Where are all the Halloween scares?

There are few things I drag my lazy self out of the house for, but Shakespeare is usually one of them.  I did, after all, work at a renowned Southern Shakespeare theatre for 8 years.

So was the Wilma’s Macbeth worth the train ride to Center City?  Well, yes and no.

Yes, because it featured some stunning visuals: the weird sisters crawling up and down the walls, the variable and emotional use of lighting throughout, the Birnam Wood reveal.  And no, because none of these interesting visuals translated into an emotional affective experience.  Yes, because the Wilma’s space is beautiful and worth seeing; no, because a fantastic space alone can’t make up for a lack of connection with the audience and the other actors onstage.  Yes, because Lady Macbeth’s unraveling was compelling to watch; and no, because, aside from the “Out, damn spot” scene, neither she nor anyone else on the stage seemed to have much business performing Shakespeare.

The Wilma had never tackled the Bard before, and to be honest, it shows.  Nearly every actor threw out their lines like grand pronouncements — they seemed to be eternally conscious that were Doing Shakespeare.  But the poetry of early modern theatre works best if you treat it like normal language, as the actors of PAC’s The Duchess of Malfi did.

I thought at least seeing Macbeth around Halloween-time would be a good, spooky theatre-going experience, but the play is strangely bloodless.  The production outright ignores the text when Banquo appears at the banquet scene: though Macbeth plainly calls his visage “gory,” the Wilma’s Banquo was spotlessly clean, attired in white, and not even very scary.  I haven’t seen a better Halloween production to recommend (I hear Carrie is getting panned), but I can tell you the creep-factor just isn’t here.

Macbeth is evidently popular enough that the Wilma has extended its run until November 13th.  But really, I’d recommend saving your $30+ and renting yourself a scary movie instead.

Score one for the Philly theatre scene

One of the hardest things about moving from Atlanta was leaving behind my theatre friends — I worked for 6 different theatres in the 8 years I lived there, so I knew most of the artists working in theatre in town.  I knew what to see and what not to see, got in free most places, and always knew where to grab a drink afterward.

Philly theatre isn’t the same as Atlanta by a long shot (I’ll never get past missing my puppet friends, not ever), but it ain’t too shabby either.  I saw my first production here on Friday night, and it was delightful.  Well, for values of delightful including strangling, stabbing, wax body parts, a lecherous cardinal, and everybody dead at the end.

The Philadelphia Artists’ Collective put on The Duchess of Malfi, a 17th century English revenge tragedy, at the Broad Street Ministry.  The space itself is gorgeous and perfect for the piece; it’s a working church, with a lofted room used as a thrust stage theatre, adorned with thick wooden doors and lined by balconies.  The minimalist production didn’t even need set pieces in a setting this rich.  The intimacy made the tragic tale that much more affecting — the audience literally couldn’t get away from the murder and madness (and priest near-sex) happening onstage.

The play is long, even with some juicy bits cut out, but the quality of the acting and the craziness of what happens kept it from dragging.  The actors didn’t so much revel in the lines as spit them out full force.  A play like this requires that kind of intensity.  And seriously, it had some of the most realistic death scenes I’ve ever seen put on a stage.

The show runs through next weekend.  If you’re in the area, I highly recommend going to see it.

More on Utilizing Foursquare

One of the best ways to get ideas for your theatre (or any business) is to check out what others are doing, and there’s no better place to keep up with everything Foursquare than About Foursquare.

Two particular posts in recent days have highlighted unique check-in specials and their results.  Here are five creative specials, all of which make great jumping off points for creating your own.  (The escalating benefits for bringing friends seems like a particularly great one for theatres!)  On the topic of measurable results, Miss Shirley’s in Baltimore has seen a 427% increase in check-ins since allowing the Foursquare mayor to skip the line.

Utilizing Foursquare for Theatres

I’ve found myself in several conversations lately about how to utilize Foursquare, the location-based social media game, at theatres and other non-profits or arts organizations.  I wanted to compile some of my thoughts on the matter here for easy reference.

Tips for theatres:

Just because you only have a few check-ins, that doesn’t mean Foursquare is useless for you. Foursquare users are willing to go new places when offered incentives.  Adding check-in specials or detailed tips will get people looking into your theatre — clicking through to your Twitter feed, possibly even stopping by your physical location, or at least seeing where you are, what you’re near, etc.  You can attract more attention by beginning to use Foursquare, and could very well see your check-ins increase because of it.

Create check-in specials scaled to your season and your ticket sales. If you run 7 shows in a season, don’t offer something for free on the 10th check-in.  No one will get there.  Better to offer something on the first check-in, to encourage new patrons who are Foursquare users and returning patrons who are new Foursquare users.  Then offer another special on a later check-in, to reward your returning patrons.

The possibilities for specials are endless, but here are a few ideas:

• First check-in: 25% off tickets.  Or more or less, depending on how your tickets are selling and how much you already charge.
• Third check-in: one free drink at the concession stand.
• Checking in to every show in the season: buy one, get one free tickets for the last show of the year.

If your theatre has special events, such as dinner club nights or backstage tours, you can increase attendance by creating Foursquare specials to go along with them, thereby also bridging the gap between patrons who only see shows and patrons who attend shows and special events.  If you partner with a nearby restaurant, team up to offer specials to patrons who check-in both places in one night.

Claim your venue and check out what people are saying about you. The venue tips on Foursquare are completely user-generated, which makes them a great place to get feedback.  While it is harder to communicate directly with those patrons who’ve left feedback, negative “tips” can still be a great way to correct patron frustrations, and positive tips let you know what you’re doing right.  Google search your theatre’s name + Foursquare, find your venue page, and see what’s going on.

Advertise your presence on Foursquare in your physical location, as well as your online materials. Put Foursquare stickers on your door or box office window, to remind patrons to check in.  Foursquare users tend to be savvy social media users with a multitude of accounts, so link to your Foursquare profile page on your website and Facebook.  Announce new specials on your Twitter feed.  Retweet check-ins and thank patrons for attending or ask them what they thought of the show.

Find out whether visiting your theatre can help users earn badges.  If so, blog about it, publicize it in the lobby, or even print it in the program. Earning badges is one of the most fun aspects of Foursquare, and can greatly help drum up new visitors.  It may be a little more challenging to figure out if your theatre can help a user earn badges, but with a little research and creativity, it can be done.  Maybe there’s a great food wagon right outside that many patrons visit when they come?  Tell them they can earn the Ziggy’s Wagon badge.  Have a gallery in your lobby?  Make sure it’s tagged correctly, and your patrons can work on earning their Warhol badge.  If your venue is really lucky, actually checking in there can count towards a badge — such as the Center for Puppetry Arts and the Historian badge.  Do some research using a full list of badges, and see which ones you can help your patrons earn.

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The beauty of Foursquare is in turning real life travels into a game — with benefits both imaginary (earning badges) and concrete (getting discounts or deals).  Utilizing Foursquare at your theatre can create a sense of fun around attending.  Moreover, it doesn’t have to be time-consuming.  Set up a special, let it run, and see what happens.

Blogging: Midnight Memories of Georgia Shakespeare

I always knew I’d return to the box office one day, but I never knew my shift would be starting at midnight!

My Shakespearean journey began in 2003, when I was hired at the last minute to manage the café for the summer. It was an incredible stroke of luck, and I’ve often marveled at the array of coincidences that got me the job. (I should probably take this moment to thank Gabriel Jason Dean for getting that full time job and leaving me the perfect summer position.)

Since 2003, I’ve worked in the café, house managed, and sold tickets in the box office. (I was also named Official Office File Girl, because Heidi Blackwell doesn’t like to file receipts. I find it very soothing.) I’ve also worked all but one Shake at the Lake, including the very first one ever. I’ve handed out wristbands to patrons at 10 am, sold t-shirts at 7 pm, and dismantled the set at 2 am. As of tonight, thanks to our awesome 48 Hour Sale, I can also say I’ve sold tickets after midnight.

Continue reading at Georgia Shakespeare’s blog.

The freakshow in modern performance

K-rock and I saw a really interesting show last night from Out of Hand Theater, just called The Show!.  It was a 10-in-1, based on the idea of the carnival freakshow, featuring local actors and puppeteers.  I went to see some good friends who were filling in the guest artist slot with a puppet show about a man and his gay horse (hilarious and awesome).  I was a little wary of the freakshow theme at first, and I certainly watched with a feeling of trepidation, but I ended up being pleasantly surprised.  Everything felt like it was done out of love, never out of a desire to laugh at the freaks or participate in the act of Othering.  In fact, the MC talked in the opening about watching actual historical carnival freakshows and how the point, and the result, was to view and acknowledge the performers’ humanity.  And while the performance wasn’t as incredible as the one described in The Traveling Death and Resurrection Show, it was still by turns funny, scary, thought-provoking, and weirdly touching.

It’s clear to me Out of Hand did their research, and tried to approach the theme from a sensitive standpoint.  They’ve posted a few links to interesting articles about freakshows, though I’ve not had time to take a full look through these, so proceed at your own risk.

I’m really attracted to the carnival theme as a framework for performance art (but only when it’s done well).  Obviously it can go horribly wrong, and be a terrible example of hipster ableism.  But I don’t think the theme is inherently bad or even exploitative.  I do think there can be something joyous in coming together to celebrate what makes each of us a “freak,” in a performative sense.

This theme also runs through the show we’re currently doing at the Center, Paul Bunyan and the Tall Tale Medicine Show.  This one’s a kids show, so it’s obviously a lot tamer, but it still has that medicine show aspect — a collection of stories told by a raggedy conglomeration of performers who both shine in their own right and assist each other, whose stories blend together to build something bigger in a community sense.

I think I love most the tiny moments where one performer is helping another to tell her “tale.”  To use an example from The Show!, when the escape artist becomes the tango partner of the contortionist, helping to tell the story of her death by becoming another character all together.  When one identity layers on top of the performer’s main identity, I suppose.  It’s a kind of double-obscuring of the performer, which still serves to emphasize the artifice of each and every identity on the stage.

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If you’re in Atlanta, I highly recommend seeing both shows I mentioned.  The Show! has one more performance, on Friday, April 30th at 11pm. It skips May 7th and 14th, then starts up again every Friday night.  Paul Bunyan runs Tues.-Sun. from now until May 23rd.