Reviews for theatre rentals. Do they exist?
There are plenty of websites for consumers over the serives for restaurants, movie theatres, arthouse theatres, etc etc. But I have yet to come across something that gives me hints of how a theatre will treat companies that RENT theatres for putting on shows.
Our organization just did a show in a certain somewhat obscure downtown theatre in TO, and the service was HORRENDOUS. We got charged for a myriad of things that weren't talked about.
*The two people they did provide as stagehand and ushering were trainees (the usher has never done ticketing before)
*they didn't take out seats in the middle of the rows so in this 1000 people theatre, there was no center isle.
*They charged us money for bringing in OWN OWN food for OUR OWN musicians.
It was the worst experience in a theatre ever. And we've been to quite a few.
If only I could check out what other artists who rented this theatre before felt about it, then we wouldn't be a few thousand over budget due to unexpected costs. If only...
If this exists, I would join it. If it doesn't, I'm willing to shell out the resources to create it, because though it is a very small niche, as a community it might be able to keep theatres and unions in check over what they can do and not do (go out on smoke breaks in the middle of performances? I don't think so.)
This would be completely not for profit - the profit would come from being in a community of people who share their experience in a given theatre, and hopefully build a good database of how flexible theatres can be over one-time rentals.
So the questions is...
- does it already exist?
- If it doesn't, is there a need for it?
- Would people be afraid to speak their minds over whether the service they received from a theatre has been horrible?
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I've rented many theatres in NYC, and they've ALL turned out to be horrible -- except for one (78th Street Theatre Lab). Most of them were filthy, run by assholes who tried to interfere with the performance, run by assholes who didn't provide everything they promised and/or noisy.
I deal with this problem by (a) asking EVERYONE I know who rents space for their opinions; (b) making sure I get a thorough tour of the space before choosing it; (c) making sure EVERYTHING is is writing. If a theatre-manager says, "I'll get you some extra seats" but the contract doesn't mention them, I assume I'm NOT going to get the extra seats.
(d) I choose my shows based on available (good) space. This may seem like a backward way to work, but I'm resigned to it. The alternative is too horrible. In other words, I used to first decide on a show and then look for a place to produce it. Now, I look for space first. If a space I like is available, I think, "What show would work well there?"
posted by grumblebee at 12:55 PM on March 2, 2006