Ideals are fine. In most of the pages of this issue the writers are concerned with ideals. These pages are concerned with something more tangible: money.

The fact is, as we all know, today's theatre is run with money. Tomorrow's theatre, such as it may be, must also be solvent. I am not concerned, in the following paragraphs, with dreams or aspirations. I am concerned with certain economic facts of the present, certain economic trends that will shape the theatres of the future.

Who pays for the theatre in America? The audience. What is our audience today in America? First: what is our present Broadway audience?

The present Broadway audience, according to a survey made by Playbill magazine, consists of eleven million people. That is, the Broadway theatres fill about eleven million seats in a given season—sometimes the same people fill the same seats.