Thesis: If your productions aren’t getting the word-of-mouth support you hope for, you may be able to take action to shape the word-of-mouth. Most companies who survey members to learn why they chose to attend a show find that recommendation from friends, often called word-of-mouth, is a high frequency response....
Thesis: Adherents to a hobby define their relationship to a hobby partly through swag – collectibles and ephemera related to their activity. Theatre companies could create swag around their productions or seasons to provide audience members additional hooks in to the hobby. Dog and Pony DC’s current show A Killing...
Thesis: Members of the public who care about local produce might be good prospects to attend local theatre. At first I thought I should file this idea away until the northern hemisphere spring; but it will probably take a little organizing to pull off, so why not talk about it...
Thesis: Specialty web sites promote hobby awareness and participation. There could be one for playgoers. My two big interests besides playgoing are board gaming and craft beer. Each of these is supported by a number of web sites that collect information and provide a venue for social interaction about their...
Thesis: Opportunities to create strong, face-to-face relationships between audience members and playmakers will encourage future attendance and raise awareness of the value of playgoing. Also, if you’re making a go of producing theatre, you probably need all the friends you can make. Idea: Audience members who have already shown up...
Thesis: A group of actors, with very little infrastructure, can create audience engaging, artistically satisfying events. The Actors Salon is a group of actors who gather a few times a year to produce well rehearsed, lightly blocked staged readings in function rooms at restaurants and similar spaces. Audience members are...
Thesis: If you produce a show inside a bar, you might find people interested in seeing it in other bars. Example: The Pink Line Project is an endeavor to raise the visibility of the arts in Greater Washington, DC and to use the arts and that greater visibility to encourage...
Thesis: People are more likely to spend time and attention on performance activities they have participated in. I’m not a sports watcher, but I fenced saber for a year in college. I’ll take a few steps out of my way during the Olympics to catch a little fencing – even...
Theatre is too valuable to be wasted on the few. I want more Americans to see more theatre. Lots more. Enough more, that it calls for a ridiculous goal. Here goes. Triple playgoing in America by 2020. I’m convinced we could do it by following three radical strategic prongs: 1....
I’m currently writing a play called The Secret of the Biological Clock, about a former girl detective who is turning 37 and wants to solve the mystery of what makes a family. I have spent the past two months flipping out about stage directions. Stage directions. The play itself is...