Subscriptions Growing at Hanover Tavern

Posted by Bruce Miller

In the midst of an avalanche of challenges (snow cancellations, threats to the Virginia Commission for the Arts), there is some GREAT news coming from Hanover Tavern. Bucking all trends, local and national, subscription sales are UP by 10.5%!

First Baptist of Ivy Gap is doing exactly what we hoped it would. It’s selling well and sending happy and heart-warmed Hanover audiences into the cold night air feeling uplifted. We’ve just extended the previously announced six-week run by two more weeks. Many thanks to our extraordinary actresses--Ali, Harriett, Jan, Joy, Maggie, Sarah and Audra (Audra is filling in this week while Sarah is auditioning at SETC) for making this show such a crowd-pleasing hit.

Thanks also to Chase (stage manager), Jeannie (house manager), Terrie and David (set design), Sue and Marcia (costume design), and Slade (light design) for their fine work transporting us to a Tennessee church hall in 1945 and 1970. And major kudos to Ted Soto, Barksdale's Board of Trustees leader extraordinaire. It was Ted who first saw Ivy Gap at Cumberland County Playhouse and brought the play to my attention.

Ivy Gap is helping to define our Country Playhouse Season at Hanover Tavern as the type of pops series that provides a warm haven for those seeking easy-going, well produced, graciously performed, unabashedly pleasant comedies and musicals.

There are those who consider shows like Ivy Gap to be “popular,” and mean the word “popular” to be pejorative. At Hanover Tavern, we’re embracing the “popular.” Seriously, what else are “pops” series all about?

We’re doing our best to entertain and delight audiences at all our venues. We want the great plays in our Signature Season at Willow Lawn to be entertaining, and we work hard to make the entertainments at Hanover Tavern artistically rewarding. But in an attempt to draw a distinction, we program Hanover Tavern to appeal to those who love theatre that reaffirms rather than challenges, that cares more about being lighthearted than serious.

All told, Barksdale and Theatre IV have about 3,000 subscribers at Willow Lawn, 2,000 subscribers at the Family Playhouse, and 1,000 subscribers at Hanover Tavern, equaling six thousand subscribers total. Last season, Hanover subscriptions dropped to 953 subscribers, comprised of 839 renewals, 85 new subscribers, and the return of 29 former subscribers who had lapsed in previous years.

This year (and we won’t complete our subscription campaign until the close of Ivy Gap on March 28) we have 1,053 subscribers at the Tavern thus far, comprised of 900 renewals, 106 new subscribers, and the return of 47 former subscribers who had previously lapsed.

We couldn’t feel more satisfied and grateful. To our loyal supporters, THANK YOU! As we begin our five year plan to grow total subscriptions to the 8,000 level, we’ll do our best to continue to earn your vote of confidence.

--Bruce Miller

No Extra Qualifier Needed

Posted by Bruce Miller
Thanks to Dave Timberline's blog, I found John Porter's blog, where John publishes print copies of his reviews. You can find it too, at John Porter's review of "Boleros" .

John wrote a very lovely review, which I appreciate.

So far we've received two raves and possibly the best word of mouth we've had in years. And the phone's not ringing. There's always a danger, when you reach out to an underserved part of the metro population, that your regular ticket buyers will think this play is not for them.

In my opinion, nothing is further from the truth. As Susie Haubenstock stated in her review, "Funny yet poignant, Boleros touches a universal chord." Jose Rivera is such a gifted writer that this very personal story about his parents becomes everyone's story. I LOVE the play, and I hope everyone will come.

Anyway, John Porter's entire review is worth reading, so I encourage you to click on the link above and check it out. Until then, here are the review quotes we're pulling to include in our future marketing efforts:

"Remarkable!

This play is one of the most exciting evenings I have spent in a theatre. No extra qualifier needed.

Who knows how long it will be until we are treated to something so beautiful again?"

John Porter, WCVE-FM

If you'd like to meet the amazing cast of Boleros, please join us tomorrow morning at 11 a.m. for our monthly Bifocals meeting. All six cast members will participate in a panel discussion entitled, A Long Way from West Side Story - What it means to be Latino in the USA Today.

Hope to see you at the theatre!

--Bruce Miller

In the Good Old Summertime

Posted by Bruce Miller
The books are now closed on the Summer of 09, and the good news is that our recent hit productions of Thoroughly Modern Millie, Driving Miss Daisy and Fully Committed broke last year’s records, adding up to Barksdale Theatre’s selling-est summer ever!

If you look only at the months of June, July and August, the Summer of 08 was the previous box office winner. In Summer 08 we sold or comped a total of 13,500 tickets, grossing $338,218. The box office breakdown looked like this: Guys and Dolls at the Empire (10,922 tickets, $270,260), Shirley Valentine at the Tavern (2,578 tickets, $67,958).

This past summer, Thoroughly Modern Millie never caught fire the way Guys and Dolls did the summer before. We know our audience LOVED Millie (as did the critics), so we’re guessing that sales were sluggish due to:
a. the economy
b. lower title recognition
c. our decision to compete with ourselves by remounting Driving Miss Daisy at Willow Lawn.

When all was said and done, the Millie box office released 7,698 tickets for a total revenue figure of $190,724, nearly $80 K short of the Guys total.
Fortunately, even as sales sagged a bit in the early summer at the Empire, Fully Committed proceeded to knock it out of the park in the late summer at Hanover Tavern. Somewhere in mid-July, you could almost feel consumer confidence begin to turn a corner. The Fully Committed box office released 4,181 tickets and brought in $107,553 in revenue—nearly $40,000 more than Shirley Valentine did at Hanover Tavern the summer before.

Just as we had hoped, it was dear Miss Daisy who put us over the top. Daisy pulled off an impressive performance at Willow Lawn, especially taking into account that it was a revival of a hit Tavern production that did very well in Hanover the previous fall. A total of 2,915 ticket holders saw Daisy, generating $63,955 in revenue. There was no comparable show or slot in the 2008 line-up, and so the addition of this third show made it possible to break last summer’s record.
All told, in Summer 09, we sold or comped a total of 14,794 tickets and grossed $362,232—an approximate $24,000 increase over Summer 08.

So, how do things look for Summer 2010? With the economy starting to improve, and three GREAT productions in the works (The Sound of Music in the Empire, On Golden Pond at Hanover Tavern, and a revival of Crowns starting at the Gottwald Playhouse and then transferring to Barksdale Willow Lawn), we have every reason to be optimistic.

Who knows? Maybe 2010 will be the summer we break $400 thousand.

Thank you for continuing to help us keep Barksdale growing and going strong. I hope you will buy your subscriptions, group sales and single tickets soon, if you haven’t already. We need you. I look forward to seeing you at the theatre!

--Bruce Miller

PS – Revenues that came in during the first couple weeks in June for the end of the run of I Ought to Be in Pictures are added into our Spring box office tallies, and therefore not included here.

U-Tkts Help Students Escape the Box

Posted by Bruce Miller
Beginning Wednesday, April 15, we will launch at Barksdale Theatre and Theatre IV a new ticket discount program designed to enable and encourage more college and university students to attend our productions. The tickets, to be called U-Tkts (for University Tickets), will cost $10 each. Normal ticket prices at Barksdale are $38 for a non-musical and $40 for a musical.

Students can reserve U-Tkts in advance over the phone or in person for any performance, pending availability. A student may purchase two U-Tkts to be used by himself/herself and a guest. The guest may be a student or a non-student. A student may not purchase a pair of U-Tkts and give them to a pair of theatergoers who are not students. Students must show a valid student ID at the box office when they pick up their U-Tkts.

It practical terms, U-Tkts will be on the honor system. If you’re not a student, please don’t try to cheat the system just to save a few bucks. We all know how tough the economy is right now. Neither Barksdale nor Theatre IV can afford to lose revenue.

The first shows to be covered by our new U-Tkts program are Well, opening at Barksdale Willow Lawn on April 17, and Annie, opening at the historic Empire Theatre on April 24.

Information about the new U-Tkts program will be distributed next week to all colleges and universities within a 60 minute drive of one of our theatres. The colleges and universities include Hampden-Sydney, J. Sargeant Reynolds, John Tyler, Longwood, Mary Washington, Randolph-Macon, U of R, UVA, VCU, Virginia State, Virginia Union, and William & Mary.

The U-Tkts program was designed with input from 14 university theatre students from throughout the community who responded to questions posted on Facebook.

TenSpot tickets ($10 tickets for high school students) have been in place for the last year and are made available to any high school student who joins our high school connections group, Barksdale Theatre Workshop. More info about this program will be posted soon.

As Greater Richmond’s leading professional theatres, Barksdale Theatre and Theatre IV remain committed to being accessible to all theatre lovers, regardless of financial means or physical disability.

--Bruce Miller

Buying B'way Tics from a Sidewalk Stranger

Posted by Bruce Miller
Last weekend, my family took advantage of the Columbus Day holiday and went to New York City. Hannah’s school was closed all day Monday; Curt was out for half a day. This post is my second installment about our NYC trip (see Our Journey to “South Pacific” below). Today I’ll continue with my personal tale of buying great seats to a sold-out hit from a guy I’d never met.

Like a magician, I’m tempted to say “don’t try this at home.” I can’t vouch for the practice I’m about to describe, nor can I promise that should you try to replicate the procedure you won’t get burned.

Nonetheless, on two occasions I’ve nervously purchased Broadway tickets valued at more that $100 each from guys shouting out show titles on the sidewalk adjacent to the TKTS line. On both occasions, I’ve obtained great seats to a sold-out hit for nothing more than the standard ticket price.

As I mentioned before, Hannah and I really wanted to see South Pacific at Lincoln Center. But tickets for the Columbus Day weekend had been sold out for months. Regular price tickets to South Pacific are $115 to $120. I could have bought Premium Seats in advance from the box office for $300 each, or other good seats from a broker for $225 each. There was no way I could handle that expenditure. So I decided to arrive in NYC empty handed and try my luck.

There are two ways to get good seats at the regular price at the last minute for a sold-out Broadway hit. Neither one is a sure thing.

1 – You can go directly to the box office several hours prior to curtain on the day you want to see the show and ask if and when unsold Premium or House Seats will be released. Often the box office associate will tell you exactly when to return and offer a guess as to your chances for success. Frequently two to ten great seats are released 90 minutes or so before curtain. Armed with this box office advice, you can return at the time suggested and hope you’re close enough to the head of the line to make it to the box office window in time to buy great seats at the regular ticket price.

The Premium Seats that may or may not be released are among the best seats in the house. They are the seats the producer has been trying to sell for $300 each to people who have the means to buy great seats at the last minute without worrying how much they cost. The House Seats that may or may not be released are also among the best seats in the house. They are the seats set aside for purchase by the cast and crew, playwrights, directors, designers, producers etc of the show. If you’re in the cast, and your Great Aunt Harriet comes to town and asks for tickets at the last minute, you as a cast member can purchase House Seats for her, if any House Seats are still available. Once in a while, some House Seats are unspoken for on the day of the show, and they are released for sale to the general public at the last minute.

2 – The second way to buy last minute, hard-to-get tickets is to buy them from one of the broker’s representatives who are sent out to the sidewalks before every performance. They usually ply their trade somewhere near the line of folks waiting to buy half-price tickets at the TKTS Booth. I’ve heard the horror stories about people who bought tickets on the sidewalk only to learn when they showed up at the theatre that the tickets were counterfeit or stolen. When you buy tickets on the sidewalk, it’s definitely buyer beware. Just because I haven’t been burned yet doesn’t mean I won’t be burned next time.

Having issued that warning, here’s what I’ve done. I’ve walked up and down and all around the TKTS Booth area, listening for someone hawking tickets to the show I wanted to see. Several years ago with The Lion King, and last weekend with South Pacific, I heard a man shouting the show title I wanted. I approached the hawker and asked what he had.

In both instances, the man produced a stack of tickets that appeared to be absolutely real and he let me look at them closely. I'm wary if someone is selling only two or four tickets to one show, as they might be stolen. I like it when the street vendor has several tickets for several different hits.

The tickets were marked for group sale and, in the case of South Pacific, the price printed on the ticket was the discount price of $75. I asked how much he was charging for the tickets. He quoted $115, which I knew to be the regular box office price. (The earlier you purchase your tickets from a sidewalk vendor, the greater the mark-up. As you approach curtain time, the mark-up decrease, but so do the available tickets.)

I told the seller that I was interested in buying two tickets, and asked how I could be assured that he was for real. Both times I've made these street transactions, without hesitation or complaint, the sidewalk sellers have given me the name of the broker they worked for, showed me their driver’s license with photo, name and address, and matching credit cards with the same name. They both reminded me that they were standing out in the open shouting loudly, obviously not worried about being noticed and/or questioned by the cops. They both seemed legitimate to me, and completely above board.

After engaging in this back-and-forth, I decided in both instances to purchase the tickets with cash. Checks and credit cards were not an option, but both broker’s reps would have accepted Traveler’s Checks. Several years ago, I purchased four great seats to The Lion King for something like $100 each. This time I purchased two great seats to South Pacific. In both instances, it worked out fine.

If you buy tickets in this way, here’s what you’re buying. When the major ticket brokers sense that a show is going to be a sold-out hit, they purchase tens of thousands of the best seats at group rates months in advance. They then resell those tickets to the public directly or through hotel concierges and travel agents, usually with a considerable mark-up over the regular price and a huge mark-up over the reduced group rate. More than a third of the people who see a sold-out hit buy their tickets directly or indirectly through a broker.

On the day of the show, brokers frequently have a handful of great tickets still available. They give these tickets to their sidewalk salesmen, who go down to the TKTS line and start shouting out the names of the shows they have. Usually the salesmen will have a small number of good seats to several shows. Usually the tickets will be marked with a discounted group rate. Usually they will sell the tickets to you at the regular ticket price. Usually they aren’t offended if you ask them to reassure you as to their legitimacy.

If you’re a gambler and want to see a show badly enough, it may be worth a try. I don’t recommend sidewalk sales of theatre tickets, but for those who want to know, this has been my experience. I haven’t done it often, but the two times I have, I haven’t been scammed.

And remember, of course, most shows aren't sold-out hits. Most shows will allow you to buy regular price tickets from the box office even at the last minute. Often you can buy half-price tickets from broadwaybox.com or at the tkts booth. The current sold-out hits for which last minute tickets are difficult include only Billy Elliot, Jersey Boys, The Lion King, South Pacific, and Wicked.

Coming tomorrow: our backstage tour with Jerold Solomon, and meeting our should-have-been President outside Kelli O’Hara’s dressing room

--Bruce Miller

Hats Off to Barksdale's Mighty Volunteers

Posted by Bruce Miller
Volunteers come in all shapes and sizes, ages, races and creeds. God bless them every one.

About 120 of Barksdale and Theatre IV’s finest volunteers gathered last evening for our annual Volunteer Rally in our Willow Lawn lobby. Jean Hartley (our Volunteer Coordinator), her husband Dorman, Jennings Whiteway (our Events, Access and Food Service Manager), Jeanette Blaylock (volunteer chef extraordinaire), and Bob Albertia (our Group Sales Manager) provided the management, food and decoration for the event.

Steve Moore tickled the ivories beautifully throughout the evening. Speakers included Jean Hartley, Joy Ross (our Community Relations Manager), Bob Albertia, Phil Whiteway and me. Jeanette Blaylock’s famous artichoke dip, crab dip, fresh salsa and brownie bites complemented the crudités and ham biscuits provided by our friendly and generous downstairs neighbors, Padow’s Deli. From all appearances, a fun time was had by all.

Present in everyone’s hearts was Elizabeth Prevatt, one or our foremost and longest-serving volunteers, who died last month at age 82. Elizabeth was the elegant, prim, white-haired lady who for many years greeted audience members and took their tickets as they entered the lobby at the top of our stairs. With love and respect, our current production of The Clean House is dedicated to Elizabeth's memory.

Volunteers at Barksdale and Theatre IV work as ushers at our Willow Lawn, Hanover Tavern, and historic Empire theatres. They also assist with concessions, man the Will Call Window in our box office during some performances, assist with lunch service responsibilities during Bifocal’s matinees, and provide administrative support as needed.

Barksdale Theatre and Theatre IV would not survive without our able, talented and generous volunteers. If you would like to join our growing volunteer family, please call Jean Hartley at 355-3434.

See you at the theatre!

(Photo note: The youthful volunteers pictured above and to the left served on the all-volunteer crew for Barksdale and Steward School's co-production of Disney's High School Musical during the summer of 08.)

--Bruce Miller

My Summer Internship

Each summer, Barksdale offers a limited number of administrative internships to university students. These positions allow theatre majors to get hands-on experience in the day to day operation of a professional theatre. They also provide Barksdale with enthusiastic helping hands and some fresh ideas. (More information about interning with Barksdale is available on our website.) Tamika Sayles from Longwood University has been an intern in our Marketing Department this summer, and this is her account of the experience...


By Tamika Sayles

Whenever I walk through Barksdale Theatre I see family, friends and people with whom I feel like I’ve spent my entire life instead of only eight short weeks. Interning at Barksdale has been the greatest experience in my life. Little did I know I would actually be good at marketing or better yet box office sales. I’ve always been an actor at heart - still am - but it was interesting to finally see the fundamentals of what goes on behind the stage and to find that I now consider it my career goal for the future.

When my professor at Longwood University first told me about the Arts Administration program I didn’t quite know what to think. I was the only theatre student majoring in both business and theatre, an oddity in nature, but none the less driven. I took Dr. Gene Muto’s advice and gave it a shot. A year or so later I decided that maybe this was the time to test this new major; when the interning position became available I jumped on the opportunity, not fully comprehending the true expectations, but thinking maybe it was a start in one direction or other. Couldn’t hurt to try, could it?

When I heard I had gotten the internship at Barksdale I remember feeling excited yet worried about being in corporate America. Heaven only knows why I thought it would be like corporate America. My mind got the best of me, but as the days went on I began to develop a new interest in marketing and design, and I asked Sara Marsden, Barksdale’s Marketing Director, to teach me everything she knew about designing posters. This led into an entirely new direction to my studies, and soon I began to decipher the variations of marketing designs, deciding what worked and what didn’t.

I started experimenting with a design program called Abode InDesign, which wasn’t easy. I’ve been working with computers since I was in the sixth grade, and there were moments where even I was stumped. Day after day, I practiced and came up with new ways of creating different designs to everyone’s liking. Then one day Sara told me about a website needing a logo. The site was RichmondVATheater.com, and I was more than eager to create one for them. I remember barely sleeping that night contemplating new ideas and colors, and I was even more excited to finally see it posted on their website with a shout out to me and my college.

I am more than thankful for the opportunity both Sara Marsden and RichmondVATheater.com gave me, but most of all I’m ecstatic, because I finally found my place in the world - that place is with the theatre. I plan to continue to act, design posters and advertisements and to work in the Arts Administration field. The ultimate goal is to someday run my own theatre company.

This is my last week at Barksdale, and who knows what direction life will really take me. One thing is certain though; I will never forget the friends I’ve made at Barksdale Theatre, and I want to say thank you to the Marketing Department, Box Office and all the great staff I’ve worked with for the past eight weeks for making this an extra special opportunity for me.

Tamika

Our Policy Regarding Understudies

Posted by Bruce Miller

A couple comments have crossed my desk in the last few days focusing on our policy and practice regarding understudies. Phil and I had a vigorous discussion this afternoon around this issue, arguing pro and con so that we could both wind up on the same page. It was a fascinating debate.

Let me sum up where our thoughts now stand. I do so partially because we're curious how each of you might feel about these matters.

If an actor becomes incapacitated and is unable to go on stage for one or a few performances, we will try to perform the show with an emergency understudy, if such a remedy seems appropriate, and if a capable replacement can be found on an emergency basis. Recent examples include the following.

* Scott Wichmann injured himself during a performance of Scapino! Because of the unique nature and size of his role, we felt it would be impossible to find a suitable replacement with no notice. We cancelled three performances until Scott was well enough to perform again. The cancelled ticket holders were disappointed.

* Robin Arthur became ill during the run of Mame. The director/choreographer of the show, K Strong, was able to go on in her place, albeit with no rehearsal. The show went on as scheduled with no cancellations, and the audience was pleased.

* Robin O’Neill lost her voice during the final weekend of Into the Woods. The director/choreographer of the show, Robin Arthur, was able to go on in her place, book in hand, for one performance. The show went on as scheduled with no cancellations, and the audience was pleased.

If an actor informs us of a performance conflict before rehearsals begin, we have the choice of hiring that actor or someone else. If we choose to hire the actor with the conflict, it is our responsibility to hire and rehearse a capable understudy to take over the role in the original actor’s absence. The expectation is that there will be no appreciable drop in artistic quality while the original actor is away. Recent examples include the following.

* Susan Sanford informed us before accepting her role in The Man Who Came to Dinner that previously arranged vacation plans made it impossible for her to perform during one week of the run. We hired and rehearsed Jan Guarino to replace her during that week. Jan did a great job and the audience thoroughly enjoyed the show. Coincidentally, Susan had stepped in for Jan several months earlier when Jan had to leave the cast of Annie Get Your Gun to begin another contract.

* Emily Cole Bitz informed us before accepting her role in Smoke on the Mountain that she had a family commitment that would cause her to be out of town during one week of the run. We hired and rehearsed Marianne Minton to replace her during that week. Marianne did a great job and the audience loved the show.

* Scott Wichmann and Jen Meharg informed us before accepting their roles in The Odd Couple that they had an out-of-town wedding obligation that would cause them to miss one week during the run. We hired and rehearsed Richard Koch and Vickie McLeod to take their places for one week. Richard and Vickie were outstanding, and the audience saw just as good a show as they would have seen with Scott and Jen.

In every instance that an actor has become sick and we have sent a talented but less-than-fully-prepared understudy on stage to play the part, every audience member who has communicated with us has expressed appreciation for us not canceling the show, despite the less than total preparedness of the understudy.

In every instance when an actor has taken a planned leave of absence and we have sent a fully prepared understudy on stage to play the part, the audience has seemingly loved the show. A few audience members, however, have complained that our box office staff failed to notify them of the actor’s planned absence when they purchased their tickets.

When an actor’s absence is planned, we always issue a press release in advance of the understudied performances. Local media outlets sometimes run these press releases; often they do not, or they run them after the fact. We also always announce the planned for cast replacement on this blog. Ticket buyers who want to know about any and all planned cast replacements can always come here to find out what’s up.

In emergency and planned situations, we follow national theatre protocol. We do not ask our box office staff to inform ticket buyers of cast replacements or understudies. There are several reasons why.

1. What we sell at our box office are tickets to shows, not tickets to the solo performance of one actor.

2. We believe it demeans the work of the remaining cast and the understudies to “alert” ticket buyers to a cast change, indirectly implying that the new cast is somehow less worthy than the original cast.

3. We fear that the mere act of informing ticket buyers of the presence of an understudy may make them feel compelled to choose another week, thereby placing an unfair burden on the remaining cast and the understudy who are then forced to perform for half-houses or worse.

4. It is not possible or appropriate to provide our box office staff with all the information they may need to answer questions about why the actor is absent, how large is the role of the absent actor, how close is the skill set of the understudy to the skill set of the original actor, is the understudy fully prepared, how does the cast change impact the show.

5. We have no way of knowing which audience member is determined to see which actor, and we don’t want to put ourselves in a position of second-guessing who is coming to Annie Get Your Gun specifically to see Jan Guarino, or The Man Who Came to Dinner specifically to see Susan Sanford, or Smoke on the Mountain specifically to see Emily Cole Bitz, or The Odd Couple specifically to see Scott Wichmann and/or Jen Meharg. We welcome questions from ticket buyers about whether this or that favorite actor is going to be in this or that performance. Our box office staff will do its best to answer those questions, but we don’t initiate them.

6. Finally, if a single ticket buyer is dissatisfied with any aspect of a Barksdale performance, we welcome their constructive criticism and we apologize for their disappointment. If a subscriber is dissatisfied with any aspect of a Barksdale performance, we offer them a cash refund, no questions asked.

We always announce understudies to the audience prior to the performance in which the understudy will be appearing. And if we were to ever believe that any given Barksdale performance were to be less than professional, we would offer refunds to all ticket buyers who requested them, be they single ticket buyers or subscribers.

This is our policy regarding understudies. We believe it is in keeping with national best practices. We believe the refund policy goes well beyond national best practices. We welcome your input and opinions.

--Bruce Miller

Thinking Inside the Box: What Goes on Behind That Little Barred Window

This is a wonderful article from playbill.com that goes in depth into what it entails being a box office professional. It was brought to my attention by Billy Christopher Maupin, one of our distinguished box office personel.

Click here to read "Thinking Inside the Box: What Goes on Behind That Little Barred Window"

For more information on theatre beyond our fair River City take a peek at these websites:
Playbill
Broadway.com
Broadway World
Theatre Mania
IBDB
Tony Awards

***American Theatre Wing's Tony Awards June 10

-Russell Rowland