As a longtime resident of this area I feel like I should add to the discussion. I have no fine arts background whatsoever and am not a thespian by any means - but I think that actually gives some weight to what I have to say.
First, a little more background about me: I'm a late-twenties college educated business professional. I.e., someone with a fair amount of disposable income to spend on things such as theater. I.e., someone that should be a target audience member of anyone wanting to produce a successful community based theater experience. Which leads me to my next point:
Where is the promotion for these shows? I am not talking about the youth theater groups - those are advertised plenty but are marketed more towards the family atmosphere (something I pretty much have no interest in). The only way I found this discussion is after meandering my way over here from a somewhat unrelated article on the HD online website... at least 4 or 5 clicks away.
I am someone that is not well versed in theater and don't have a lot of theater friends - so I am never going to hear of these shows by word of mouth. I would definitely be interested in seeing some more adult oriented shows - and by that I mean thought-provoking or a little more difficult to digest than squeaky clean family friendly versions of marginally controversial material to begin with - but I never hear about them.
Only by reading this discussion did I learn that Marshall does that sort of thing (and successfully, at that). I suspect there is fair degree of incestuous promotion going on - MU theater promotes to friends of MU theater - sustaining a large, somewhat closed group of MU theater fans. I may be way off base, but hey, that is my opinion of the situation as an outsider.
So I say to you theater folks - I suspect there is a growing crowd of folks not unlike myself who are interested but are simply unaware of what is available to us. Post flyers! Schmooze some newspaper/TV contacts for some media coverage (reading a Dave Lavender article is how I arrived here, by the way). Get your word out, make it appealing, and branch out beyond the folks you know are going to be coming to your show anyways. Good luck and I look forward to checking out what you have to offer!
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Controversy Continued
Getting back to the huge comment string connected to this post, one of the comments that got a lot of attention came from someone who was identified as "Scott" - his comments were from someone outside the world of theatre, and he has some great advice for any theatre group. Here's what he had to say:
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3 comments:
A method of promoting local theater that I've suggested to individuals in the past is Public Access Television. Perhaps as a group effort, the theatrical community could organize and produce a periodic television program aimed at enlightening the public of its activities. A simple 'talk show' could be easily produced and the finished product aired on a regular basis on Huntington Public Access Channel 20. Production facilities could be provided by any generous school that offers media classes and is in search of a good student project. If access to a studio is unavailable, a professional looking program can still be produced with little more than a good camcorder and a computer equiped with $50 worth of editing software. A little imagination and ingenuity goes a long way.
Getting air time on Public Access is as easy as providing a DVD of the finished program -- and unlike commercial television, it doesn't cost a dime. And lets face it, a thirty minute program has a better chance of catching the attention of the habitual channel surfer (even on a lowly Public Access channel) than the occasional 30 second commercial spot they're attempting to avoid.
For more information on Huntington Public Access TV, check out the following link:
http://cinemystique.home.zoomnet.net/
or email questions to:
access_channel_20@yahoo.com
Richard, that's an excellent suggestion! Putting together a show like that would be a challenge, but the benefits - loads of free advertisement - would make it worth the effort.
As a concerned participant in this ongoing discussion, here is what I would like to ask someone like Scott, form his perspective outside of the theatre community. If there was a theatre in town that did shows, year round, in the same place, would you go and how many friends do you think would go too. Not family musicals, but non-musicals with adult themes or controversial subjects. How about slightly off-color musicals, like "The Full Monty" ? Do you think there is a crowd that would look to this theatre for regular entertainment and possibly even invest in season tickets. Would you come to shows that you have never heard of, if the ones you had seen there before were good shows and done with quality performances?
I'm just curious, because we talk about from the inside what we think people will or should do, but I would be interested in someones opinion that is just looking for quality entertainment in the Huntington area on a regular basis. From a business standpoint, is this a viable option?
I agree that word of mouth alone is not going to inform enough of the general public about a show. But I would think being in the same spot, with a posted schedule of shows and advertising the theatre, not just each show, would seem more economical and beneficial to greater success and knowledge about each show. I also think the Herald Dispatch could be a great asset in this regard. Timely and accurate coverage of such a theatre and its' shows, would go a long way towards informing the public of this unique experience.
Tommy S
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