Strategies

A Not-So-Impossible Dream

How one theatre company is cultivating a fountain of youth-and grooming a future pool of subscribers

by Eliza Bent

The Challenge: My mother recently went to see Man of La Mancha. When I asked her how the show was, she didn't comment on the Cervantes-spin-off of a story or the actors' vocal prowess. Instead, she proclaimed, "Your father and I were the youngest people there!" (My mother is a youthful 61-year-old and my father remains dapper at 65.) But my mom wasn't joking. Her description of fellow spectators (many of whom evidently nodded off during the matinee) is an all-too-accurate picture of the American theatre audience demographic: aging patrons without a glimmer of youth. Although theatres depend on older generations for support and financial donations, they must look to younger theatergoers for a viable future-and administrators often find themselves in a pickle over how to attract them. Like many companies, Maryland Ensemble Theatre, in Frederick, has been eager since its launch in 1997 to entice new audiences. "I heard Ben Cameron [former executive director of TCG] speak about the aging of theatre audiences," notes artistic director Tad Janes. "Our company was already doing sketch and comedy/improv to bring in younger folks. And we realized that two plays in our first season fit in well with the local college curriculum." Thus a happy solution was born.

The Plan: Janes and MET hooked up with three local colleges, Frederick Community College, Hood College and Mount St. Mary's College. The schools receive vouchers from the theatre company that are made available to students who use them to see shows at MET for free. MET keeps track of the used vouchers and bills back the colleges at a group rate-the money comes out of student-life funding. "I think the first year we were averaging about 20 students per production," Janes says, reflecting on the program's modest beginnings with just FCC as a partner. Over time the program expanded, and now an average of 200 students attends each MET production. The mechanics are pretty straightforward. "We send the colleges an easy, computer-generated voucher sheet, which they then print out (usually on different-colored paper for different productions)," Janes explains. The college can control the number of vouchers they want to handle. Students, faculty and staff pick up vouchers around campus and exchange them for tickets at the theatre. The colleges are charged only for the number of vouchers actually used. Since MET is a 90-to-100-seat theatre, bringing in large clusters of students would be tricky. "We thought we would give colleges the option to spread out their audiences over the entire run of a show," Janes elaborates. And voila: a program so simple it's downright elegant. However, the artistic director adds, "We don't really have a sassy name for it-just the College Co-Curricular Program."

Key Players: Suzanne Beal, the vice president of learning at FCC, and Jeannie Winston-Muir, the director of the Center for Student Engagement & Student Life, were essential in getting the program with MET up and running. The timing was particularly fortuitous: "Little did we know that there would be a nationwide push for education to be more 'hands on,' giving more experiences from which students could learn," Janes says.

What Worked: "For almost all our shows, we get a nice showing of theatre and English students," Janes points out, but the audience is not limited to just those disciplines. "At times we have had sociology and political science students-we even had the math department come en masse to see Proof!" MET holds two or three post-show discussions during a show's run, and Janes observes that when students are present for talkbacks, the debate is always much more lively. Teachers take advantage, too. Winston-Muir from FCC notes, "We have had faculty from very diverse disciplines take learning examples from the productions and challenge students to relate the ideas to their course material." Perhaps the happiest surprise to come out of this strategy has been the ongoing commitment from young audience members. "We now have subscribers and donors that once benefited from this program, so we really are 'breeding' an audience-and an educated one at that!" It's a win-win situation for this theatre and its fans.

What Didn't: "One big thing is trying to educate students on what is appropriate," says Janes, who reveals that some students have been boisterous during plays, while others come just for extra credit and tend to leave at intermission or, worse, during the show: "We've actually had students tell our box office to seat them close to the door because they could only stay for half an hour." In order to address these issues, MET has written a policy of "theatre rules," which are incorporated into a curtain speech. "For instance," Janes explains, "instead of saying, 'Please turn off all cell phones,' we add, 'and NO text messaging.'"

What's Next: Janes would like to expand the College Co-Curricular Program to more colleges, but proximity poses a challenge. Still, the theatre company has adapted the program for large corporations in the area as well. "A corporation puts up, say, $2,000, and when we've had more than 100 of their employees, we bill them for the extra; if they get only 50 employees to come, we send them a donation letter for the extra. This is a spin-off in its infancy, but we're working on it!"

Strategies is a column featuring initiatives relating to theatre finance, marketing, fundraising, education, audience development, governance, architecture and artistry. Send your strategies of note to at@tcg.org; with "strategies" in the subject line.