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The writer draws on personal experience to suggest that theatres, as a building type, are particularly vulnerable to ill‐advised alteration. He describes the peculiarities of design and construction which distinguish theatres from other types of public buildings and sets out a number of ways in which theatre operation can be damaged or even destroyed by seemingly unimportant interventions. The role of the Theatres Trust in protecting theatres not currently in use as such is detailed and justified, pointing out that many theatres have, in recent years, been returned to their designed use after decades in other employment. The importance, in this context (and having regard to modern theatre economics), of low‐cost reversibility is emphasised. Finally, comments drily on the psychology of theatre operators and theatre purchasers.

This study aims to examine the intricate relationships in the making of a box office through a stakeholder lens that considers the influence of filmmakers and theatres on moviegoers' intention to watch a movie at the theatre.

Employing covariance-based structural equation modelling (CB-SEM), this study analyses survey data on cinema-going experience collected from 673 moviegoers in digital era of a new normal.

The findings elucidate that movie branding, movie genre and theatre preference positively influence moviegoers' intention to watch a movie at the theatre. Furthermore, the study unveils that theatre preference is swayed by an array of personal and social factors, including control belief and social companion. Intriguingly, promotional elements, both commercial and non-commercial, were found to influence movie branding, yet not the genre when predicting theatre attendance intentions.

Amid the burgeoning alternatives for watching movies (e.g. cable television and online streaming platforms), this article offers a contemporary exploration of the variables that motivate audiences to partake in the cinema-going experience, thereby serving as a proxy to decipher the factors that drive a movie's box-office success in digital era.

Unlike prior studies relying on archival data, the present study collects and uses survey data to develop a novel stakeholder theory-based marketing framework for the box office and moviegoers. The study also provides seminal insights on the box office and moviegoers in the digital era of a new normal.

This article's purpose is to examine the case for the use of the theatre arts in the evaluation of UK City of Culture (UKCC) programmes, specifically headphone verbatim.

Through an analysis of secondary evidence, supported by some primary research, this article analyses past and present evaluation practices surrounding UKCC programmes and the case for headphone verbatim to be included as a method of gathering and distributing research data. The article also observes the challenges in how data may be disseminated through verbatim theatre performance practices, given the limited examples of its use in this context.

The author argues that the theatre arts can provide a different way of knowing and understanding the impacts of UKCC projects on the host city. Specifically, that headphone verbatim can bring an experiential perspective that is rarely if ever captured by existing UKCC evaluation methods and policymaking in general.

This article details an innovative method of evaluating social impacts associated with UKCC projects.

Hygiene theater is a new phenomenon that has emerged from the ongoing Coronavirus (Covid-19) global pandemic. The authors propose and test the concept of hygiene theater – comprised of purposeful and visible dynamic performance and static staging cues – on customers' approach-avoidance intentions in the retail environment. The authors explore the underlying process and show when environmental conditions such as human crowding dilute the positive effects of hygiene theater.

Across three experiments, participants evaluated a video or scenario related to a shopping experience in a retail store. Sequential mediation and moderated sequential mediation using PROCESS were performed.

The results show a positive and direct effect of hygiene visibility on approach responses, due to a reduction in perceived risk and increased psychological comfort. This positive effect is diluted when crowding in the retail environment is high.

As society adapts to a new normal, this study offers contributions to improve theoretical knowledge of the impact of hygiene theater on customer approach responses, helping retailers to develop and implement health and safety policies, better equipping them to manage similar situations going forward. The authors provide insights for academics and practitioners alike.

This paper describes and critically evaluates the use of Arts‐Based Training (ABT) by exploring a case involving the use of improvisational theatre techniques as an element of management development. Claims that these techniques can be an effective means of achieving management development, as they succeed in involving managers in exploring problems and developing solutions to them at a deep rather than superficial level, while also motivating managers to “sort out” problems following development experiences, are investigated using a case study. The validity of improvisational theatre techniques, as an example of ABT in practice, needs to be balanced with a more critical appreciation of the limitations of such approaches.

The purpose of this paper is to examine why theatre‐business links are relevant to management. The focus is on two types of links: using theatre techniques as a training method for managers, and using corporate theatre as a change management tool. The paper seeks to share an experience and tries to explicate the processes involved in order to explain the success of these two kinds of courses, both training theatre and corporate theatre (specifically, action theatre in this case).

This is a case study. Theatre has been taught for ten years at the Grenoble Graduate School of Business under the author's responsibility, and also the corporate theatre method is taught to initial students and to continuing training managers. This paper is based on those teaching experiences. To explain the relevance of both of theatre as a training tool and corporate theatre as a management tool, the author relates to both theories of body memory from neuroscientists and to the catharsis phenomenon.

The goal was to make hypotheses from the above theories which explain the process that takes place inside the manager undergoing training and to open further research.

Main limitations come from the lack of established empirical and relevant measures of the effects of such theatre processes on participants’ management abilities and from the lack of tools to measure the long‐term effects of theatre.

The most important implication is that practitioners could make more relevant use of such techniques when designing training sessions or utilizing corporate theatre interventions.

Social implications come from how the “human” face of theatre can help the personal development of managers, improving or changing their views on the world and other people.

Although theatre and business links are more than 20 years old, nobody has previously tried to understand the inner processes involved.

Looks at research undertaken in the grant‐aided sector of UK theatres with emphasis on a group of theatres active in Wales. Aims to assist theatres in the development and implementation of marketing plans. Concentrates on the role of objectives in the planning process and how they need to be refined before they are made operational. Provides guidelines for marketing planning. Demonstrates the value of using an external agency to structure an initial statement of objectives, participate in a current business audit and counsel top management in a restatement of objectives.

This study aims to assess current academic library services to theater students through an examination of online research guides.

This study uses a representative sample of 100 universities that offer theater degrees; the library website at each of these institutions is examined for the existence of a theater research guide. Each research guide was analyzed in depth.

The vast majority of the universities in the sample did create research guides for theater students, though the contents of these guides varied greatly. The study highlights findings including popular databases and journals for theater students, as well as media resources and common subjects for subsections or course guides.

This study only examined a sample of 100 institutions; many theater research guides were not examined for this study. Additionally, analysis of online content is a time-specific endeavor: a guide may look significantly different from one month to the next, though the recommendations in this article might prove useful even if the sites at these institutions have since been updated.

Through an examination of a great number of guides, a few practical suggestions emerge for librarians looking to create theater research guides, such as highlighting playscripts and other print materials and including hyperlocal information (such as university production history).

Though several studies have been performed on research guides in various disciplines, this article is the first on those to theater students.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the characteristics and usefulness of opinion leaders and market mavens in relation to theatre guides as a way for theatres to develop new audiences.

Surveys and a small number of in‐depth interviews are conducted within a sample of 1,200 theatre patrons. A univariate analysis of variance analysis determines degrees of correspondence between levels of opinion leadership or mavenism and reported influential behaviour.

Opinion leaders are much more useful in the process of audience development than mavens given their propensity to engage in positive reinforcement behaviours particularly in their roles as theatre guides.

While the level of mavenism is related to provision of general market information, it is not related to diffusion of performance‐specific information. Also, the portrayal of opinion leaders as living in a “closed world” unlikely to be an effective cultural influence on non‐attendees, is not supported. A further limitation is that it could not gauge the effectiveness of the self‐reported influential behaviour of non‐attendees. Further research should measure the effectiveness of opinion leaders based on how many of the non‐attendees they influenced came to the theatre.

Theatres should identify opinion leaders and encourage their natural “guide” behaviour with targeted incentives and information as a method of building new audiences and developing new relationships.

This paper will help theatres to use their resources more effectively to increase audience attendance. Further, the identification and establishment of theatre guides based on the characteristics of opinion leaders is within the capability of all arts organizations.

The purpose of this paper is to reach beyond existing research into the mental health benefits of arts-based or educational opportunities, to discover the particular impact on members’ recovery processes of being part of a committed, long-term troupe or community – specifically focussing on specialist theatre companies.

Following a literature review investigating the growing number of theatre troupes for mental health service users, qualitative research was conducted into one such company. In-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with six company members. Thematic analysis of interview transcripts was then cross-checked and enriched through a group interview with six other members.

Two overarching themes emerged: the importance of “being known” within the company (key sub-themes included “intuitive democracy” and the “paradox of reliability”), and the ways in which individuals “branched out” from this secure basis into artistic, professional and voluntary roles, while remaining company members.

The findings from this small-scale study, while not necessarily generalisable to other long-term communities of care and learning with a “troupe” or “team” structure, would provide valuable starting points for a larger-scale investigation.

If generalisable, institutions in the mental health and educational worlds should place more emphasis on developing and resourcing long-term models of support.

The specialist theatre company model contrasts with prevalent individualised, time-limited services for those experiencing mental ill health.

The study provides compelling narrative evidence to amplify understanding of how “connectedness” is experienced within a troupe, and may enable individuals with mental illnesses to progress further in their recovery journey.