Light in the Piazza - El Portal

Saw an absolutely wonderful production of Light in the Piazza last night. Run and go see it if you can as they only have 4 more shows this weekend before it closes. Stephanie Wall as Clara is just terrific as the slightly off daughter. Her demeanor is just perfect for the challenge of portraying an emotionally underdeveloped girl in a woman's body. Mary Donnelly Haskel who plays the mother is also a terrific actress. You can see her heartfelt struggle to stop protecting her fragile daughter and let her go into the world of the unknown. Blake McIver Ewing is also very charming as Fabrizio and the rest of the cast delivers as well.

As I sat there watching, I kept thinking, just look at what talented performers can do with rich material. After seeing so many shows where the talent is on stage but the material is just not very good - it was refreshing to see such a wonderfully crafted show embodied by a talented cast. You simply could not help but get drawn into the storytelling. That is what great theatre is all about.

Link to buy tickets to the show is here. Use the code FACEBOOK for discounts.

Dreampeddler

Email Marketing - Do It

I have been doing quite a lot of email marketing for various theaters out here in LA - and it works. It is cheap (check out Constant Contact as one source) and it is direct to the folks who are interested in your theater. Let's face it, it is getting harder and harder to find sources for funding and the first thing in the budget that gets cut is advertising. Big mistake. You have to get the word out, you just have to be more creative in doing so.

There are more options out there in the social marketing arena (Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc.) but at the very least, get out those emails to your list. And if you don't have a list, start creating one now. Ask people to sign up after one of your shows or load up your personal contacts to get started. If you use Constant Contact, you can add a feature to your current website just to sign up for your email list - and they provide templates to start with that are easily adaptable to include your logo, colors and integrate great production shots of your shows.

If you don't have the time, hire someone to help. That's what we're here for.