Well, the show I was producing closed yesterday, and it was a wonderful run. There was a lot of genuine excitement from the audience (and a number of repeat ticket sales). When strangers are approaching your actors to tell them how much they liked the show, something must have gone right.

The cast and crew went away happy. They felt like the production was under control the whole time (or at least most of the time), and they are excited to work on next year's musical.

I think we did a lot of  things right, we built some success into future productions by putting together a quality production without having to browbeat anyone (ok, I did have one prima donald I had to censure).

However, I'm still likely to get taken to the woodshed, because of the financial picture. I just couldn't get the ticket sales on target. It wasn't for lack of getting the word out. The publicity was better for this show than it has been for a while. I'm scratching my head on that one. Name recognition did seem to be a factor, many audience members admitted they hadn't really heard of this show before (Once Upon a Mattress).

One solution I'm starting to consider, is underwriting for our shows. I'd like to hear your input on getting show/season sponsors from your community. What resources have you found helpful, what has worked for you?

-Tom

We get individual underwriting for all of our shows. We have found that many instituations have money that is earmarked for community events and they like for it go to more then atheltics. They are just waiting to be asked. We have had banks, car washes, lawyers offices, hairdressers, furniture stores, bookstores, shoe factories, restaurants, all manner of of institutions underwrite our shows. The key is to ask early in the year. Find out who to communicate with.  Start with a letter highlighting the show and what the money will be used for. Then let them know what they will get in return: acknowledgement on the posters, the back of the tickets, backcover of the program, a mention in the opening notes, free tickets, whatever you are willing to give away.  Often it is just the kind of publicity they are looking for. We have actually had companies asking us if they can underwrite a show.

We have started getting underwriting for specific things: costumes, special effects, expensive set pieces, the orchestra, whatever we need that is outside of our budget. In our last show when the orchestra underwriter was in the audience she told everone that was her orchestra. She couldn't have been prouder.

Linda