With the ever-increasing availability of wide arrays of media that can be accessed from the comfort of one’s home, a trip to the theater can seem less desirable these days. Why bother buying a ticket for something you can only see once and could cost substantially more than the monthly subscription to a streaming service when you can binge watch to your heart’s content on the couch?

This is the question regional theaters across the country are asking themselves in the wake of the pandemic. Answers are not particularly easy to determine, but D.C.’s Shakespeare Theatre Company is making strides to keep drawing audiences in. 

It can be especially difficult getting digitally savvy teens and cash-strapped young professionals to see live theater performances, either because of high prices or programming often marketed for older audiences. STC appeals to this group with its Under 35 program, which offers $35 tickets for patrons under 35 years old. It does have limitations of date availability, seat availability, and seat location, but it still brings down significant barriers for those who can’t afford to see live theater because of the cost. 

Launched in the 2006-2007 season, the program was initially available as a season subscription, and became available for individual productions in 2008. The Under 35 program has been successful at drawing young audiences to the theater, although the pandemic led to a dip in subscribers and overall ticket sales. The theater expects subscriptions to the Under 35 program to return to pre-pandemic figures in the upcoming season. (More exact numbers were not available upon request.)

However, getting younger audiences to engage with theater is not just about lowering cost. Theaters need to engage with them directly. 

STC also hosts Young Prose Nights in partnership with local magazine District Fray. These events include an after-party and a free postshow drink for patrons under 35 at select shows during the season. Paused at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, Young Prose Nights were restarted in the 2022-2023 season. By next season, the theater plans to advertise these events further to reach more young patrons. 

Content also matters when it comes to bringing in Gen Z and millennial audiences. When asked what types of productions bring younger crowds to the theater, STC’s front of house manager, Tamisha Ottley, says, “Shows that have a diverse story subject, or have a diverse cast instead of your traditional Caucasian male cast.” 

The Shakespeare Theatre Company has a history of nontraditional casting dating back to the early 1990s, beginning with its production of The Merry Wives of Windsor featuring a woman in the role of Falstaff, traditionally played by a man. The company continues to employ creative casting choices that defy traditional gender and race roles, and allow the theater to develop new and relevant themes in classical works. 

The company also provides contextual materials and interactive programming along with certain shows that help audiences better understand plots and concepts in the productions they will be viewing. 

That’s where the interactive wall comes in. During STC’s recent production of King Lear, a whiteboard posing questions like “What’s on Lear’s mind?” was situated along the back wall of the lobby. Patrons were encouraged to pick up a marker to answer the question. “Kids ruin everything,” one snarky response read. 

Even these smaller touches help make theater, especially William Shakespeare, more accessible to those who may not otherwise easily follow Elizabethan English. Many of the comments on the interactive wall show how audiences connect 16th-century stories with modern ideas and pop culture. 

The theater embraces a contemporary imagining of Shakespearean stories by bringing the Bard’s historical works into a modern thematic context. The company’s website states that “a classical theatre that does not speak to the present moment is a museum.” 

Part of this mission of exposing contemporary audiences to classical works is achieved through STC’s partnership with local schools. From kindergarten through college, the theater provides special engagements and discounted tickets to make attending and interacting with theatrical production more accessible.  

Additionally, this partnership provides students an opportunity to experience theater productions free of cost. After attending a performance of King Lear for a field trip, high school students explained that this program allows them to learn outside a school setting. But more importantly, it makes theater accessible to them—many said they would not otherwise have the means or knowledge of how to engage with local theater. Completely extracurricular programs such as summer camps and classes are also available. 

STC not only works with schools to have students in the audience, but also gives those same students opportunities to work behind the scenes.

Zoe Tompkins, an American University undergraduate, worked in the lighting department on King Lear. Through connections between professors at the university and the company, Tompkins helped hang lights and build sets for the production.

“It’s a great way to get actual, practical experience in your field and get paid for it,” Tompkins says.

STC’s efforts to engage students and young adults from all angles is an essential part of the company’s mission.

As the company’s website states, “Engagement and Education puts STC’s mission into action, producing a variety of school, community, training, and audience programming to create and preserve classic theatre and to connect the universality of classic works to our shared human experience in the modern world.”