There’s Audience Enough for Everyone

by Phil RickabywordsPosted on No Comments

A number of years ago, I was at the Montreal Fringe with Keystone Theatre. On our first day, we attended a seminar by solo performer Cameron Moore about how best to promote your show at Fringe. Cameron gave some great advice, but one thing that she said stood out for me. She said: There’s enough audience for everyone. And for me, that one sentence was transformative, not just in the way that i look at Fringe promotion, but in the way I look at promoting theatre in general. See, I believe that this concept, the idea that there’s enough audience for everyone applies to all theatre. Because the people who are inclined to see something that I am producing, are (in my opinion) likely to be inclined to see something that you are producing. They just have to know about it.

Sometimes, in theatre, and especially in indie theatre, we’re a little precious with our audiences. Its almost like we treat our audience like little birds, and if we open the little cage we keep them in, they’ll fly away and never come back. But I think that this is completely wrong. I think that an audience member who sees the work of one artist, will be hungry for the work of other artists. This doesn’t diminish the work of the first artist. It helps everyone grow.

I’ve approached a lot of what I do theatrically with this phrase in my mind: there’s audience enough for everyone. I’m always happy to talk about other people’s productions, even if I have my own in production. And I’m going to continue to do this. Its one of the reasons I started Stageworthy Podcast. Because I want to expose the work of many artists to as wide an audience as possible.

There’s enough audience for everyone.

So that’s my challenge to everyone this week: share the work of another artist or company this week. Talk about someone who’s work you have enjoyed.

this is the text of my Stageworthy Podcast opening thought from the episode published March 21, 2017

We still need to talk about email

by Phil RickabyMarketing, TheatrePosted on One Comment

A while back, I wrote this article about how many theatre companies are using email. Unfortunately, there are still companies that are using email poorly, and as such are hurting their reputations.

I recently received an email from a company that I purchased theatre tickets from. This company did not put any notification about email subscription in their purchasing process. After purchasing tickets, I noticed that I had begun receiving regular emails from them. I asked to be removed from their mailing list. They complied at the time.

Almost two years later, however, I received an email from them, and it is a plea for financial assistance. I understand the need to reach as wide an audience as possible with your email campaigns, especially for your fundraising. But your need does not change the best practices of email marketing. Your need does not make the fact that I never subscribed to your mailing list any less annoying.

Here’s the thing: your campaign loses value if you contact people who didn’t ask to hear from you. Because the reaction from these people (like me), is not just to delete your email, but annoyance. This does not make us likely to give you money, or go to your show. In fact, I’m more likely NOT to do those things.

One of the most important lessons of marketing by email is don’t annoy your customer base. If you, as someone who is thinking of sending email, has ever thought something along the lines of “Of course they want to hear from us, they are our customer”, you must stop and not hit send on that email. Being your customer is not reason enough for you to send an email to someone. They must have given you permission to do so. And if they haven’t, do not send them your newsletter. And absolutely, do not send them an email asking for money.

You can do better. And you need to do better. If you’re going to use email as a marketing or fundraising tool. Do it smartly. Or lose customers.

So you’ve decided to go to the theatre

by Phil RickabyTheatrePosted on 2 Comments

Welcome to the theatre. We are certainly glad to have you. It’s possible that you haven’t been to the theatre before, or maybe it’s been a long time since you’ve been to a play. Either way, there are a few things you should know about how to behave during a live theatrical production.

1. Turn off your cellphone: I know people tell you to do this all the time, say in movie theatres and the like, and it just as important here. In fact it may be more so. The glow of your cellphone is distracting to the people around you, and it can be seen from far away. Most everyone in the theatre can see that glow when you look at your phone. And worse, the actors can see you, and it’s distracting. No matter how concentrated an actor might be on the scene, the ethereal glow of the cellphone draws attention immediately. Which can be dangerous if the actor has to do something like sword fight. It’s also disrespectful. These actors are here, right now, putting their hearts and souls into the play you are, watching. Show them the respect they deserve and turn off your phone and pay attention.

2. No texting. This goes hand in hand with turning off your cellphone, but I have seen a lot of this lately, so it needs a separate entry. There is no excuse for texting in the theatre. Period. Not only is it distracting, to the people around you, but, as above, it’s disrespectful. So, turn off your phone.

3. No pictures. Put the camera away. That includes the one on your cellphone (which, should be off). I know that you are excited to be here, and that sharing or excitement by posting pictures of what we are doing or seeing is part of the digital culture, but its not appropriate here. There are a couple of reasons for this: a) copyright; the production you are seeing is copyrighted, and the set and costumes and images are all a part of that. b) It’s rude. The glow of the camera is just as distracting to the people around you as your phone. And if you left your flash on, then it’s even more so. It doesn’t matter if you turned off the flash, and the brightness of the screen, it can still be seen.

4. Stop talking. Sound carries in a theatre. What you think is a quiet whisper is actually carrying across the theatre. And to the stage. If you want to discuss something, wait till intermission. During the play is not the time to discuss how funny that line was or ask about something you might have missed.

5. Stay for the bows. The actors have spent the last two hours working hard to bring you the show you just saw. Thank them for their hard work. Don’t get up and leave before the bows start, stay in your seat and applaud. It’s not your chance to beat the rush to the parking lot while everyone else is distracted. It’s your chance to thank the actors for the show you just watched. Stay till its over.

Do you have any other suggestions for behaviour in the theatre? Share them in the comments.