The Bard and Boston

Theatre companies and arts journalists nationwide are asking themselves how to generate younger audience interest. The League of American Theatres and Producers reported last year that the theatre audiences are getting younger, but the average age is still 42.

Boston serves as a strong model for the rest of the U.S. to check out. The metro area's mix of new (The Boston Conservatory's new "Heaven & Hell -- The Fantastical Temptation of the 7 Deadly Sins," which premieres Wednesday, is based on a Joe Jackson album), established (Blue Man Group counts) and fusion (the cabaret-meets-baroque-meets-Dresden-Dolls of ART's recent "The Onion Cellar"), gives theatre goers in the city ample opportunity to sample something new six nights a week. Additionally, Boston's participation in the Free Night of Theater program in 2006 allowed many who might not be typically able or willing to pay for a night at the stage to check out a show, no strings attached.

The Commonwealth Shakespeare Company's Shakespeare on the Common series has seen a steady rise in its audience attendance since it debuted in Copley Square with "A Midsummer Night's Dream" in 1996. The free outdoor productions have become so popular that 100,000 people flocked to the grass with blankets and chairs during the three-week run of "The Taming of the Shrew" in 2006. Kids and youngsters can regularly be spotted, staring up at the stage to soak in the Bard, perhaps for the first time.

Commonwealth Shakespeare will return to "Midsummer" for its 2007 production, but the Globe (as in Boston, not Shakespeare's) has reported that the show's run will be slashed in 2007, with one week of shows instead of three. The decision, the Globe says, was made due to city renovations of the Common, noise complaints and cost cuts within the Citi (formerly Wang) Performing Arts Center. Whether future productions will return to their longer runs remains uncertain.

Giving crowds free performance comes at a price -- more than $800,000 last year alone -- but the turnout demonstrates an interest in the art form seen by many as missing on a national scale. Continued effort needs to be made in order to get any people, but especially those in the younger set, into the seats of the various theatres throughout the city.

Including the Citi Center. Just sayin'.

Photo of another Shakespeare gateway production from Amazon.