Triple Play Convening

An initiative exploring what artists and administrators can do to entice casual ticket buyers to see more new plays.

16-17 January 2015 in Boston at Emerson College

The Triple Play Convening was co-organized by HowlRound, Theatre Development Fund (TDF), and Theatre Bay Area (TBA) and took place in Boston, Massachusetts in January 2015. Over a long weekend, participants explored the existing Triple Play research—including the one-on-one conversations with audience members—and discussed how it could be translated into concrete actions in their individual communities.

• View the complete agenda
• View the participant list
• Watch the video archive
• Read articles in the Triple Play journal series

Background Information: Laying the Groundwork

• You Know That Audience We Rarely Reach? It Really Wants to Talk by Mark Blankenship
• Triple Play Project Overview: A concise summary of Triple Play's mission and phases.
• Fostering an Appetite for New Work: Wolf Brown's initial study on fostering the audience's appetite for new work.
• Schwimmer-Voss Research: Zannie Voss and Jack Schwimmer's report on a TDF survey about new work that was sent to playwrights and artistic leaders.
• Audience Engagement Bright Spots: P. Carl's list of "bright spots" around audience engagement activity happening around the country.

Phase 1

TDF and TBA visited theatre artists and leaders in six cities around the country to discuss the audience's appetite for risk in new work.

• Phase 1 Highlights by Mark Blankenship: Mark Blankenship (TDF)'s notes on what was said.
• Phase 1 Highlights by Emma Jaster: Emma Jaster (TBA)'s notes on what was said.

Phase 2

In five cities, playwrights and theatre staffers host both focus groups and one-on-one interviews with single-ticket buyers who have recently attended at least one new play.

• Phase 2 Summary: A summary of how Phase 2 research was organized and conducted, as well as a list of participating theatres and playwrights.
• Focus Group Protocols: The protocols for the focus group interviews.
• Interview Protocols: The protocols for the one-on-one interviews.
• Focus Group Reports: A report from theatre leaders on what was learned from the audience focus groups.
• Interview Reports: A report from playwrights about what was learned from one-on-one interviews with audience members.