Produce Yourself Workshop – Saturday, August 7th
You may remember some posts from many moons ago under the Produce Yourself! label. They were designed to be a step by step process in the art of self producing your own independent theatre…from idea generation to the theatrical process to marketing and beyond. Well Produce Yourself is back, albeit in an even more intensive, real-world form. The IAE is holding our first Produce Yourself workshop on Saturday, August 7th from 12-3 pm at the Gorilla Tango Theatre in Wicker Park, focused specifically around the idea of figuring out how to get an audience into the door and keep them invested in your work long after they leave.
I think that’s a question we don’t really consider often enough as we’re assembling our marketing plans. As a creator, I’m a proponent of momentum…if I’m going to the trouble of building up a hubub about my current project, it seems foolish not to try and stay connected to my audience after they leave the theatre and parlay the buzz and their obvious initiative to buy tickets into my next show. But how do you do that? Is that a social networking thing, is it building an e-mail list, is it block booking shows? Honestly, it could be any number of things depending on your project, and we’re going to be asking all those questions and more in the workshop.
The other thing I’ve noticed a lot in the Chicago independent theatre community is a certain expectation that you don’t need to find an audience because they’ll find you. If anything, we have an even more uphill battle in this community because of the glut of comedy and small theatrical productions all vying for a few regular theatre-going audience members. In this workshop, we’re going to look into targeting your show to a particular audience…maybe one that doesn’t even know they WANT to go out and see theatre. Performing for your friends and family is great, but the real satisfaction of creating is in sharing your brilliance with people who don’t already know you’re brilliant. I’m assuming everyone reading this is brilliant. That’s correct, isn’t it?
We’re going to have a packed 3 hours on August 7th, and I hope to see many of you there. Because of our relationship with the Gorilla Tango Theatre and their amazing relationship with independent producers in the community, the workshop is free for select Gorilla Tango producers who are currently working on shows or have shows coming up. If you are a producer putting on a show at the theatre, inquire with Gorilla Tango if you’re eligible to come to this workshop for free. General registration is $50 and you can enroll online at produceyourself.eventbrite.com or by calling the IAE at 773-756-2163.
If you have any questions about the workshop or aren’t sure if it’s right for you, feel free to e-mail me directly at Shawn@TheIAE.com and we can chat. Asking questions is a good thing!
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