Nonprofit Theaters Turn to Gimmicks To Lure Subscribers
By
GLENN COLLINS, The New York Times
December 22, 1992
Here are a few ideas for selling theater subscriptions:
*Mail your brochures to Lands' End catalogue regulars.
*Offer free wine tasting and free chocolate sundaes.
*Start a gay-and-lesbian singles series.
*Fly a banner over Fire Island.
These are strategies cooked up by some of New York's nonprofit theater companies, whose heavy reliance on subscription
sales has resulted in a keen competition to find a broader audience. Competition: Helpful or Hurtful?
The rivalry has paid dividends to several companies, among them the Manhattan Theater Club and the Roundabout Theater Company,
whose aggressive and imaginative campaigns have lured new subscribers.
And it may have hurt others, especially at a time when few people believe that the theater audience is growing. At least
one company's distress suggests that the increased competition may be creating a Darwinian situation. Circle in the Square,
the 41-year-old company which has had continuing financial problems, is seen by many theater people as a victim of the subscription
wars. The company announced last month that it was delaying its season opening until February, since it had raised only $90,000
of the $200,000 needed to produce a revival of "The Apple Cart," by George Bernard Shaw. If it cannot conclude current negotiations
to bring in a new February production, the company's season may not begin until April.
Theodore Mann, the company's artistic director, denied that the company was suffering from competition from other theaters.
"The Roundabout and the National Actors Theater aren't taking away our audiences," he said. "Our troubles are part of the
retrenchment that has hit the theater industry in the recession."
He added that Circle subscribers "are loyal and will continue to support us, since we've had to postpone our season four
or five times before."
Barry Grove, the managing director of the Manhattan Theater Club, took issue with the commonly held notion that each theater
had a unique group of subscribers. To Mr. Grove, the pool of potential subscribers is strongly defined, so it is essential
for companies to stress their differences.
"In a sense, we're all marketing to the same group," he said, referring to the sorts of theatergoers -- largely middle-aged
and upper middle-class -- that kept the company's last production, "Joined at the Head," 90 percent subscribed during its
six-week initial run.
"But each theater has a different constituency based on its style and its programming," he added. "We're all trying to
underscore our uniqueness." Looking Beyond the 'Regulars'
Studies by the League of American Theaters and Producers show that while nearly half of Broadway's annual audience of 7.3
million comes from outside the New York metropolitan area, out-of-towners account for only a small fraction of the audience
for nonprofit companies.
Theater marketing experts talk about "regulars," "occasionals" and "nevers." The core audience for nonprofit theaters is
made up of the "regulars," a devoted group that attends the theater nearly once a month, and some much more. No statistics
exist on the number of regulars, but marketers estimate it from 100,000 to 200,000, most of them Manhattanites, with a smattering
in the other boroughs and the suburbs.
This group, however, "just isn't enough," said Helene Davis, the director of press and marketing at the Manhattan Theater
Club. That's where innovation and gimmickry come in.
The Manhattan Theater Club, which has been testing different mailing lists, recently had some success flirting with younger,
upscale types by dipping into the lists of Lands' End and Williams-Sonoma catalogue users in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.
"We try 50,000 more each time we send out our brochures," Ms. Davis said.
The company has also experimented with tailoring promotions to specific productions. To build a black audience for "Boesman
and Lena" last season, for instance, Ms. Davis invited black opinion leaders from churches, schools and cultural institutions,
and asked for help in getting the word out to their constituents. 'It Helped Sell Tickets'
And on the Labor Day weekend two years ago, the company rented a seaplane to fly a banner for "Lips Together, Teeth Apart"
-- a play set at a beach house on Eastern Long Island -- over Fire Island and the Hamptons. "It gave the show prominence,
it helped sell tickets and it reached people who might never ordinarily come to the theater," Ms. Davis said. "And we got
to go to the beach just to see it."
Whether or not the seaplane helped, Manhattan Theater Club's subscription campaign this year is sold out at 15,500, and
there is a waiting list of several hundred.
The Circle Repertory Company (not related to Circle in the Square) has also targeted specific groups. For several of its
recent offerings, including "The Baltimore Waltz" and "The Destiny of Me," both of which have gay themes, the company promoted
group sales to the Gay Men's Health Crisis, the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund and other organizations. Tanya Berezin,
the company's artistic director, said the effort "seems to help our general sales, not just gay-themed plays." "The community
has a lot of disposable income, in terms of marketing, and we are grateful for their support," she added. Tickets $1 and Up
Other theaters are trying an all-inclusive strategy. The New York Shakespeare Festival has started a Pay-What-You-Can Series
at the Public Theater. At one designated performance of every play this season, audiences can pay whatever they want. At the
first such event, a matinee of "Texts for Nothing" starring Bill Irwin, 92 people showed up in the 100-seat theater, paid
from $1 to $25 for admittance, and the take was $493.25, according to Jason Steven Cohen, the Festival's producing director.
(On the average regular-price night it was about $2,000.)
Every nonprofit theater is seeking younger audiences, though it isn't easy to lure them. The very idea of subscribership
is impractical for many patrons in their 20's and 30's. "They have to come up with a big chunk of money at one time, and settle
their schedule months in advance," said Henry Guettel, the executive director of the Theater Development Fund. "It's not exactly
like deciding to go to a movie."
There have been some triumphs, however. About a year ago, the Roundabout Theater Company put a tiny item in its regular
subscription brochure "announcing a singles series offering complementary refreshments after the show," said Todd Haimes,
the company's producing director. "Suddenly we'd sold out 250 subscriptions in one week."
The success of the series has engendered five different singles nights, including one for lesbians and gay men, and has
been rewarded with that 90's marketing trophy, a corporate sponsor. The program is now officially the Johnny Walker Black
Singles Series. For Children and Tea Sippers
The new Roundabout brochure also offers the Wine-Tasting Series, the Gallery Series, the Tea Series, the Sundae Series
(free sundaes offered in a Sunday series) and the Early-to-Bed Series (five plays with a 7 P.M. curtain). And the company
is offering reduced-price tickets for children ages 10 to 18 as part of the parents' subscription. "A lot of families have
told us they'd like some encouragement in going to the theater together," Mr. Haimes said.
A more flexible and spontaneous alternative to subscriptions is the membership approach, of which the
Lincoln Center Theater is the most successful practitioner. For an annual $25 fee, members can attend a play for $15 and a
musical for $20. The membership list of 47,000 is closed, and there is a waiting list of several thousand, according to Thomas
Cott, the theater's director of marketing.
This season, as last, the principal advertising strategy of the year-old National Actors Theater has been based on the
familiarity of the company's founder and director, Tony Randall, who has tirelessly plugged his company on radio, television
and in newspapers. It has also made a selling point of its celebrity actors, including, this season, Tyne Daly, Jon Voight,
Rip Torn and Natasha Richardson. Mr. Randall's media blitz, and perhaps the novelty of a new company with big names, worked
better last year, when the company drew 28,000 subscribers. This year subscriptions have dropped to 21,000.
Of course, there is the rare institutional theater that has no need to resort to aggressive marketing. Playwrights Horizons
is one, regularly selling out its 146-seat house with 4,000 subscribers and 1,600 members. Through the years the theater has
had some success in using the L. L. Bean mailing list, but right now, said Paul S. Daniels, the theater's executive director,
"We don't want to have too many subscribers: we're full up as it is."
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