Live foreign theatre and opera productions at the local multiplex and online has Canadian actors and theatrical stage producers raising the alarm over lost domestic audiences and revenues.

A new report, entitled “Beyond the Curtain: How Digital Media Is Reshaping Theatre,” urges Canadian live performance companies to fight competition from foreign content like The Met: Live in HD and National Theatre Live by also digitally transmitting homegrown performing arts productions on new platforms. The report was commissioned by Stratford-based Ballinran Productions and Cambridge-based Digital Wizards, in partnership with The Canadian Actors’ Equity Association (CAEA) and the Stratford Shakespeare Festival.

The problem, say Canadian performing arts organizations, is funding is needed for digital migrations of their live productions.

Craig Thompson, executive producer of Ballinran Productions, tells Playback Daily that Canadian broadcasters, with the exception of the CBC, have virtually stopped commissioning performing arts content and opted instead for reality TV series and other more commercial fare.

“The Canadian television landscape is equally bereft of performing arts content. With occasional exceptions, broadcasters have demonstrated a declining level of interest in music, dance, opera, theatre and arts and culture documentaries given the lower audience numbers this genre attracts,” the report itself stated.

Thompson adds broadcasters leaving the field now makes it increasingly difficult for indie producers to record a live arts performance and sell the broadcast rights internationally.

At the same time, the digital revolution – the ability of consumers to see theatres, opera and other performing arts in cinemas, online or via DVDs – has transformed performing arts genres that, unlike film or music, traditionally depend on the live experience to draw audiences.

And foreign companies like Britain’s National Theatre and the Metropolitan Opera in New York City that use digital technology to extend their market access and reach in Canada cannibalizes revenue that previously went naturally to local theatre, opera and dance companies.

One solution, Thompson added, is getting new platforms like cinemas and websites to trigger funding from the Canadian Media Fund and tax credits for digital transmission of Canadian live performances.

That, and Canadian unions and guilds allowing performers to receive upgrade fees if live productions they perform in make it digitally into Canadian cinemas or onto websites.

Such measures aim to restore a funding model for Canadian performing arts companies, and remove obstacles to digitization of their consumer offerings.

Why the urgency?

Precisely because the performing arts has been consumed for the most part in theatres and other live venues,  Canadian stage, dance and opera troupes have felt themselves insulated from the digital revolution long after film, TV and music artists embraced new platforms to survive and thrive.

Now those same performing arts companies stand at the digital crossroads, and in need of a new financing to stay in step with foreign competition.

“The goal of the report is to begin the dialogue,” Thompson says.

Backers of the report include the CAEA, representing performers, and the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts, which represents 187 theatre, dance and opera companies in and around Toronto.

And Cineplex Entertainment, which has screened live productions from the Stratford Shakespeare Festival and the National Ballet of Canada, is aiming to do more live-to-cinema screenings of homegrown performing arts content.

“As long as there is an audience, we will definitely support these initiatives. We would also love to showcase more Canadian talent and successes,” Pat Marshall, a spokeswoman for Cineplex, tells Playback Daily.

And Canadian Heritage, which administers domestic film, TV and digital tax credits, has a copy of the report.

Photo: Elgin Winter Garden / Toronto / Flickr Creative Commons