Theatre 3: Existentialists R Us

I’ll add a third reason to CW’s list of reasons all business people should have a substantial theatre experience as part of their development. It’s about the customer. That the customer pays our salaries is the truism that many businesses use to sell the idea that serving the customer well is a good idea. So there is an economic transaction: we treat you nicely and we get something we want in return.

In the theatre, this transaction is taken down a few levels, to a place where the money becomes the merest of details. Of course, we can’t pay the actors and the stage crew if we don’t get a paying audience. But there’s something more substantial at risk. Without an audience to witness us, there is no performance. Without the observer, the character does not come into being.

Our customers do not just pay for us, they validate our existence.