The Stage Directions Guide to Getting and Keeping Your Audience

In the late 1990s theatre competes with many other forms of entertainment for people's leisure time. So how does theatre attract and maintain the audience it needs? This book explains to the reader the many ways of doing this. It provides information on advertising to motivate ticket buyers, creating attention-grabbing mailouts, using newsletters, numerous successful marketing tips, what keeps audiences away, and much more.


Reviews


It is called by different names in almost every industry. Within the visual and performing arts, marketing means audience development. A compilation of articles from Stage Directions magazine explains for community theater professionals the steps required to attract and retain subscribers. Short chapters encourage readers to adopt different approaches, from drafting market research questionnaires to crafting outreach programs in the schools and churches. A dearth of buzzwords and jargon, and a host of real-life examples from theaters big and small (including Chicago's Goodman and the Rainbow in Lancaster, Pennsylvania) help most plan and visualize how to generate SROs. ----Barbara Jacobs, Booklist


About the author

Stephen Peithman is Editor-in-Chief of Stage Directions magazine, which he cofounded in 1988. Stephen brings to his work decades of journalistic experience and a lifelong love of theatre in all its facets.
Neil Offen served as Editor of Stage Directions magazine for nearly five years, beginning in 1994. Neil brings to his work decades of journalistic experience and a lifelong love of theatre in all its facets.


# Paperback: 160 pages

# Publisher: Greenwood Press (5 May 1999)