Need a topic for a research paper about theatre.?

Why is theatre failing in the light of TV and CD/DVD? My friend did his doctorate on homo and lesbianism on stage. What about nudity on stage? Or something in the line of: A producible (if there is such a word) play. Where actors, stage, lighting, et al could be done at such a price that the entrance fee would (could) revert back to Shakespearean times. Gratis.

Do the history of Commedia dell'arte; started in Italy several hundred years ago and spread, I believe. People weren't allowed to perform plays, or something, but that just meant that they weren't allowed to be found with a script, so the actors just knew the basic plot and when to be onstage and improvised. You can talk about stock characters; zanni, columbina, pantalone, etc.; and how there's evidence of the same stock characters in Shakespeare or even modern theater. You won't be able to find a ton of scripts since they didn't use them but you can find plot outlines, etc.