This report presents a summary of the results of the first phase of a two-phase study of the condition and needs of the live professional theatre in America since the mid-1960s. Data contained in the report were collected and analyzed on the following aspects of the theatre: activity, audience, earnings, employment, facilities, finances, labor force, and innovations. Among the findings presented are (1) one out of every ten adults attended a live professional theatre performance in the past year and one in three attended some kind of theatrical performance; (2) attendance on Broadway has shown no long term tendency to increase or decrease; (3) the number of new plays produced each year has doubled since 1969; (4) the current cost of producing a Broadway musical has increased at a rate of approximately 5% per year since the mid-1960s; (5) the cast size of musicals produced on Broadway has fallen; (6) there is a relatively rapid growth in the size of the theatre labor force as measured by the rates of growth of membership in unions and associations representing theatre artists; (7) increases in weekly wage rates in theatre occupations generally have equaled or exceeded the rate of inflation; (8) many theatre professionals derive almost as much of their total income from outside employment as they do from the theatre; and (9) the struggle to remain financially viable has assumed other forms, including new methods for increasing revenues and new production and management methods. The report concludes that the theatre may be in for a period of retrenchment if substantial new sources of revenues are not found. (HOD)