For most college students, $22,000 seems like a massive amount of money.
This figure is the maximum amount used to put on a theatrical production at Boston University. For a production, $22,000 not much money, so the department is often forced to cut corners, said Roger Meeker, School of Theater Associate Director.
The business side of a theatrical production is often overlooked, but it costs thousands of dollars to finance a performance in most cases, excluding equipment costs. Lighting, metal equipment and building construction require a large portion of the funds to produce even the simplest of shows, Meeker said.
Throughout the year, the theater department puts on about 20 plays across six venues on BU campus and on Huntington Avenue. All productions only get a fraction of BU’s total theatre funds, which contrasts greatly with the millions of dollars needed to fund a full-scale Broadway production, Meeker said.
But where does the money to sponsor such costly events come from? “The university puts [up the] money,” Meeker said. “However, we also get funded by the electric company for lights.”
The department allocates the money to productions depending on their size, level of complexity, number of actors involved and the size of the venue where the performance will be shown.
“It’s so difficult to say that ‘yes it’s enough money,’ or ‘it’s not enough money,'” he said. “It’s considered classroom budget because that’s what our classroom is.”
Meeker added that some revenue also comes from the Huntington Theater Company ticket subscriptions.
Since the electric company only supports part of the electrical costs for BU productions, BU is forced to be self-sufficient in raising and subsidizing theater productions, he continued. But ticket sales generate minimal revenue since admission to all shows is free for students, who comprise the majority of audiences at BU shows.
“We prefer a larger audience at a show since it is an educational experience,” Meeker said.
Even with free tickets available, the student body has not taken full advantage of the opportunity to take in a show.
“There has not been an enormous response from the student body,” Meeker said. “Sometimes they pack the house for a big performance, sometimes only half the seats will be filled.”
However, the lackluster student audiences could be due in part to the large distance between main campus, the College of Fine Arts and the Blackbox Theater, located at 264 Huntington Ave.
“I would think that more people will show up to shows this year because of the new shuttle,” he projected, referring to a new shuttle system BU implemented last year, which transports students from the main campus to the medical campus. But the shuttle’s impact on audience numbers will not be seen until the end of this year.
The only source of ticket profits is from the Huntington Theater subscriptions, which range from $60 to $438. Subscribers are guaranteed admission to four to seven plays, depending on their plan. Still, these subscriptions yield negligible proceeds, as few are sold to the public, Meeker said.
Elizabeth Mazar, assistant to the director at the School of Theater, said the theater program doesn’t receive much money but it is adequate.
“We receive enough funding to present a show,” she said. “It can be difficult to predict the budget due to fluctuating costs in lumber and steel, this is the general case with all theater.”
Meeker also said the funding is definitely enough to put on show, which really gives students the experience of working in a major production.
“BU is very responsive to the needs of the theater,” he said. “Not to say we get everything we want, but we get a sufficient amount. The funding we get still allows our facilities to be state of the art.”
Meeker said running a show ranges from $50 for a simple workshop production to $22,000 for a full-scale performance. The overall amount of money given to the theater program varies each year but “most of the time we are able to get what we appeal for.”
“There are a lot of different aspects of the [production] process and only one of which is budgeting,” he said. “It’s just as good to work with a small budget [to allow students to get the experience they need].”
Maintaining a theater program may be costly and difficult, but with student attendance and proper funding, BU will continue to have a state of the art program.