Filling the seats

Next year, in the Fort Point Channel area, one of the city's most eagerly awaited art developments opens its doors. Midway Studios, a project in three warehouse buildings just behind A Street, will feature 89 spaces for artists to live and work in. But one part of the ambitious plan is not opening on time. The developers have delayed creating a theater originally slated for the 200,000-square-foot project. It's not because they're short on cash or ideas. They're just being careful.

Having seen the recent explosion of new theaters throughout Boston, the developers are worried their original idea -- to let local theater groups put on plays -- will fail. They're now considering other uses for the space.

''The hard, cold reality is, can you bring in enough people who will pay?" says Anita Lauricella, an artist and executive director of the Fort Point Cultural Coalition, the community group overseeing Midway Studios. ''It's a beautiful, fabulous space. It could be a great music space or a great dance space. We need to decide the need and niche we can fill."

Lauricella isn't the only arts leader taking note of the theater boom. Across the region, theater companies say they're thrilled by the newer, bigger, and better stages opening from Watertown to Washington Street. The wave began in July, when Clear Channel completed a $38 million renovation of the Opera House, opening with Disney's smash musical ''The Lion King." September marked the debut of the Theatre Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts, a pair of theaters run by the Huntington Theatre Company.

Just last month, the Massachusetts College of Art dedicated the Pozen Center, a refurbished, flexible space that can seat up to 730 people. Last week, two important theater projects set to open in early 2005 -- the New Repertory Theatre in Watertown and the Zero Arrow Theatre in Cambridge -- were introduced formally at press conferences. And those are just the projects wrapping up. Thousands more seats could be coming on line in the next decade, ranging from a 1,500-seat stage at the North Shore Music Theatre in Beverly to the Institute of Contemporary Art's glass-walled, waterfront performance space for 300.

This growth, though, comes with a sobering reality. Theaters have more seats to fill, more competition, and more unknowns. That has some local theater directors a little nervous.

''I've always felt that the tide rises all boats, and more is better," says Steven Maler, a founder of Commonwealth Shakespeare Company and vice president of artistic programming of the Wang Center for the Performing Arts. ''I guess I'm starting to revisit my thinking on that."

He notes that the economic climate has changed since most of the new spaces were conceived in the '90s. So has the way most theater groups sell tickets, with people increasingly buying tickets at the last minute instead of purchasing subscriptions months in advance. Most of Boston's arts organizations are sticking to their original expansion plans, but they're mindful of the challenges ahead. They're also taking action, developing marketing campaigns to introduce their groups to new audiences while continuing to draw their regulars.

Even Kate Snodgrass, the artistic director of the 95-seat Boston Playwrights' Theatre, has found herself dragged into the marketing age. Last weekend, after performances of her play ''The Glider," her staff handed out surveys to audience members for the first time in the company's 23-year history.

''It's so frustrating and time consuming," said Snodgrass. ''But with all these new spaces, we want to put these new people in the seats. Unfortunately, part of it has to be marketing."

Changing times
Even the theater community's biggest cheerleaders admit that the timing of the boom could have been better. In the '90s, when the plans were laid for many of the new projects, smaller theaters could depend on a steady supply of subscribers, and larger, commercial houses could rely on a constant stream of Broadway-tested product. The market has changed considerably since then. After the World Trade Center attacks in 2001, people starting moving away from subscriptions and toward last minute, walk-up sales. That made it harder for theaters, already dealing with tight profit margins, to make long-term plans. Ticket buying patterns remain a problem, for reasons theater world managers still don't understand. What they do know is that there's less financial certainty when they open a production.

''Your marketing efforts for single ticket productions have to be that much more thorough," says Joan Channick, deputy director of the New York-based Theatre Communications Group, a service organization for more than 400 nonprofit theaters across the country. ''It's riskier, harder, and more uncertain."

This buying pattern led, in part, to deficits for many theater groups around the country. Fifty-eight percent of TCG's members reported a loss in 2003, including Boston's Lyric Stage Company. And that was before the new BCA complex opened four blocks away.

''I think everybody has to worry," says Maryann Zschau, a local actress who was the Lyric's marketing director until being let go earlier this year. ''There are some major similarities to what the BCA does and what SpeakEasy and Boston Theatre Works do. Artistically, it's very competitive. And by increasing the number of theaters in Boston, you're asking people to stretch their entertainment dollars."

But many leaders of the local theater community are quite confident they'll be able to pack the house. They say the city has been waiting far too long for these new spaces. If you give the people strong plays, they argue, the audiences will follow. The other key: building smaller spaces that are easier to fill.

''There's a huge renaissance here," says Spiro Veloudos, the longtime artistic director of the Lyric Stage Company. ''I've never been so excited about theater in Boston."

''There's plenty of audience out there," says Michael Maso, the Huntington's managing director. ''The issue is what you put in those theaters. For example, where did all the people going to 'The Lion King' come from? It's not like you can say they've been going to other theaters. It's all about whether the programming matches the spaces. If the Huntington had built a 2,500-seat theater to do new plays, that would be a mistake. But we built a 360-seat house."

That's the key, he says, for many of the theaters opening their doors. They are manageable spaces with distinct programs or primary tenants. Zero Arrow Theatre will have 300 seats and the American Repertory Theatre on board as a primary resident. The BCA has the Huntington in the Wimberly Theatre, as well as SpeakEasy Stage Company and Sugan Theatre Company in the 200-seat Roberts Theatre. The New Repertory Theatre will be the primary tenant in the Arsenal Center's theater in Watertown, set to open in the spring of 2005. Nora Theatre Company and the Underground Railway Theatre will share a 175-seat space in Central Square. The ICA's 300-seat theater is scheduled to open on the Fan Pier in 2006; they're still developing a program for the space.

These building decisions weren't made rashly, the theater managers say. Eight years ago, when Rick Lombardo interviewed for the top job at New Rep, board members told him they were desperately looking for a new stage. Finally, he's ready to move from Newton to Watertown into the 385-seat theater anchoring the Arsenal Center for the Arts. In recent years, the New Rep has packed its 150-seat, rented space in a church in Newton. During the popular productions of ''Waiting for Godot" and ''Sweeney Todd," that's meant closing when the theater is still selling out on most nights. With actors and spaces committed to other shows, runs can't last indefinitely.

''And being in a small church in Newton Highlands has caused an enormous amount of confusion," says Lombardo. ''Some people think we're church affiliated. Half of the people who live in Greater Boston don't even know where Newton Highlands is. In one sense, there's a paradox. We've grown into a major institution. But then there's a large section of the public that doesn't even know where we are."

Fighting busy schedules
In this new climate, theaters are searching for innovative ways to fill seats. They're becoming more creative with their promotions. At the Huntington and at Beverly's North Shore Music Theatre, special events are held for the under-35 crowd and the gay and lesbian communities. At the ART, college students can see a show for the price of a movie ticket.

The challenge for Boston's biggest theaters is considerably different than that faced by small companies. The Wang, as well as Clear Channel venues the Opera House, the Colonial, and the Wilbur, relies on touring shows rather than resident companies. That leaves the Wang, a private, nonprofit institution, competing for product with Broadway in Boston, which has Clear Channel's network of radio stations and billboards for show promotion at its disposal. The Wang lost out on ''The Lion King" and ''The Phantom of the Opera," which opens in March at the Opera House. Such blockbuster shows are few these days. Theater managers across the country complained bitterly when the producers of the Tony Award-winning ''Avenue Q" decided this summer to skip the touring circuit to hang a shingle in Las Vegas.

''I don't think the audience is diminishing for 'Mamma Mia!' " says Jon Kimbell, the artistic director of North Shore Music Theatre. ''What is diminishing is the [number of] productions. That's why we're focusing on the development of new works."

That's also true at the Wang Center, which last year absorbed Commonwealth Shakespeare Company and enlisted Maler to develop original programming for the future.

But there's one problem all theaters, big and small, nonprofit and commercial, are still struggling with. Even when they put on a good show, it is increasingly difficult to convince a casual theatergoer to find a free night in an already overbooked schedule. That becomes increasingly clear when unexpected conflicts present themselves. Broadway in Boston, for example, closed off the Wilbur Theatre's balcony due to light sales during some performances of ''Elaine Stritch at Liberty." BIB blamed the World Series.

Time constraints are the top reason people don't go to arts events, according to a recent study of Boston arts patrons conducted by the country's major service organizations in the performing arts, including OPERA America, the American Symphony Orchestra League, Dance/USA, and Theatre Communications Group.

''The thing I hear from people is, 'I'm just so busy,' " says Maler. ''I hear that over and over when I talk to people who aren't in the business about when they last went to the theater."

Promising signs
So far, there's no way of knowing how Boston's newest theaters will do over the long haul. Some early numbers are encouraging, though. Catherine Peterson, executive director of ArtsBoston, says that she has seen no increase of discount tickets flooding into the organization's half-price, day-of-show ticket booth. This, she notes, despite the increased number of available seats. This fall, Lyric Stage's season opener, ''A Little Night Music," set a record with its overall audience of about 7,500 people, according to Veloudos.

''It seems like a lot of stuff is coming on line, but maybe we're just catching up," Peterson says.

And the wave of construction doesn't appear to be letting up. The list of projects includes the small theaters being proposed for open Big Dig space and the four halls -- the largest 800 to 1,000 seats -- being pushed by Cambridge entrepreneur Glenn KnicKrehm as part of his Constellation Center in Kendall Square. The North Shore Music Theatre is developing long-term plans for a new, 1,500-seat hall.

Shoshana Pakciarz, executive director of the New Center for Arts and Culture -- one of the projects proposed for the Big Dig land -- says that for too long Bostonians have had to head to New York to get their theater fix. The 350-seat space planned for the center would feature a range of entertainment, from music and films to lectures and theater. She doesn't expect it'll be hard to fill the house.

''Take the example of the mall," she says. ''The more stores you have, the more people shop. In the cultural world, this is more the concept of the mall. You can say, 'Boston is a culture city.' When you have guests, you don't have to be embarrassed and you don't have to run away on the weekends somewhere else."

Geoff Edgers can be reached at gedgers@globe.com.