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Matthew Freeman is a Brooklyn based playwright with a BFA from Emerson College. His plays include THE DEATH OF KING ARTHUR, REASONS FOR MOVING, THE GREAT ESCAPE, THE AMERICANS, THE WHITE SWALLOW, AN INTERVIEW WITH THE AUTHOR, THE MOST WONDERFUL LOVE, WHEN IS A CLOCK, GLEE CLUB, THAT OLD SOFT SHOE and BRANDYWINE DISTILLERY FIRE. He served as Assistant Producer and Senior Writer for the live webcast from Times Square on New Year's Eve 2010-2012. As a freelance writer, he has contributed to Gamespy, Premiere, Complex Magazine, Maxim Online, and MTV Magazine. His plays have been published by Playscripts, Inc., New York Theatre Experience, and Samuel French.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Can this be true?

Oskar Eustis, artistic director of the Public, said in an interview on Wednesday that $600,000 was a fairly typical price tag for a full production there, a cost that was shared by the two companies. He said that he was disappointed by LAByrinth’s departure, but that the Public planned to continue collaborating with the company on some shows in the future.

The only real way for us to lower costs is to pay artists less, but paying artists is part of the point of the Public,” he said.


Is this really the only cost cutting measure available to the Public? I ask not out of incredulity, but sheer ignorance. I fully admit that.

2 comments:

joshcon80 said...

Yeah, I wonder the same thing. Couldn't they spend less on design?

jwhittz said...

This left me flabbergasted when I read it last week.
There are plenty of costs that are pretty much fixed, like union wages and utlities, but I think Eustis must have meant in terms of maintaining production value. They must certainly be able to produce shows at a lower production value for a smaller price tag.