The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 15.1442  Friday, 16 July 2004

[1]     From:   Rick Jones <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
        Date:   Thursday, 15 Jul 2004 11:01:28 -0500
        Subj:   Re: SHK 15.1434 Most Popular Shakespeare Plays

[2]     From:   M Yawney <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
        Date:   Thursday, 15 Jul 2004 12:47:41 -0700 (PDT)
        Subj:   Re: SHK 15.1434 Most Popular Shakespeare Plays


[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Rick Jones <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date:           Thursday, 15 Jul 2004 11:01:28 -0500
Subject: 15.1434 Most Popular Shakespeare Plays
Comment:        Re: SHK 15.1434 Most Popular Shakespeare Plays

Thus Susan St. John:

 >I would be interested in knowing if there is a professional level and/or
 >college equivalent to this survey, so that we could have some actual
 >evidence of the most produced plays.  Maybe I should abandon my current
 >proposal for my master's thesis and pursue this research project instead!

I tried to do a project on season selection at colleges and universities
for ATHE a few years ago.  I got no cooperation at all from Sam French
or DPS.  I was able to get some information from Alpha Psi Omega
(theatre honorary) but it wasn't statistically significant because while
there are hundreds of casts, they represent less than half of all
theatre programs, and not all members actually report their seasons.

FWIW, however, for the year(s) I looked at (sorry--can't remember, or
find, the methodology, just the list), there were nine plays for which
five or more performances were reported.  Only one, MND, was by
Shakespeare.  There were over 100 plays which were performed at least
twice.  Shakespeare was represented also by R&J (4), Tempest (4), CE
(2), Macbeth (2), MWW (2), and WT (2).  Hamlet is conspicuously absent
from the list.

Waiting for Godot also had two performances.  The most, six apiece, were
Antigone, Steel Magnolias, and Tartuffe.

Rick

[2]-------------------------------------------------------------
From:           M Yawney <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date:           Thursday, 15 Jul 2004 12:47:41 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: 15.1434 Most Popular Shakespeare Plays
Comment:        Re: SHK 15.1434 Most Popular Shakespeare Plays

 >I would be interested in knowing if there is a
 >professional level and/or
 >college equivalent to this survey, so that we could
 >have some actual
 >evidence of the most produced plays.

TCG (Theater Communications Group) is the largest theater association in
the US and it records all productions by member theaters under Theater
Profiles on its site:

http://www.tcg.org/frames/member_profiles/fs_thprofiles_search.htm

A search revealed that during the current season there were 5
productions of Hamlet and 5 productions of Waiting for Godot!
(Interesting in light of previous discussion.)

Midsummer Nights Dream beat them both with 9 productions and Taming of
the Shrew only had 2 productions in the 2003-2004 season.

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