Brace yourself: here is a tale of growth in the performing arts industry.
Pittsburgh’s own Quantum Theatre, a small company with a budget of around $1 million, reported record ticket sales, attendance and subscriptions last year.
“And we’re expecting to exceed that number this year again,” says Karla Boos, artistic director and founder of Quantum.
On Friday, Quantum launches its 2024-25 season with “A Moon for the Misbegotten,” a play by the famous American playwright Eugene O’Neill. Performances take will take place at the Longue Vue Club in Verona, about a quarter of an hour outside of the city, and run through Aug. 25. Tickets begin at $60, with discounts for students.
This two-hour play’s plot follows a father and daughter as they attempt to save their family farm, which a business tycoon is threatening to sell. It’s an intimate, relatable family drama about hidden passion and sacrifice. J. Cody Spellman directs.
These days, performing arts organizations large and small are still scrambling to crack the code of how to bring attendees and donors back. Even Broadway in New York City still hasn’t bounced all of the way back to its pre-pandemic attendance levels.
How is Quantum bucking the trend?
Smart staff consolidation is one method, Boos said, crediting Quantum’s executive director Julie DeSeyn with streamlining staff by outsourcing some administrative roles — like marketing and PR — to consultancies.
“This has just made us more efficient, which is how we have to be to survive in tough times” Boos said.
Around the country, arts organizations are experimenting with sharing staff between organizations, outsourcing specialty roles and even using generative AI to streamline processes. (Quantum actually shares office space with another small Pittsburgh arts organization, Attack Theatre, in Lawrenceville.)
After all, the goal is to devote resources to putting the best art an organization can onstage. That’s where most organizations want to concentrate their resources.
Repertoire decisions also play a role, with attendees returning in the largest numbers for the most well-known names, like “Nutcracker” at the ballet or “Figaro” at the opera.
“Shakespeare in general is always popular, always something people will want to pay to see,” Boos said.
Last year, Quantum’s “Hamlet,” staged in the historic Carrie Blast Furnace, broke all attendance records for the company.
Quantum, which performs all over the city in different found spaces, has also built a reputation for crafting unique experiences.
“Classic plays done differently is a specialty of ours that seems to be something people want to experience,” Boos said. “This isn’t going to be your grandma’s ‘Moon for the Misbegotten.’ ”
To dress up the experience, Quantum has curated nearly a dozen add-on events — a mix of picnics, wine tastings, date-night packages, talkbacks about the play with psychiatrists to discuss its psychological elements and much more.
“I believe in the theater as a vehicle to take a deep look at the human experience and to frame it in a bigger context,” Boos said. “It’s a truly collective experience — I don’t want to sound like Pollyanna, but it should be bigger than all of us. And food and drink is such a perfect vehicle to continue that collective experience.”
“A Moon for the Misbegotten” runs August 2-25 at the Longue Vue Club in Verona. Visit quantumtheatre.com/moon for more details.
Jeremy Reynolds: jreynolds@post-gazette.com. His work at the Post-Gazette is supported in part by a grant from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Getty Foundation and Rubin Institute.
First Published: July 29, 2024, 9:30 a.m.
Updated: July 29, 2024, 7:10 p.m.
