Hello Everyone,

I just love this forum and this site. It has proved to be so valuable as we start our new theater!!! Thank you all for your expertise and insight!

A little background. I have started a community theater in Jacksonville NC. We are on our way to raising funds for our 501c3. I live in a decent size town that has NO community theater. There are numerous theaters in Wilmington (about an hour away) and New Bern (about 45 minutes away) but nothing of substance in my town. So, coming from Long Island and being engrossed in theater and going to school for music, The Legacy Theater Company was born. Check out our website and we would LOVE any advice.

ANYWHO . . . my first production is an original, absolutely hysterical comedy and we will be performing on June 10, 11, 17 and 18 of 2011. My question is, How soon do you start putting up posters in your town business' (if you do)? And what other types of advertising/marketing do you do?

Thanks for the advice :)
Erika

Thank you so much. Those are AMAZING ideas!!! I was thinking the same thing about the posters, three weeks will do it :)

The fundraiser idea intrigued me. Can you elaborate more on that?
Thanks so much for your response :)

Originally posted by edh915 It's also possible to sell one night of performance to a local group or organization that they can use as a fund-raiser.

What do you charge for that?

very few to no one comes to a play based on just a poster

I think it depends on circumstance.  I got involved in CT in the first place because of a poster.  I didn't go to THAT show, but I now knew there was such a thing near me, and I looked them up on the web, and saw the audition notice for the NEXT show.

So, for a new company in an area without any existing theatre at all, this could be a VERY effective thing.

Re: Using a performance as a fundraiser

A group I've worked with does this very successfully.  They run their normal Fri-Sat-Sun schedule for the general public (usually 3 or 4 weekends), but will add a Wednesday or Thursday show (after the first weekend) if a local organization wants to use it for a fundraiser. 

The theater holds 120 people.  They charge the organization what the theater group would expect to get at 50% capacity.  In other words, 60 seats at the normal box office rate of, let's say $10.00 ea.  So for $600.00 the community organization (charity, religious, business, fraternal, whatever) is free to charge whatever they want to their supporters. 

So, for example, if they sold their tickets for $20.00 ea, and if they sold out (120 seats at $20 ea), they'd pay for the $600.00 rental and earn an additional $1800.00 on top of that.  Add raffles and silent auction pre-show and intermission activities, and they can make substantially more. 

Businesses have also bought performances for an employees night out, too - Christmas Party or "Company Picnic".  Another option is to have two charities combine to share a performance.  (We had a Jewish and Catholic combo one year) 

The last show I did there we did four weekends for the general public, and an additional four pre-sold shows.  The only trick is that the organizations must commit to the show prior to its opening.  In fact, we know at auditions how many shows are being sold to groups, so we can tell our cast members and crew what to expect in terms of their performance schedule. 

There are all sorts of variations that can be run with this kind of set-up; but this at least is the basic structure that they work with. 

Because it's pre-sold, it's usually easiest to do a show the audiences are familiar with.  But even that is not a hard and fast rule.  If you've got something a bit "out of the ordinary" you can sell it as a "event" and still fill the seats.

Another little side effect of this kind of arrangement: You make people aware of your theater who might not ordinarily have come on their own.  They attend a show for their group, enjoy themselves, and come again on their own dime.  It's good PR for the group on top of everything else.