The Playgoer: The Plays Are Bad...And Such Small Seats!

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Monday, July 12, 2010

The Plays Are Bad...And Such Small Seats!

WSJ takes a look at a thriving, dare I say "growth" area, in theater building planning.

A study to be released Monday by Theatre Projects Consultants, a theater-development firm, found that the average standard width of seats in performing-arts theaters has expanded from 21 to 22 inches over the last two decades, "primarily due" to the concurrent rise in obesity.
Or as one of TPC's clients, City Center, puts it, "We want to err a little bit on the roomier side, because over the last 50 years Americans have gotten a little plumper."

Hey I agree, in most venues the seats are too small.  But do the cramped rows in Broadway houses really mean folks were that much skinnier then?  I have a sneaking suspicion the seating has been drastically altered over the years to pack 'em in, and so that greed and dwindling profit margins, not fatness, is to blame.  Can anyone back me up on that?

2 comments:

Tom Shea said...

No data but that's exactly what it is. Movies, theatres, stadiums, all buying and installing smaller seats and more of them to maximize profit. And now that the news meme of the whole country getting fatter has taken hold, they can blame the consumer.

God truly hates us all.

Anonymous said...

And airplanes!