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University of Massachusetts Amherst
SARIS - Student Affairs Research, Information and Systems
Theater Survey (F98-D) 

Executive Summary: Approximately one-third of students have attended a theater production at UMass in the last calendar year.  Most of those who have attended were satisfied.  Over three-quarters of students reported that they did not attend productions because they were too busy or were not aware of what was playing.  Women were significantly more likely than men to have been involved in the production of a play and to express an interest in theater in general.  When asked to rate their interest in attending plays dealing with various topics, mens' and womens' responses were significantly different.  When offered a free ticket to a UMass theater production, four-fifths accepted. 
 

On Tuesday, October 20, 1998, Project Pulse conducted a telephone survey for the Theater Department, investigating students’ attitudes towards theater. Pulse interviewers attempted to contact 1,116 students who were randomly selected by computer from the entire undergraduate population in the University’s database. Of these, 691 were successfully contacted and 543 (78.6%) agreed to be interviewed. See Table 1 for the final disposition of the sample and Table 2 for a demographic summary of the respondents. The response rate for the survey was 48.7%.

First, respondents were asked about their experience with live theater. Most of the students (83.7%, n=436) reported that they have attended a play or musical, not including grade school or high school performances. Slightly over half (52.5%, n=273) have performed or been involved in some aspect of the production of a play. Women were significantly more likely than men to have taken part in a production: 59.8% v.40.2%, c²=7.98, p=.005. When asked how often their parents or guardians attend plays or musicals, more than half of the respondents (57.1%, n=296) reported that their families rarely or never attend such events.

The next questions focused on student experience with theater at UMass. Students were asked how many theater productions of the UMass Theater Department or the New World Theater they had themselves attended within the past calendar year. Two-thirds of the respondents (63.8%, n=277) had not attended any, and less than 5% had attended four or more performances. Those who reported having attended a UMass production were asked about their level of satisfaction with the last play or musical they had attended here. A substantial majority of the respondents (89.8%, n=141) described themselves as “very” or “somewhat” satisfied with the production overall.

Students were asked to rate their general interest in attending UMass theater productions. Three-quarters of the students (74.5%, n=386) said that they were “very” or “somewhat” interested. Women were significantly more likely than men (85.1% v. 63.0%, c²=32.96, p=.000) to be “very” or “somewhat” interested in attending UMass theater events.

Students who reported that they had not attended a UMass production were presented with a list of possible reasons for not doing so and asked how important each reason was to their personal decision not to attend. Over three-quarters of students reported that they were too busy to go to a production, and that they were not aware of what was playing. About half of the respondents said that none of the plays sounded appealing. Men were almost twice as likely as women (40.2% v. 22.7%, c²=12.75, p=.000) to state that the fact that they “are not at all interested in theater” was “very” or “somewhat” important to their decision not to attend a production. Figure 1 details the students’ responses to this battery of questions.

Figure 1. Importance of reasons for not attending theater productions

Next, students were asked about different kinds of plays which might be offered by the Theater Department in the future and asked to describe their level of interest in attending each kind of play. The largest proportion of students (78.7%, n=406) were interested in Broadway musicals, with almost equal numbers expressing interest in experimental or non-traditional theater (67.9%, n=347) and in Shakespearean or classic Greek plays (66.3%, n=342). Significantly larger proportions of women than men expressed interest in Broadway musicals and in non-traditional theater. Figure 2 details student opinion on this group of questions by sex.

Figure 2. Interest in various kinds of plays, by sex
(% saying "very" or "somewhat" interested)

Respondents were also asked to rate their interest in attending plays that dealt with specific issues or topics. Love stories (82.8%, n=424), plays dealing with racial or ethnic issues (76.2%, n 391), and productions on issues of college or student life (73.7%, n=378) elicited the most interest from students.

There was significant variation by sex in the kinds of subject matter that interested people. Women expressed more interest in plays dealing with issues of race or ethnicity, gender, and sexuality, in love stories, and in theater educational activities. Men expressed more interest in plays about historical events or figures. Figure 3 details these preferences.

The students were asked how they would prefer to receive information about theater events: 60.9% (n=310) preferred flyers in the mail, 27.9% (n=142) preferred e-mail, and 11.2% (n=57) did not wish to receive information.

At the end of the interview, respondents were offered a free ticket to one of two shows scheduled for the Rand Theater this academic year. Most of the students (80.2%, n=410) asked to be placed on the guest list to receive a ticket.

Figure 3. Interest in plays on various topics or issues, by sex

Item-by-Item