New theater work

I regret to tell you that I was right about the Springer audience looking light. They've now announced 2 for 1 tickets on Thursday and $5 off the other days. This is disheartening and a little odd. Museums are up-even museums that, unlike ours, charge. Westville has had a sharp increase in March. Old Sturbridge Village in MA had a 32% increase to start the year. The American Association for State and local history organizations reports general increases and suggests that it's because "...people are valuing meaningful experiences". That tells me that theater isn't getting its story out.
Incidentally, you may think this is stretching for something to write, but I think it's worth noting. This week-end, Columbus may well be the only city in the country where 2/3 of it's professional theaters are doing new works by their artistic directors. The Chattahoochee Shakespeare Company is doing Troy Heard's "Goobers" and Sherlock's Mystery Dinner Theater is doing "Murder, Take 2" co written by the Musgroves. OK, neither of them will knock Arthur Miller off the pedestal but I think it's great.
No city can be taken seriously for theater until new work is produced there and just the fact that these artistic directors believe there's a market for new work is encouraging. The other theater of course is the Springer which last did a premier maybe five years ago. It was a concoction that Tuna author Ed Howard dreamed up based on a Shakespeare play and there's enough blame for everyone in that production. It takes courage in this environment where a single show can ruin your season and I don't blame Pierce for going back to his roots.
I'll review both shows soon.