Taking a break from Project Introspection today to focus on a marketing question.  I was eating lunch with a colleague yesterday and talking about what I wanted out of getting involved with a theatre company here.  I basically explained that I want to learn, to share my ideas and to help out to the best of my ability.  I started talking about an idea I had for a marketing plan.

You all remember that movie The Blair Witch Project, right?  One of the reasons why the movie was so successful is the producers built a cult following before the movie was even produced.  The put out information that made it seem as if the story were true, that students really did disappear and this really was footage that was recovered.

Of course, it was all fake and scripted, but it piqued the interest of the country and became a box office success.

So my question was, why don’t more theatres do that kind of stuff?  

I’ve been in Chicago for three months and I honestly haven’t seen any advertisements for any theatre stuff except for the major companies like Broadway in Chicago and The Goodman.  I don’t know what’s going on in the smaller storefront theatres.  The only advertisements I’ve seen are flyers in windows and maybe in some of the less-read magazines going around the city.

And of the advertisements I have seen, they all seem to say “Pleaaaaaaaase come see our show!  We put a lot of hard work into it and we don’t want to have wasted our time, so pleaaaaaase come give us your money and watch our show!”  Basically, they put out the who/what/where/when/how much, but they never explain the why. 

WHY should I see your show?  What makes it interesting enough that I should take the time, effort and money to go see your show?

Do something to make me interested.

I wrote a play two years ago and I’ve been working on it intermittently for awhile.  It’s a play based on the old Pied Piper of Hamelin story — you know the one, the rats and the piper that takes away the kids and all that. 

Let’s use that as an example.

How can we get the public interested in that?  Let’s take a page from Blair Witch and put up a website that pushes an agenda — rats are a problem.  And they are in any major city, especially Chicago.  Rats!  More rats!

Write letters to the editors of various publications complaining about rats and wistfully wishing that someone like the Pied Piper could come and get rid of them, put up flyers around town:  ”Got rats? Call the Piper!”.  Remind the public of the story of the Pied Piper, remind them how relevant rats are to their daily lives.

Get them thinking about rats and keeping the story of the Pied Piper in the back of their minds.  All of these things can be done fairly cheaply.

Then a week or two before the show, blow the rest of your marketing money on advertisements in local papers, on local TV, on the radio.  With the economy in a slump right now, with the presidential election over, ad prices are dirt cheap (or so my father, an advertisement salesman, tells me).   

The people will see your advertisement, say “Oh, wow, I was just thinking about that story… this could be interesting!”  They’ve had exposure after exposure to the theme and story of the Pied Piper over the past several weeks (”Got rats? Call the Piper!” “Dear Editor, rats are a huge problem in Chicago.  Gosh, I wish there were someone like the Pied Piper around!  What is the city going to do about it?”).  

We know that long-term memory is triggered by multiple exposures to the same stimulus.  If you put out one ad in the paper, people are going to forget about it very quickly.  But week after week of “Oh, hey, don’t forget about rats” and subtle reminders of the Pied Piper of Hamelin story, they’ll have a little bit of the story stored up in their minds, so when you go “BAM! PIED PIPER PLAY!” it sticks.

This wouldn’t work for every play, but it’s a different approach than I usually see.  What I usually see is:

“Come see our play!  Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 7pm, 10 bucks! It’s funny! Check it out!”

…yeah, right.

The Prof wrote a blog a long time ago about how we should be putting on plays that are relevant to our communities.  You don’t have to pick topics that are relevant now.  You could MAKE them relevant.  Were rats on the forefront of people’s minds before I started this ad campaign?  No, probably not.  But after papering the city with flyers about rat problems, letters to the editors, calls to radio shows… it’s more relevant than it was before, and that just might be enough to draw a full house.

Thoughts?  I’m sure I’m missing a lot, but this was just something I was thinking of yesterday and I’d love to hear some responses.

I’ve been kind of busy this week, between work and seeing two plays in Chicago.  I plan on taking tomorrow to relax and enjoy the nice weather we’re having.

The first play I saw was on Thursday night at the New Leaf Theatre.  The show was called “Six Years” and followed the lives of married couple Phil and Meredith.  The name comes from the time shift between scenes — each scene takes place six years after the previous scene.

I was very impressed with the show.  The acting kept me rapt with attention throughout the show.   Jessica Hutchinson did an excellent job with the direction, making several choices that really made the show unique.  One of the choices that impressed me the most was the scene transitions.  Rather than having stage hands come out dressed in black, she had the leads, Phil and Meredith, move slowly (about half-time) while the other actors changed scenery at a regular (or slightly faster than regular) pace.  The effect was very dramatic, especially when you add in the special lights shone down on them and the music playing in the background.  A very nice effect that really blew me away.

If you’ve got a chance and you’re in Chicago, check out “Six Years” at the New Leaf Theatre.  The show runs on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm through November 22nd.  Check it out!  You won’t regret it.

The second show I saw, courtesy of Nick Keenan, was “Million Dollar Quartet” at The Goodman Theatre.  If you’re a fan of Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash, you’ll love MDQ.  The story follows a gathering of the four famous musicians in a sound studio in 1956 and what follows is the birth of rock’n'roll!  I had a blast, since the kind of music embodied in the musical is my favorite kind.  I was tapping my feet to the beat and mouthing along with the words, too!

This is definitely a must-see if you’re any kind of music fan at all.  Check it out at The Goodman Theatre as soon as you can!  The show runs through October 26th.

Tonight I’m going to see “Six Years” at the New Leaf Theatre in Chicago.  I’m pretty excited.  

I’ll try and keep mental notes so I can give a review.

Also, nachos.

To both of my faithful readers, I’m sorry to keep you starving for information on the goings-on and happenings of the Director.
I’m still in Chicago, and I’m loving it.  Despite a furious battle against an evil, domineering stomach virus.

The other day, I met up with Nick and a friend of his and had breakfast.  It was really refreshing to meet a like-minded person, both a programmer and theatre geek.  That meeting was enough to make up my mind.  I really, really want to move to Chicago now.

On the bright side, there’s a decent shot that the company I’m consulting for might give me a full-time position with them.  On the down side, none of my other interviews in Chicago have panned out.

Keep your fingers crossed, people.

If I do get a job here, I plan on becoming very active in the theatre community: volunteering, acting, directing, maybe even get my Pied Piper play produced.  Regardless, my dry spell of theatre will be over if I move here.

Did I mention I love Chicago?

So my first week in Chicago is over.  I’m loving it so far!  Today, I’m staying at my friend’s house to rest, read, watch some Olympics and gorge myself on Chicago pizza.  Tomorrow morning, however, I’ll be free to roam the city and see some sights, until 2pm when I have to go into the office to work til about 6.

So, I need suggestions for things to do in Chicago on a Sunday morning.  Any ideas?

For both of my faithful readers, I’ll be visiting Chicago from this coming Tuesday until September 1st.  I got a contract job doing web development, so I’ll be there working during the day.  However, I’d love to meet some of you Chicago theatre people if I can get the chance.

If you’re willing, let me know and I’ll see what I can do about setting up meetings or dinners or theatre visits or whatnot.

I’m pretty excited.  I’ve never been to Chicago, but I’ve always wanted to go!

I got my list of schools that are interested in interviewing me at the U/RTA conference in Chicago next weekend.

One school.  Out of 15 that have the program I want.

Now I’m trying to decide whether to go or not.  I mean, drive all the way to Chicago, spend all that time and money, when the one school that wants to interview me is only 2 hours away?

Oh, I know I’ll go.  I’ve always wanted to see Chicago, and this is a pretty good excuse to go.  And I understand I may get more interviews as the time grows closer.  And there are acting auditions, as well.  Plus, I have some friends out there.  Maybe some of you faithful readers in Chicago will want to meet up for lunch or something.  If so, let me know.  I’ll be in Chicago Friday 2/2 to Monday 2/5.

I’m gonna go in there and give it my best shot, be as passionate and excited as I can, as I really am.

But I can’t help but wonder:  what could I have done better?