Open Letter from the BTF Regarding Sightlines at “Ghosts”

Posted by Gail M. Burns - August 2009

August 20, 2009

To our Patrons and Attendees:

In light of the recent discussion regarding the sightlines for “Ghosts”, I feel a clarification is in order for all past, present, and future attendees at Berkshire Theatre Festival.

The upstage window, and the use of the “ghosts” for the production, was an exciting part of the development process for this show. Based on the work of several modern artists, this was an element that neither our scenic shop nor our set designer had ever worked with before. As designed and in theory, there would be no sightline problems for any patrons, so none of the seats were deemed to be obstructed.

It is the nature of a theatrical festival that we are rarely provided the opportunity to “test” the scenery in the space prior to the start of technical rehearsals for the show. Such was the case for “Ghosts” and we were not able to see the effect in action until the Tuesday before we started preview performances on Wednesday. Once the effect was seen, it obviously became clear that seats on the sides of the audience would not be able to see the effect. We immediately began informing all future ticket purchasers that, if they wished to sit on the sides of the audience that they would not be able to see every aspect of the performance. We have also placed a “hold” on all of these side seats so that they cannot be purchased online at all. Unfortunately, a great number of people had already purchased their tickets.

After internal discussions it was decided that these seats were not truly obstructed because the “ghosts” were not crucial parts of the production. While their presence certainly does add to the production, they are not integral to the incredible story being told on the stage by our incredible ensemble. This is not demonstrably different than sitting in a seat where one corner of the set is not visible and a patron may miss an interesting piece of set dressing, but none of the acting performances. We feel that simply informing patrons of their choice in advance is sufficient. These seats are among the last to be sold and we inform the patrons of the sightline issues. A similar situation arose with “The Prisoner of Second Avenue” and seats close to the front and on the side were deemed obstructed. These seats were blocked off and anyone that had those tickets were exchanged to better seats.

I would encourage anyone with comments or concerns about the sightline issues for “Ghosts” to contact me directly at pr@berkshiretheatre.org. I will be happy to discuss the issue with you and attempt to resolve any difficulties that you have encountered. At BTF, we are always interested in finding ways to improve our patrons theatre experience and continue to try to provide the perfect summer theatre environment.

Many thanks to all of the critics and press people for their thoughtful words on this and all of our shows. Healthy discussion is at the heart of what we do.

Sincerely,

Jaime Davidson, Director of Marketing and PR
Berkshire Theatre Festival

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