Community Arts

We knew that going into this summer’s production there would be a lot of uncertainty with many aspects of the show. The renovation of the Fridley Auditorium would provide challenges and opportunities for our organization. We were able to achieve almost all of our goals for the production. We had a large cast of both new and returning actors to fill the stage. We put on a high quality production that we were quite proud of and provided many opportunities both on and off stage for individuals to participate. We had a diverse and varied group of participants that brought many view points and backgrounds to our production and provided an accessible and welcoming environment for everyone involved. We however did not draw an audience of 1500 people to our show. We knew that doing an unknown show in a new space would be difficult, but we were surprised how important name recognition is in drawing an audience. We were saddened by the lack of regular followers of our organization that did not come to see the show. We hit them often with many different forms of communication, but it was not strong enough to get them into our seats. It was definitely more work to put on the show in a space that was not our own, mainly due to the amount of materials and supplies that we had to transport into and out of the space. But it was worth the work to still be able to put on a show during our summer of construction. We had our most dedicated and consistent social media presence to date due to two new advisory members that focused just on that aspect of promotion, but it is possible that a large percentage of our followers do not pay attention to social media. We need to improve other methods of communication that are effective with those individuals and increase the number of followers that are swayed by Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. The people that did show up to see the show had a wonderful time and the comment that we kept hearing over and over from them was that they could tell that the cast was having a wonderful experience on stage. They could easily tell that all of the cast members really enjoyed performing the show. We got the idea to have a drawing to give audience members a chance to appear on stage in the show. At intermission we drew two names that we then brought back stage, dressed them in costume and allowed to appear on stage during the first 15 minutes of the second act. We had cast members who had the responsibility of guiding them around the stage and showing how they could participate. They all had a great time doing it. It would not work in every production, but it is something that we will keep in our box of tools to increase opportunities for our audience members. Letting them appear on stage was truly unique. We were very happy with the cast for Lady Pirates. It was a nice mix of new people and returning actors. Minnesota Playlist is by far the best method of bringing the show to the attention of actors in the Twin Cities. The cast had their usual following of supporters that we rely on to bring in audience members. They came in the expected numbers that support a typical actor. We feel that we also were able to cultivate some new audience members from the Spring Lake Park community that was curious to see our show. We participated in Spring Lake Park’s community festival parade for the first time. Walking down the street in pirate costumes and swinging cutlasses drew a lot of attention from the younger parade watchers. We felt very welcomed and supported by the Spring Lake Park community. That was a very successful event that we feel we may want to continue when we return to the Fridley Stage. We utilized a large number of the Spring Lake Park student technicians to run the show. They all had a great time and we feel that we have built some strong bonds that will be valuable for future productions. We had a comical bit in the beginning of the show that called for all the sailors on board to abandon ship when they first see the pirate ship approaching. We obtained a large crash pad and placed it behind the structure of the ship. Everyone had a great time leaping off the second story of the stage set unto the crash pad. The Spring Lake Park students even brought in their friends to be able to leap unto it. We could have sold tickets for that experience alone. Our matinee performance was signed in ASL. It is important to us that we offer that service. We have not always had the deaf community in attendance. It was very rewarding that new audience members discovered our production and were able to take advantage of this service. The interpreters also have a much better experience when they are actually helping individuals enjoy the show. But we really struggled in getting audience members to come and see an unknown production. Those people that did come were all pleasantly surprised that it was such an entertaining show. We feel that we did get a very good cross section of the community. The staff from nearby Mounds View Community Theatre came to see our final performance after their show run was completed. One of them were selected to be a part of the audience experience on stage. They commented on how difficult it was for them to get people to come and see a show that did not have strong name recognition. We had actually gone to see their production before ours opened, going on their pay what you can performance. They had a very small attendance at that show. We feel that we have a good reputation for putting on a professional, high quality show that is entertaining for the audience that comes to see it. We need to figure out how to take advantage of that reputation and get people to come. It is just not enough to say, if you build it they will come. They don’t always come. We were successful in casting a high quality, diverse cast that put on a professional and entertaining show. We brought new talent to our stage even without the pull of a big name show. We were very happy with the final product. We were sad that we only attracted 741 people to our production. We had hoped for an average attendance of 250 people per show. We achieved 60% of that goal.