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August 9, 2006

Mid-sized Theatre Companies Launch “Explore Boston Theatre” Campaign
Through Unprecedented Alliance for Audience Development

Boston, MA — Seven of the Boston area's most prominent mid-sized theatre companies have banded together in a pilot project to publicize and promote their 2006-2007 season productions. In September, 2006, the Explore Boston Theatre campaign will introduce a special offer for audiences through a joint brochure that will be inserted in Boston-area copies of the Sunday New York Times and made available at other venues around the area.  It will be supported with advertising in the Metro newspaper, WGBH and other media as well as online at www.ExploreBostonTheatre.com. 

 “This campaign represents an unprecedented collaboration of arts organizations,” said Jeff Poulos, Executive Director of StageSource, the Greater Boston theatre alliance. “Our research has shown that audiences for these mid-sized theatre companies are drawn by the opportunity to see high-quality productions in intimate surroundings, and we're hoping to bring this message to a wider public.”

Press Contacts: 
Jeff Poulos — 617.720.6066, jpoulos@stagesource.org, or
Janet Bailey — 617.971.9383 or janet.bailey@comcast.net

Seven Boston-area Theatres JOINTLY Awarded
A $25,000 GRANT FROM THE John and Abigail Adams Arts Program
for Cultural Economic Development

(Boston, MA)  Seven of the most prominent mid-sized theatres in the Greater Boston area will pilot a joint audience development program to be launched in fall 2006 using a grant awarded by the Massachusetts Cultural Council's John and Abigail Adams Arts Program for Cultural Economic Development. The Theatre Alliance for Audience Development Project, which includes media and business partners as well as the theatre companies, was awarded $25,000 which will need to be matched with funds from additional sources.  

The seven theatre companies are Actors' Shakespeare Project, Lyric Stage Company of Boston, New Repertory Theatre, SpeakEasy Stage Company, Stoneham Theatre, Súgán Theatre, and Wheelock Family Theatre. Although each of the seven theatre com­panies indi­vidually is small, with budgets ranging from around $500,000 to just over $1 million per year, the seven companies together have a combined budget size of over $4 mil­lion.  The companies have each developed a strong following in their own particular niche, and collectively per­form more than 700 times a year, and serve over 100,000 audience members annually.

The project seeks to generate economic activity in neighborhoods where the theatres are located, increase visibility and branding of mid-sized theatres as a group, and reach new audience members who are not cur­rently attending these theatres.  The project will capitalize on knowledge obtained about audiences through a survey conducted in the fall of 2004 by Boston's Theatre Arts Marketing Alliance (TAMA). By using channels the TAMA survey revealed to be important to audiences, tying in offers with restaurant partners, and creating materials that empha­size the quality of productions and the appeal of the intimate settings, the theatres anticipate increasing audience and providing a total experience to audience members in their communities.

The economic goal of the project is to realize the benefits of growing audiences, an impact that will be distributed through more than a half-dozen com­munities in which these theatres operate: Boston's South End, Back Bay, and Fenway areas; Central Square and East Cambridge; Watertown; and Stone­ham. These neighborhoods will benefit from increased patronage at restaurants, retail shops, parking garages and other businesses, in addition to the usual economic benefits generated by the theatres them­selves through their spend­ing on artists' fees, production costs, marketing expenses, and admini­stration. Longer term, this project will be the first step in a collaborative effort to brand mid-sized theatre com­panies as a group, and to build audiences from among those area residents who may not currently be aware of the rich mix of offerings available from the region's mid-sized theatres.

The project will be led by StageSource, the Greater Boston Theatre Alliance, which provides leadership and services to advance the art of theatre in the Greater Boston area. The project will be supported by media partner Metro-Boston, which publishes a daily newspaper that is distributed free throughout the metropolitan area and has been enormously successful at reaching a younger and more diverse readership. Project collaborators will include restaurants in the geographic areas near the theatre venues.

The seven theatre companies represent a mix of genres, each with its own special niche:

Actors' Shakespeare Project:  Now in its second season, ASP has quickly become highly respected for its performances of works of Shakespeare, which take place in several performance venues in Boston and Cambridge with an average size of 150 seats.

• Lyric Stage Company of Boston:  Lyric Stage, founded in 1974 and occupying a 240-seat thea­tre in the Back Bay, offers seven productions per year in various genres and styles in a mix that reflects their image as “Boston's Off Broadway.”
• New Repertory Theatre:  New Rep produces plays that deal with compelling issues and ideas by the most important playwrights of the past and present. The company recently celebrated its 20th anniversary, and has just moved into a brand-new 339-seat theatre in Watertown.
• SpeakEasy Stage Company:  SpeakEasy Stage, currently celebrating its 15th anniversary, pro­duces newer and sometimes edgier works, mostly Boston-area premieres; they are one of the resi­dent companies at the Boston Center for the Arts, performing in the 195-seat Roberts Theatre.
• Stoneham Theatre: A restored 349-seat vaudeville house on the main street of Stoneham is home for this five-year-old company, which produces a mix of entertaining plays and musicals.
• Súgán Theatre:  Súgán presents the best of plays by Irish writers, both past and present. The com­pany is in its 14th season, and its 8th season in residence at the Boston Center for the Arts, where it performs in the 142-seat Plaza Theatre.
• Wheelock Family Theatre:  WFT is in its 25th year as the area's leading producer of theatre aimed at families, performing plays and musicals that appeal to young people and adults in a 650-seat theatre on the campus of Wheelock College.

The grants are part of $1.35 million that Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC) is investing statewide to support programs that use arts and culture to stimulate new economic activity, create jobs, and increase income for cultural organizations, artists, and businesses. MCC will fund 14 projects in Greater Boston totaling almost $500,000. The remaining $850,000 will support cultural economic development efforts in Lynn, Worcester, Fall River, North Adams, and many other cities and towns across Massachusetts.  Janet Bailey of Janet Bailey Associates in Boston has been retained as project manager for the Theatre Alliance for Audience Development. Full results of the TAMA survey conducted in fall 2004 can be located at www.tamaboston.org.  For more information, contact StageSource at 617.720.6066 or jpoulos@stagesource.org.