Community Theater Green Room Discussion Board: theater classes?

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   Does anyone have experience with holding classes through their theater company? I direct a youth theater company and recently we became very ambitious!  Leased a 3000 squ ft studio (which in california costs an arm and a leg)...and began promoting a full schedule of classes for kids....voice, musical theater, drama, improv, play production...etc.... 

the first quarter (Sept-Dec) was great...we had decent sized classes (6-10 kids)  and we were expecting huge numbers for the january quarter----Not so! My thought is that the families took one quarter of the class and thought it was "done"  so to speak, even though we let them know they are year long classes.  The classes were great and we had terrific feedback!  Don't know what the problem is!  Can anyone offer any advice??  I'm starting to feel like I'm WAY in over my head since I took this on as my full time, family supporting, one and only job!  I'd hate to see it fail! 

Author	Message
Andrea T Lead Joined: 4/24/04 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 39	Topic: theater classes? Posted: 1/11/07 at 2:08pm
	Does anyone have experience with holding classes through their theater company? I direct a youth theater company and recently we became very ambitious! Leased a 3000 squ ft studio (which in california costs an arm and a leg)...and began promoting a full schedule of classes for kids....voice, musical theater, drama, improv, play production...etc.... the first quarter (Sept-Dec) was great...we had decent sized classes (6-10 kids) and we were expecting huge numbers for the january quarter----Not so! My thought is that the families took one quarter of the class and thought it was "done" so to speak, even though we let them know they are year long classes. The classes were great and we had terrific feedback! Don't know what the problem is! Can anyone offer any advice?? I'm starting to feel like I'm WAY in over my head since I took this on as my full time, family supporting, one and only job! I'd hate to see it fail!

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Theatrestation Star Joined: 11/10/05 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 65	Posted: 1/11/07 at 10:56pm
	Are there other schedules (school activities, sports, music festivals, etc) maybe conflicting with your schedules? On what did you base your expected numbers for January? Did you lose existing students, or not gain new or both? Did anyone comment on the pricing? What is the population of your area?
	http://www.castbuilding.com http://www.theatrestation.com
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Andrea T Lead Joined: 4/24/04 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 39	Posted: 1/12/07 at 2:56am
	That's just it...we got GREAT feedback from the fall students...they loved the classes...priced great...good times...good location...We based our Jan. numbers on keeping the old students, plus adding 10% of the class size. We marketed EVERYWHERE ...and everyone in our pretty large, affluent city in orange county always complains about the lack of arts. I just don't get it! It almost seems as if people just want to SEE their kids up on stage with a sort of "instant gratification" without getting them any training....? thoughts?
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jenniz Walk-On Joined: 11/15/06 Location: Canada Online Status: Offline Posts: 0	Posted: 1/15/07 at 10:32pm
	Phone the families tell them you had a great time working with little Jimmy and you hope he is continuing on for the second season, in fact, you have reserved a space for him blah de blah. We usually have to turn students away. In fact, when I was a kid I had to wait 3 years until there was a space open at the Theatre School. Just keep trying, they need to see your name and logo around for a while and they will come flocking in soon enough! What sort of promotion were you doing? Jenni
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suzecue1 Star Joined: 9/19/06 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 90	Posted: 1/16/07 at 9:56am
	What are the ages of the kids you work with? When do you hold the classes? Example: if you are working with middle school to high school, you have to compete with basketball, wrestling, speech team in the winter. Even on Saturdays. If you are working with the younger kids, you won't have as many school activities to compete with, but you will have girl scouts, boy scouts, dance lessons, etc. Remember the parents schedules might have something to do with the lack of participation too, depending on the time, day and frequency of your classes. I direct 3 - two week long, children's (1st - 12th grade) theatre workshops in the summer. Our classes are always full with long waiting lists. We have all kinds of things to work around. Baseball, softball, band trips, church camps, vacations. The kids (the parents) that want to be in theatre will find you. Give it some time. Do you advertise through the schools?
	Sue ***** So many hats.....so few heads!
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Andrea T Lead Joined: 4/24/04 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 39	Posted: 1/16/07 at 9:07pm
	Thank you for all of the advice...we do a lot of marketing through the schools..well, however much they allow us to do. We distributed 8000 flyers to the schools, put in newspaper ads, send at home mailers, etc. I did fine what Sue said to be interesting...."the kids (the parents) that want to be in theatre will find you." so true! If it's not important to them they definitely wont make room for it...it's just a matter of finding those who really want to be in the theatre!
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