How NOT to Get an Audience

I've never worked with a theater that wasn't worried about attracting an audience. Whether they're hoping to at least break even on their expenses with ticket sales or just want the audience to be bigger than the cast, drawing a crowd is a challenge.

Harder still because the same myth seems to have been adopted by many theaters, leading them to losing strategies and disappointing ticket sales. I've seen too many theaters fall for this myth again and again, and sadly fail again and again.

Myth: Name Recognition Brings in an Audience

Are you doing Hamilton, Phantom of the Opera, WIcked, or The Nutcracker? If not, name recognition of the play or author is likely not having a significant impact on your ticket sales.

You've tried it, probably more than once. What were your results? If you picked a play because of the name recognition and you had sold-out crowds, than feel free to ignore everything I have to say.

However if you paid a big chunk of your budget to get that Agatha Christie or Disney musical only to have disappointingly small audiences, maybe it's time to consider that your strategy isn't getting you what you really want.

All the World's a Stage, but All the Men and Women Aren't Players

Most people are not theater people. But we try not to judge them too harshly for it.

This means name recognition of plays or authors isn't happening as often as you think.

Don't believe me? Ask a non-theater friend to name three playwrights. One of the three will probably be Shakespeare. Heck, if you asked them to name three plays off the top of their head, many non-theaterites might struggle.

There are famous chefs. How many can you name? Unless you're a chef or a foodie, probably none. So do you choose a restaurant based on the chef's name? Or do you try a new restaurant because the food sounds good?

People Get Tired of Reruns

Unless someone absolutely loves a script as their absolute favorite, they don't want to see it again and again. I just found out one of the local high schools is putting on Little Women. They are the 4th group in a 20 mile radius to be putting on Little Women in less than a year.

I bet every one of the directors chose Little Women at least in part because of the name recognition.

How many people do you think went to more than one of those four produtions? Even if they love that play, do you think someone really wants to see it multiple times in just a few months?

Full confession: I didn't see any of the four productions. Why? Because I've seen Little Women at some point. I liked it, just not enough that I feel the need to see it again. And given that there's been multiple film adaptations of the story (my research says eight film versions), people can watch multiple versions on demand whenever. Name recognition didn't tell people in my town why they should leave their home to take a chance on any of these productions.

Cost/Benefit Analysis (Sounds fun, right?)

Script companies charge more for the more well-known works. It's not because those plays draw a bigger audience. The script companies don't care how financially successful your production is. They charge more because those plays are in higher demand among theater troupes.

So do the math! How much more is the "name recognition" play going to cost you than another play? How many tickets will you need to sell to make up that difference? Is selling that many more tickets than average likely?

If you've prodced plays without name recognition, compare your audience sizes to productions with name recognition.

If you've never produced a play that wasn't a popular IP, but you're still struggling with your audience sizes . . . I mean, that's your answer right there. But I would encourage you to try doing one production of a totally unknown work/author and then see how your audiences compare. Are your audiences smaller and is your revenue smaller? (The unknown work should come with a smaller pricetag, so even if your audience shrinks, you could come out ahead financially!)

If It's Not Working, Why Haven't You Fired It?

Often we create our biggest obstacles. We don't want to change. We don't want to try something different. We stubbornly want our ideas to work. So we double-down on things that didn't succeed the first 20 times. Change is scary, but if you keep the goal in mind and let yourself try new paths, you'll get new results. Aren't you ready for that?