What If…Theatres Played Moneyball?

Inspired by the film currently playing at a theater near you, the idea is to peel away layers of assumptions that go into our collective wisdom about how to make theatre then replace them with processes that incorporate the scientific method and statistical analysis. The goal is to reveal true value as opposed to guestimating and hoping for the best.

On the surface, the idea may seem counterintuitive, even blasphemous. Am I suggesting that we, as artists, replace our instincts, gut feelings, and experiences with cold, hard statistics?

Well, yes. Oftentimes what we call intuition, gut feeling, or instinct confirms rather than challenges our biases and habits and expectations. What this can lead to is a narrowness of vision that, instead of seeing what’s really there, can only recognize what it already knows. How does this play out in today’s theatrical landscape? A theatre community that is overwhelmingly White, male, and middle to upper class. Naturally, this is not a result of some moral failing on our part, but because the norms which have shaped our lives become the default that we work from unless deliberately and consistently challenged.