In examining how practices of theatregoing were impacted by the war this chapter provides a partner to Claire Cochrane’s examination of theatre-making in Chapter 3. It considers changing audience demographics over the war and reveals how the ‘new’ audiences were often blamed for the deterioration of theatrical quality. It pays particular attention to the two groups of audiences that received the greatest attention during the war: women (especially single women and mothers) and servicemen. Whilst recognising the value of newspaper and magazine commentaries on audience, the chapter also draws on letters, memoirs, commentaries and diary entries to understand and draw out the first-person experience of theatre-going during the war. It highlights the impact of air raids, lighting restrictions, the Amusements Tax and other wartime conditions on audiences. It also shows how changing social realities and relations in the wider world impacted on the theatre, bringing new class and gender dynamics into the auditorium.

As of 2019, thirty-five of the past thirty-eight Pulitzer Prize-winning plays premiered in US regional theatres, where many artists maintain lifelong careers. Yet more than half of the nation’s regional theatres regularly borrow funds to meet daily operating expenses. This disconnect between creative success and economic viability is part of a false narrative that has led to systemic problems, leaving many regional theatres vulnerable, and also shaped the historical narrative of the regional movement. This chapter employs an economically centered, historiographical approach to disrupt the standard narrative of the rise of regional theatre, which revolves around a rejection of Broadway’s commercialism and a desire for a decentralized, avant-garde theatre. The reality was much more complex, as demonstrated by case studies of Theatre ’47, the Alley Theatre, and Arena Stage. The Guthrie Theatre serves as a model for a new generation of highly professional, nonprofit theatres that emerged as the movement gained momentum. The chapter concludes with an exploration of the social and cultural forces that inform contemporary theatre economics, and the reminder that budgets reflect values.

Play development in the American regional theatre is a collaborative relationship between artistic directors, dramaturgs, literary managers, playwrights, directors, actors, and designers. Within this system artistic directors commission work and provide a “magic garden” where playwrights develop material from workshop through theatrical production; this is exemplified by Lauren Gunderson, who writes traditional plays appealing to America’s heartland; avant-garde director/playwrights Carey Perloff and Joanne Akalaitis, who develop challenging work from classic and contemporary sources; and Latinx playwright Elaine Romero, who has navigated this network for more than twenty years as a resident playwright. New York City is no longer the major incubator of new work; instead collaborative play development programs of regional theatre organizations as the Arena Stage, the American Conservatory Theatre, the Goodman Theatre, the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center, and Chicago Dramatists dominate. Despite the harsh economic realities faced by playwrights, the regional theatre culture of commissions, residencies, development, and foundation support provides salaries, health care, and benefits to artists.

The Cambridge Companion to American Theatre since 1945 provides an overview and analysis of developments in the organization and practices of American theatre. It examines key demographic and geographical shifts post-1945 American theatre experienced in spectatorship and addresses the economic, social, and political challenges theatre artists have faced across cultural climates and geographical locations. Specifically, it explores artistic communities, collaborative practices, and theatre methodologies across mainstream, regional, and experimental theatre practices, forms, and expressions. As American theatre has embraced diversity in practice and representation, the volume examines the various creative voices, communities, and perspectives that prior to the 1940s had been mostly excluded from the theatrical landscape. This diversity has led to changing dramaturgical and theatrical languages that take us in to the twenty-first century; these shifting perspectives and evolving forms of theatrical expressions paved the ground for contemporary American theatrical innovation.