Community Theater Green Room Discussion Board: In the seats

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sonshine
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Joined: 3/23/08
Location: United States
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Posts: 33

Topic: In the seats
Posted: 1/08/09 at 2:12pm

How do you all go about getting people in the seats? I have tried everything from asking cast to help selling tickets, to plain giving them away and we cannnot get people to come out. We have very little money to advertise. HELP

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belle
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Joined: 9/12/06
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Posts: 75

Posted: 1/08/09 at 2:33pm

See if your cast members or their families are part of groups that attend or might attend theater--retired teachers, senior church groups, Red Hatters, Lions/Rotary/Kiwanis, etc. Have the contact person in the cast (or their relative/friend) take a group of tickets to a meeting and offer them at half price for a group of 6 or more (or buy one and get one free). (I wouldn't give the tickets away as that suggests they aren't worth anything.)

Cast/crew and their families can make the same offer in their workplaces. Get their friends to come see them at a cut rate if they come in a group. Suggest they have a happy hour/meal together first.

Send with the contact person a flyer about the upcoming play that overviews the plot and lists the actors or others involved that they might know. Get the contact person to be a cheerleader for the show with their friends.

You can secure addresses of group of the Chamber of Commerce and send letters, but I think that the personal contact is more effective.

Make sure that the play is appropriate for the groups that you are inviting. You might make a statement about the G-rating in the flyer.

If you think they would like it, you might mention the groups that are present before the show. Let everyone clap for them. This is cheesy, but some groups really like it. (They do it at the most successful and very long-running dinner theatre in Kansas City.)

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dexter74656
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Joined: 12/29/06
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Posts: 36

Posted: 1/08/09 at 3:28pm

The biggest thing that got people in our seats our first year was having a large cast show... our first show was 36 people. You figure every one of them will bring 3-4 people to come see the show and you're looking at an easy 100 people which is a good starting place.

Talk to other theaters in your area about doing a promotion exchange in the program - you'll put their ad in yours and vice versa.

Take advantage of digital mediums like facebook and myspace. Doesn't guarantee butts in seats, but a great way to spread the word for free... if you have cast members on there, they can then also invite all their friends to come and suddenly it's ballooning. Our last went out to over 400 people. Only a section of those actually came, but it's still exposure.

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sonshine
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Joined: 3/23/08
Location: United States
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Posts: 33

Posted: 1/08/09 at 3:56pm

That would be good, but we seem to can't get enough people to try out for plays to have them sell tickets.

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kaelidancer
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Joined: 8/06/08
Location: United States
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 49

Posted: 1/08/09 at 4:00pm

I'll second the "work with other theatres" idea... we've found that most area theatres are only too happy to do reciprocal advertising, including program ads for each other, posters in the lobby, and curtain speech inclusions for other area productions. The best place to go for a theatre audience is to a theatre that already has one :)

Also, that Business Card promotion method I posted about elsewhere in this forum, aside from being very effective and very affordable advertising, is also great for promoting two shows at once!

(EDIT: Here's that thread... it has lots of other advertising ideas as well, and is worth a look: http://www.communitytheater.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3637&PN=2)

You can do a two-sided card, one theatre's production on one side, another's on the other. We did this once this year and had good results. Split the cost and you probably won't end up investing over $30-40 in them.

Also, an email list is a good way to build a base as well. Put out a sheet at intermission prompting people to share their email addresses to find out about future productions and auditions and such... free advertising to people who have already been in the seats once - that's the way to build a regular base.

Kaeli Gardner
Johnson City Community Theatre
www.jcct.us
www.gardnerarts.com

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Nanette
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Joined: 8/01/06
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 399

Posted: 1/09/09 at 11:52am

sonshine ... Looking back through your previous posts, it appears that you are a relatively new company. You've had some problem getting people to audition, also.

Let's look at logistics: What is the seating in your house? How many seats do you generally fill? What kinds of titles are working for you? Do you do edgy shows? New, unheard of titles? Family friendly productions? All of those things factor big-time into whether you get seats in seats.

We do "family friendly" productions, so we're not going to draw the same type of crowd that will go the next town over and see something more geared to an adult audience. We also don't have the $ to put into BIG titles that have major royalties.

Do you have an "in" with anyone at the local rag? In our little berg we can get an article printed by simply sending it in. We write it, they print it. Ads still cost us, but the full article w/ photos is free. They can't always send a writer out to cover a production, so this set-up works well for us.

In a world of margarine, be butter!

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Running Your Theater
Community Theater Green Room Discussion Board :Theater Administration :Running Your Theater

Author	Message
sonshine Lead Joined: 3/23/08 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 33	Topic: In the seats Posted: 1/08/09 at 2:12pm
	How do you all go about getting people in the seats? I have tried everything from asking cast to help selling tickets, to plain giving them away and we cannnot get people to come out. We have very little money to advertise. HELP

	IP Logged

belle Star Joined: 9/12/06 Online Status: Offline Posts: 75	Posted: 1/08/09 at 2:33pm
	See if your cast members or their families are part of groups that attend or might attend theater--retired teachers, senior church groups, Red Hatters, Lions/Rotary/Kiwanis, etc. Have the contact person in the cast (or their relative/friend) take a group of tickets to a meeting and offer them at half price for a group of 6 or more (or buy one and get one free). (I wouldn't give the tickets away as that suggests they aren't worth anything.) Cast/crew and their families can make the same offer in their workplaces. Get their friends to come see them at a cut rate if they come in a group. Suggest they have a happy hour/meal together first. Send with the contact person a flyer about the upcoming play that overviews the plot and lists the actors or others involved that they might know. Get the contact person to be a cheerleader for the show with their friends. You can secure addresses of group of the Chamber of Commerce and send letters, but I think that the personal contact is more effective. Make sure that the play is appropriate for the groups that you are inviting. You might make a statement about the G-rating in the flyer. If you think they would like it, you might mention the groups that are present before the show. Let everyone clap for them. This is cheesy, but some groups really like it. (They do it at the most successful and very long-running dinner theatre in Kansas City.)
	IP Logged

dexter74656 Lead Joined: 12/29/06 Online Status: Offline Posts: 36	Posted: 1/08/09 at 3:28pm
	The biggest thing that got people in our seats our first year was having a large cast show... our first show was 36 people. You figure every one of them will bring 3-4 people to come see the show and you're looking at an easy 100 people which is a good starting place. Talk to other theaters in your area about doing a promotion exchange in the program - you'll put their ad in yours and vice versa. Take advantage of digital mediums like facebook and myspace. Doesn't guarantee butts in seats, but a great way to spread the word for free... if you have cast members on there, they can then also invite all their friends to come and suddenly it's ballooning. Our last went out to over 400 people. Only a section of those actually came, but it's still exposure.
	IP Logged

sonshine Lead Joined: 3/23/08 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 33	Posted: 1/08/09 at 3:56pm
	That would be good, but we seem to can't get enough people to try out for plays to have them sell tickets.
	IP Logged

kaelidancer Lead Joined: 8/06/08 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 49	Posted: 1/08/09 at 4:00pm
	I'll second the "work with other theatres" idea... we've found that most area theatres are only too happy to do reciprocal advertising, including program ads for each other, posters in the lobby, and curtain speech inclusions for other area productions. The best place to go for a theatre audience is to a theatre that already has one :) Also, that Business Card promotion method I posted about elsewhere in this forum, aside from being very effective and very affordable advertising, is also great for promoting two shows at once! (EDIT: Here's that thread... it has lots of other advertising ideas as well, and is worth a look: http://www.communitytheater.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3637&PN=2) You can do a two-sided card, one theatre's production on one side, another's on the other. We did this once this year and had good results. Split the cost and you probably won't end up investing over $30-40 in them. Also, an email list is a good way to build a base as well. Put out a sheet at intermission prompting people to share their email addresses to find out about future productions and auditions and such... free advertising to people who have already been in the seats once - that's the way to build a regular base.
	Kaeli Gardner Johnson City Community Theatre www.jcct.us www.gardnerarts.com
	IP Logged

Nanette Celebrity Joined: 8/01/06 Online Status: Offline Posts: 399	Posted: 1/09/09 at 11:52am
	sonshine ... Looking back through your previous posts, it appears that you are a relatively new company. You've had some problem getting people to audition, also. Let's look at logistics: What is the seating in your house? How many seats do you generally fill? What kinds of titles are working for you? Do you do edgy shows? New, unheard of titles? Family friendly productions? All of those things factor big-time into whether you get seats in seats. We do "family friendly" productions, so we're not going to draw the same type of crowd that will go the next town over and see something more geared to an adult audience. We also don't have the $ to put into BIG titles that have major royalties. Do you have an "in" with anyone at the local rag? In our little berg we can get an article printed by simply sending it in. We write it, they print it. Ads still cost us, but the full article w/ photos is free. They can't always send a writer out to cover a production, so this set-up works well for us.
	In a world of margarine, be butter!
	IP Logged

Topic: In the seats( Topic Closed)