AUDIENCE ENGINEERING IN AN EDUCATIONAL THEATRE: USING UNIVERSITY OF BENIN, EKEHUAN CAMPUS AS A CASE STUDY

ABSTRACT

The topic of priotised search is, "Audience engineering in an educational theatre: A case study of the theatre practice in University of Benin, Benin City. The audiences are one major element of the theatre. Therefore, every theatre organization must try to maintain a proper audience engineering. Audience engineering is an approach that helps to bring audience to the theatre. In recent times audience presence in the theatre has been noticed to be on the decline and this is not good for the theatre business. Hence the need for this study. The research objective was to examine if house management play an important role in audience engineering and to also interrogate how effective house management principles can motivate the audience. In order to achieve this, the survey design was adopted for the study. The study employed students of the University of Benin Theatre. The researcher used both the primary and the secondary sources of data in the course of the study. The primary data were collected through the instrument of questionnaire and observation. The secondary data were collected from textbooks, and online sources. The study unraveled that theatre house faces some challenges that affects audience engineering. The research finding also revealed that poor planning, organizing, coordinating and others contribute to poor house management. The study thus exposes the need for workshop, apart from the normal class workshop, and training for students to know the various strategies of audience engineering. In conclusion, the study proposes     that audience motivation which depends greatly on effective and efficient house management, and as at present, a major challenge facing the University of Benin Theatre, should be priotised and given adequate attention in the theatre practice.