Channeling the theater

Why bring Mohammed to the theater when you can bring the theater right to Mohammed?

That's the thinking of the Theatre Channel, a planned new cable channel -- with some Las Vegas involvement -- that hopes to bring theatrical productions right to your living room with all-theater, all-the-time programming.

"There are plays people want to see, but because of geography or economics, they can't get to the theater," explains San Francisco actress Cheryl Beach, the Theatre Channel's CEO and director, who dreamed up the idea three years ago.

"I don't think people are aware of how much good theater is out there, and this would open them up to a whole new world," she says.

For theater-lovin' Americans -- including expatriate New Yorkers or Los Angelenos living in spots without a repertory theater or even road show stop-offs -- the promise of the Theatre Channel gets a standing ovation.

But some in the theater community doubt whether there are enough of those people to support a channel, and even if there are, whether transferring live theater to television is indeed cause for applause.

The idea of broadcasting theater is not new: It follows in the tradition paved by PBS, and followed by the A&E and Bravo networks ("The Film and Arts network"), and most recently, newcomer Ovation ("The Arts Network"), all of which occasionally air live theatrical performances.

But the L.A.-based Theatre Channel will focus exclusively on the theater, offering a full selection for the thespian lover: regional shows; excerpts of Broadway productions (right now, full-length would be "cost-prohibitive," Beach says); children's theater during the daytime; "Backstage Pass," a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the industry and of notable theaters; a Siskel & Ebert-style "Critic's Choice" review show; and airings of archival material such as PBS's "American Playhouse" and "Playhouse 90" classics, featuring actors such as John Malkovich, Jack Lemmon and Richard Dreyfuss at the start of their careers.

Already, the Theatre Channel has enlisted some heavyweights in regional theater to serve on its board of advisors, including the artistic directors of Chicago's Goodman and Steppenwolf theaters and of San Francisco's American Conservatory Theatre, and has negotiated to film performances from several theaters' 1998-99 seasons.

"There is so much great live theater that should be seen," Carey Perloff, artistic director of the American Conservatory Theatre, says. "And there's an appetite for something better than what's commerically available.

"Yes, there are certain pieces that don't lend themselves to the screen, and others would work well. You'd have to be selective. But I think some of them would translate beautifully."

Plotting a course

But even though Beach maintains that the new tapings will use three cameras (employing different angles to keep the productions as vibrant as possible), many theater purists argue that live theater airing on television is static.

"I think it kind of defeats the purpose of it," says Bob Dunkerly, theater professor of Community College of Southern Nevada and founder of Las Vegas' New West theater group. "I think what makes theater unique when it works is that it's live and in front of you. It (the TV channel) loses what live theater is about."

"There is no such thing as a television version of a play," Davey Marlin-Jones, UNLV's associate professor of theater, contends. "The minute you put a mechanical machine to take the place of the eye, you negate the live ambiance, the symbiosis of the performer and the audience members, and it's not theater anymore. TV versions of plays don't serve plays as a rule.

"But on the positive side," he adds, "I would be glad to see things I couldn't see otherwise."

Georgia Neu, artistic director of the local Actors Repertory Theater, agrees. "It's certainly not the same on video as live -- there's something magical about going to the theater," she says, but admits: "I'd be the first to tune in." She says she enjoys the thought of getting a chance to compare and study productions in other cities without having to travel to see them, as she did last year when she flew to Minnesota to view a production of "Angels in America" before staging the show here last fall.

Aside from airing the shows, another benefit to the channel's filming will be preserving productions that would otherwise be left to faded memories and playbills.

While Broadway and major regional shows are archived at the Lincoln Center Library, they are generally not available for viewing by the general public, explains Max Preeo, the Las Vegas-based editor of Show Music Magazine.

"It's always been frustrating that they don't tape more of the musicals," he says. "There doesn't seem to be a big interest by the producers in preserving these things. This would be tremendous."

Las Vegas venture capitalist and investment banker John Yeomans, Jr., managing director of the Edge Capital Investment Co., who is in the process of seeking $25- to $50 million in funding from private investors to seed the project, is confident that the channel will be a success.

"Two thumbs up," he says, predicting a 1999 debut.

TTC Communications, the channel's parent company, has been busy this month circulating the business plan to would-be-investors, cable and direct broadcast satellite operators, making the case of the Theatre Channel's marketability.

Yeomans points to a poll by AMS Planning and Research Corp. which found that "25 percent of Americans describe themselves as 'very interested' in performing arts and theater," and "60 percent of Americans claim they want to experience theater for themselves."

Audience participation?

This puts the company in the position of arguing a seemingly contradictory premise: that consumers are both interested in shutting off the TV and going to see some live theater, and simultaneously, that they want to turn on the TV and tune in to a new cable channel.

Yeomans sees no contradiction in the two competing formats. "It's perfect to mesh these two hot entertainment business sectors into the same business venue," he says.

Theater, he argues, is hot right now: Look at 1998's successful season on Broadway, where attendance records have been shattered and box office returns are up 11.6 percent from last year, according to a Daily Variety report.

Even non-theater moguls are getting into the act: Steve Wynn recently created a new entertainment division headed by Sandy Gallin to launch Broadway-worthy shows. Also, Hollywood uber-gent and former Disney president Michael Ovitz has invested heavily in Livent, a publicly owned company that produces and distributes Broadway shows such as this year's hit "Ragtime."

And cable, Yeomans argues, is also hot right now.

"The cable TV business sector is experiencing the most favorable environment since it's inception 20 years ago," he writes in his pitch to investors. "A notable event is the purchase of Prime Cable's Las Vegas cable system by Cox for $1.33 billion, the highest price ever paid in the cable industry, valued on a per subscriber basis."

Steve Schorr (no relation to the author of this article), spokesman for Prime Cable, agrees that the industry is strong right now, but points out that there are hundreds of new cable channels out there, all competing for distribution.

"There's not a week that doesn't go by where we don't receive information about a new channel being started -- it's that prolific of a business," he says, citing channels that serve specific niches such as woodworking and sewing clothes.

"Their potential of success is very very limited. But as we get into the digital world, where cable TV provides 200 channels, that's the opportunity for the new fledgling cable channels."

John Higgins, assistant managing editor of Broadcasting & Cable magazine, is even more pessimistic about the channel's odds for success. "It's nearly impossible for an independent company to start a cable network, even with a good idea, and this, frankly, is not a good idea.

"Only a very select segment of the world wants to watch this stuff," he says. "The nice part is it's a niche that's defined and affluent, but the downside is that the audience most interested in theater aren't the heaviest TV watchers."

The final say will be up to distributors such as Prime Cable, although Schorr says that choice is made primarily by polling subscribers for their viewing preference.

"I'm not surprised the theater channel is coming about," he adds. "The question is, does the overall community have a desire for that? And I can't answer that question for them -- they have to answer the question."

Many fear the answer to that question is no.

"I know only .5 to 1.5 percent of the population ever goes to the theater, so I question whether they'd have the numbers to sustain a station," Dunkerly says. "Bravo never found an audience at all. The market is just so small."

On the flip side, if the Theatre Channel were to air, how would that affect attendance at community theaters? How can their hundredth rehash of Neil Simon compete with televising the cutting edge work of hot playwrights and more established actors -- plus the free ticket price?

"It could hurt your house," Neu says. "We knocked ourselves out putting on the first production of 'Sylvia' in the West, and (what) if someone had filmed it and people saw it on TV and said, 'I already saw it, or I didn't like it, I don't want to go?' "

But both Yeomans and Beach contend that the reverse will be true.

"It won't prevent people from going to the actual production, it will actually propel it," Yeomans argues, pointing to the example of professional sports aired on TV and ESPN. "That only fuels interest for people to go the the stadium. It will be the same effect for the Theatre Channel -- it will give the non-theatergoer exposure to theater, and once they get a taste, it will only help theaters (because) they will go see the live theater."

"If people are exposed to something, they'll want to get out and participate," Beach agrees. "When HBO brought first-run films, people thought that will keep them away from (movie) theaters; now they're going out more than ever. I think that's what's going to happen with this. They'd see something on the Theatre Channel, and they'll say, 'Gee, I want to go to the theater and see that.' "

On that point, even Marlin-Jones would have to agree.

"If it does its job, it might generate curiosity," he says. "If anything, it would probably point out the advantages of what living, breathing theater is all about."

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