavor "moves" him still.
