Insights on engagement from theatre leaders—and what Cincinnati leaders are leaning into
Picture a carload of college students getting kicked out of an Applebee’s.
They had just seen a matinee of A Doll’s House at Warehouse Theatre in Greenville, South Carolina—attending to fulfill a class requirement, not arriving with especially high expectations. But something happened in that theatre. By the time they got to the restaurant, they were arguing so passionately about Ibsen’s 1879 play that management showed them the door.
The debate didn’t end there. It carried into the classroom that Monday. The room was divided on Ibsen’s themes of gender roles and expectations. Everyone wanted to weigh in. Their response mirrored the uproar the play caused when it was first produced. Warehouse Theatre had programmed it to spark conversation in this part of the South—perhaps unexpectedly progressive in a conservative state.
That’s audience engagement. Not passive attendance—active response. It’s what live theatre can do that no algorithm, streaming service, or comedy special can fully replicate.
As a longtime reviewer and board member of the League of Cincinnati Theatres—and someone who has worked as a theatre marketer, costumer, professor, and audience member across the East, Midwest, and South—I’ve spent much of my life thinking about how to engage and grow audiences.
I’ve also been taking notes—from local theatre leaders as well as at a convening of 80 professional theatre leaders alongside members of the American Theatre Critics and Journalists Association at Milwaukee Repertory Theatre last month.
The pressing question: if audiences still value live experiences, why are theatres struggling to bring them in—and how do we bring them back?
Here’s where the conversation kept returning:
1. People Are Spending on Live Experiences—But Theatre Isn’t Capturing Them
The experience economy is thriving. At the Milwaukee conference keynote speaker Ayad Akhtar, a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, pointed to the booming market for live comedy. Performers such as Nate Bargatze are selling out arenas, with over a million tickets sold in one year. Why? Audiences arrive already familiar with the material–his brand–and the experience delivers exactly what’s promised.
Akhtar shared that Netflix is taking brand following further with its in-person “Netflix House” venues, allowing audiences to step inside the worlds of their favorite shows. It’s immersive, social, and rooted in brand loyalty. It is akin to Dave and Buster’s but overlaying Wednesday Addams or Stranger Things plotlines.
Again, people want to align themselves with a brand–and show themselves immersed in it.
Meanwhile, many regional theatres are facing declining attendance and revenue. Seasons are shrinking. Cast sizes are getting smaller. Even in Germany, Akhtar reports, where theatres receive national funding, audiences are dwindling. The question posed during the conference lingered: why isn’t theatre recapturing the ticket buyer who is clearly willing to spend on live experiences?
2. Audiences Are Searching for Meaning—And Theatre Can Offer It
People still want to go out. They need date nights, group events, shared experiences. Cincinnatians have no shortage of options—from professional and collegiate sports to a growing number of concert venues, to 25 LCT member theatres and multiple community theatres. We also have James Beard Award–nominated dining options.
So why choose theatre?
First, one reason they don’t: Michael Barakiva of Cleveland Play House and critic Jay Handelman noted a growing challenge—audiences increasingly perceive theatre as belonging to the “other” team. In a polarized climate, even the arts are filtered through a political lens.
But there’s opportunity in that tension.
Audiences are curious. They are searching—for escape, for understanding, or for a way to locate themselves within a complicated world. Sometimes that means presenting viewpoints that aren’t universally comfortable.
As Blake Robison, Artistic Director of Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, noted, community engagement must be baked into programming—not added as an afterthought. His upcoming world premiere of TALK by Theresa Rebeck intentionally reflects multiple perspectives, aiming to spark conversation afterward. The Playhouse has also surveyed audiences about how they want to engage with content and recently offered a book exchange tied to Mrs. Christie. They know Cincinnati audiences differ from theatre to theatre.
Theatre can provide opportunities—but audiences need more information about the experience before they commit. There are questions the first time you go anywhere. Theatres must meet audiences where they are.
Removing Barriers
There’s broader work to be done around reducing friction. Practical barriers—parking, traffic, unpredictable schedules—can deter attendance as effectively as any programming choice. Many theatres now offer flexible subscription packages that allow patrons to use tickets across multiple shows or share them with friends, replacing rigid traditional models that often penalize changes. Some may need to know more about physical accommodations, such as elevators or sound, as well.
Surprise belongs onstage—not in the logistics
Audiences want clarity: how long is the show? What should they expect? If a production is listed at two hours and thirty minutes, it needs to be two hours and thirty minutes, not three. The babysitter will start texting.
Clear communication builds trust. Alert audiences to major downtown events that may affect parking, such as Cincinnati Reds games. Provide content advisories and recommended ages.
Even small touches help. Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati, for example, includes “If you liked…” recommendations to give audiences a frame of reference. While New York audiences may embrace the unknown, Cincinnati audiences tend to want more context in advance. That requires strong marketing—or trusted word of mouth.
As Brian Isaac Phillips, AD and CEO of Cincinnati Shakespeare Company reminds us at every opening “everybody you know needs to see this show.”
Tinashe Kajese-Bolden, Artistic Director of Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre, offered a principle–which echoed throughout the conference: “Trust is the most valuable currency you have.” It applies when building a season, cultivating an audience, launching a capital campaign, or recruiting a board. Every decision either deposits into that account or withdraws from it.
Sometimes trust is as simple as the visibility and accessibility of leadership—in the lobby, before the show begins.
3. Regional Means Local—Lean Into It
Joe Haj, Artistic Director of the Guthrie Theater, offered a steady reminder: there is no playbook for this moment. The work is to keep going—and to do what theatre does best.
Snehal Desai of Center Theatre Group shared a powerful example: when a middle school was affected by the Los Angeles fires, drama students performed their show on the Ahmanson stage—one of the most prestigious venues in the region. Imagine a local school using the Aronoff or Playhouse stage.
These leaders also emphasized care—for staff as well as audiences. That, too, builds trust.
One of the clearest takeaways: there is no one-size-fits-all solution. League of Cincinnati Theatres members report that knowing your audience—not just your donors—is the most effective strategy.
American Legacy Theatre is developing new works rooted in local concerns such as gentrification, housing, and addiction, incorporating audience feedback throughout a multi-year process. Their recent production, Bridge City, is one example of that approach. Their nomadic style allows them to bring theatre to multiple parts of the area–Bridge City was staged at Hughes STEM High School.
At Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, new work development continues to create space for emerging voices. Derek Snow’s Ravenside Occurrence began as a reading in Playhouse’s Arts and Culture Incubator Program and has moved on to a full production at Know Theatre of Cincinnati. Playhouse is also hosting a New Works Festival in early May, featuring offerings from their latest playwrights in residence, including Maggie Lou Raider and Isaac Reeves.
Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati commissioned a musical about Cincinnati’s famous Fiona the hippo–one of the highest selling shows in their season, followed by It’s Fritz!, the story of her brother. Both brought in new audiences to the space–now it is their job to bring them back for other works.
Through the Cincinnati Fringe Festival, short works often tackle hyper-local issues—from the price of development to public health concerns—some going on for further development beyond the festival, such as Hannah Gregory’s Wuthering: A Musical On The Moors, part of Know Theatre’s 2026-2027 season.
Human Race Theatre hosts a popular free creative arts class for kids (ages 5-12) on Parent’s Day Out, removing the friction of finding a babysitter.
In addition to their main stage shows, The Children’s Theatre of Cincinnati, American Legacy Theatre and the Playhouse have been providing original immersive touring shows for kids, researching topics important to local educators, including managing anxiety and misinformation. Children’s theatre production are often the first way young people encounter theatre.
Building Audiences with Free Tickets
The Carnegie, in Covington, KY, now offers free tickets for first-time theatre-goers. This takes out the financial risk for a ticket, allowing the theatre to expand their reach. It also hyper focuses limited advertising dollars, making an impact one ticket at a time. It gets them in the door–then they deliver on their mission–staging solid productions of musical theatre.
Additionally, The Carnegie’s CCM co-production model has been a great opportunity to bring new audiences to The Carnegie and to introduce our audiences to the high-caliber of the University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music talent. “We’ve seen these audiences turn into regular patrons over the last couple of seasons,” says Tyler Gabbard, Carnegie Theatre Director.
Gabbard also ups the experience, adding “In August 2026, La Cage Aux Folles will extend the audience experience with an immersive preshow beginning one hour before each performance. This will see our public spaces transformed into an extension of the world of La Cage. This is supported by ArtsWave Pride and Cincinnati Pride and will be announced publicly in the coming weeks. This immersive approach builds on the success of recent productions including The Rocky Horror Show and Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill which included participatory elements.”
Designed to Be a Collective Experience
Cincinnati Shakespeare Company is bringing a new adaptation of the classic film Network to the stage next year, allowing us to collectively shout “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore.” I’m looking forward to hear more about how the technology and themes immerse the audience into the experience.
Some theatres provide space for part of the audience to sit on stage. Or use a thrust stage, versus a proscenium stage–allowing the action to move into the audience. Designers work with audience perception, making every space more intimate, or grand as the production demands.
This work takes time–developing audiences and following may take years. But the impact is measurable. Study after study–for adults as well as school children–shows that sustained engagement with theatre increases empathy, strengthens critical thinking, and helps people hold multiple perspectives at once.
In a world that often pushes us toward binary thinking, that capacity is invaluable.
Theatre has always been tied to civic life. We are reminded that in ancient Greece, democracy and theatre grew up together, sharing a history rooted in collective experience—gathering, witnessing, responding. And in crisis, we turn to storytelling to make sense of chaos.
Showing Up
There are still many questions theatre makers explore.
What moves someone to buy a ticket? What keeps them coming back? How do they decide to bring someone new? The answer may be different for every audience segment.
One production I saw recently offered a surprising insight. At Spring Awakening at Xavier University, I overheard someone talking about all the productions of the musical 1776 this year. I asked permission and chimed in, then did the couple in front of us. Conversation flowed before the show, during intermission, and after.
We weren’t performing but we were…present. We laughed together, we felt that teen angst together. The characters may not have looked like us, but together we could experience pain–and joy. The interaction, that connection, reminds us that theatre is collective. Theatre requires audience–otherwise it is just a solo endeavor.
Cincinnati’s theatre ecosystem is large. LCT member theatres include Tony-Award-winning-professional to academic theatres in the Greater Cincinnati area–from Dayton into Kentucky. They are doing hard, sustained work of building connections with audiences. Reducing friction. Earning trust and practicing top notch customer service. Reflecting the complexity of the community it serves. Cultivating important conversations and/or releasing cathartic laughter or tears.
My students who got kicked out of Applebee’s didn’t set out to have a transformative night. But a play written in 1879 still managed to spark a response almost 150 years later. That matinee reinforced the collective power of live theatre.
Sometimes all it takes is showing up just once.
What did a theatre do to get YOU in the door–and keep you?
