Like Mother, Like Daughter?

Ann Wedgeworth's acceptance speech at The Tony Awards (1978) for Best Performance-Featured Actess in Neil Simon's Chapter Two. Her offspring Diánna Martin is appearing in Oberon Winter Rep's AMERICAN RAPTURE.

AMERICAN RAPTURE plays a three-week limited engagement at the Beckett Theatre at Theatre Row (410 W 42nd St). Performances begin Saturday, February 14th and continue through Sunday, March, 1st.

Check it out http://www.oberontheatre.org

Confronting the economic divide...

Wreckio Ensemble
Proudly Presents the World Premiere of

ROOFTOPS
Don't eat the chicken!

Written by
KARLY MAURER

Starring
RANDI BERRY , KATIE BRADEN, MIKE BRADLEY
DECHELLE DAMIEN, TARA GRIECO, JESSICA KELLY
LAUREN TURNER KIEL, ANNA LAMADRID, BETH MCGREGOR
AL MIRO, MIKA PORRO, BENJAMIN SPRADLEY
MERET OPPENHEIM

Directed by KIMBERLEA KRESSAL

FOUR-WEEK LIMITED ENGAGEMENT
MARCH 5 – MARCH 28, 2009 AT THE MILAGRO

OPENING NIGHT IS SATURDAY, MARCH 7 AT 8 P.M.

TICKETS ON SALE NOW AT WRECKIO.COM

WRECKIO ENSEMBLE is pleased to announce the world premiere production of ROOFTOPS, directed by Kimberlea Kressal. ROOFTOPS will play a four-week limited engagement at The Milagro at Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural Center (107 Suffolk Street, New York, NY 10002). Performances begin Thursday, March 5 and continue through to Saturday, March 28. Opening Night is Saturday, March 7 (8 p.m.).

ROOFTOPS is a satiric commentary on the economic divide present in American society. When Crane is ripped from her world of comfort and convenience and catapulted on to “the Tops”, she is introduced to a world of women living and working in a futuristic “debtors prison”. These women, under constant sedation, unlivable conditions, and government experimentation, are quickly deteriorating both mentally and physically. As she learns the rituals and rules of her new home, including a regimented diet of fast food chicken and an expectation to breed with the rooftop's male watchdog, Crane's hope of ever returning to her old life seems impossible. When an Arab-American man, who is demonized by the media as a terrorist, offers Crane a chance to end the suffering of the rooftop dwellers, but possibly sacrifice herself in the process, Crane is forced to question the worth of one human life versus the freedom of thousands.

ROOFTOPS plays the following regular schedule through Saturday, March 28th:

Mondays at 8 p.m.
Thursdays at 8 p.m.
Fridays at 8 p.m.
Saturdays at 8 p.m.
Sundays at 3 p.m.


Tickets are $20 and are now available online at www.wreckio.com or by calling 917-626-1369. Tickets may also be purchased in-person at the theater’s box office ½ hour prior to the performance.

*90 minutes*

Social Networking and Theater Goers--some statistics:

A Survey from Situation Marketing:

Here are a few important points about the survey. We [Situation Marketing] had a little over 1,250 surveys completed in full. We offered no incentive for those to complete it and it ran across a variety of Broadway show websites along with email lists to past ticket buyers. The surveys were completed in October through December of 2008.

Onward with the information…

Social Networking Usage of Theatergoers
The first bit of research I wanted to share was some information we learned on the social networking front. Social networking, particularly Facebook, is a very hot topic right now and will continue to be over the next year. So, we wanted to dive in and see what actual ticket buyers are doing in the social networking space.

When we asked the 1,250 folks, “Are you part of a social networking website such as MySpace or Facebook?”, 45.3% answered “Yes” while 54.7% said “No.” Interesting, huh? Well, let’s make it a lot more interesting by looking at the age breakdown by usage.

Social Networking Usage by Age
18-24 years old (95.3%)
25-34 years old (71.1%)
35-44 years old (48%)
45-54 years old (30.5%)
55-64 years old (21%)

So, before I continue, let’s keep in mind that these percentages are most likely higher than the ‘average person’ because these people are completing the survey online (meaning they are more online savvy to begin with). With that being said, these numbers pretty much paint a direct correlation by age and usage of social networks. No major surprise to me here – but, the big question you must ask yourself is if the usage percents are high enough to justify you using investing in participating in the social nets in a way that justifies the expense. When I say expense, I mean the time, commitment and actual costs that are required to have a meaningful presence.

Finally, one more bit of research that I think you’ll find interesting on this topic. When asked which social network that they used, a whopping 83.4% said Facebook with MySpace coming in a far second at 37.6%. There was nothing even close after that and we listed at least another ten so-called popular social networking platforms.

Beware of the hype surrounding social networking – it’s the Wild West right now as there are a lot of false promises and, quite frankly, ‘scare tactics’ that your brand needs to be on Facebook. The reality is, your marketing plan and goals will determine that – not hype. Know “the what” you are getting into first and fully understand “the why” before jumping in – I’ve seen it backfire in a bad way if you don’t.

Text Messaging Usage of Theatergoers
You know my stance on mobile marketing, so I couldn’t possibly offer up some research that didn’t include data on mobile marketing. When asked, “Other than making phone calls, which of the following do you use your cell phone for?” take a look at the % of respondents by age that say they use their phone for text messaging.

Text Messaging Usage By Age
18-24 years old (92.3%)
25-34 years old (84.9%)
35-44 years old (81.3%)
45-54 years old (69.5%)
55-64 years old (52.4%)

So, it’s not just kids text messaging. The bigger question here is which mobile marketing concept/application makes the most sense for which age group. I have my hunches here based on campaign performance we’ve been seeing as of late, but want to do more research to try and support those hunches.

I hope you found this helpful. There was a lot of other interesting information we have from the survey which we will be talking about in client meetings over the coming weeks. We will have (what I think will be) even more interesting data to share next quarter as we expand our research efforts. If there are specific issues or research you would like to see from us, please don’t hesitate to send me a note. Your feedback is helpful.


Thank you for this insightful information--I hope that I have credited you properly.

Decline of Theater Critique--National Crisis?

L.A. theater leaders decry elimination of arts writers and editors
From The Los Angeles Times' Culture Monster blog, 1/18/09
The recent reports of the elimination of theater critic, writer and editor positions at the Los Angeles Daily News, LA Weekly and the Daily Breeze came as a blow to Los Angeles' stage community. Late Thursday, Culture Monster received a letter signed by Gilbert Cates of the Geffen Playhouse, Sheldon Epps of the Pasadena Playhouse and Michael Ritchie of Center Theatre Group -- decrying the decline in voices and calling on the arts community to keep the conversation going. "It may seem somewhat ironic that leaders of arts institutions would come out in favor of further criticism. It would be like fire hydrants getting together to come out in favor of more dogs. But, as artistic leaders who run three of the larger theater organizations in Los Angeles, we've recently become worried. Over the last few months there has been a conspicuous disappearance of arts writers and editors in our local papers. Two more significant layoffs were confirmed this week. It's time for us to speak up." While the artistic directors offer no solutions, their real purpose could serve as a call to the theater community to unite to find ways to draw attention to diverse offerings on L.A.'s many stages and to the city's arts and culture in general. Read the full text of the letter here.

Chicago critics discuss "The Incredible Shrinking Arts Media"
Posted by Time Out Chicago critic Kris Vire on the blog Storefront Rebellion, 1/15/09
Earlier tonight I sat on a panel [of arts journalists] for an audience of arts administrators and PR folks about the challenges being faced by arts coverage in print media, and new directions that the arts orgs can take to reach audiences. We spent a lot of gas talking about online initiatives and social networking. Because let's face it: as I said tonight, Time Out Chicago is slimming down a bit in the new year; the Reader announced this week that it's cutting its print listings way back; the Sun-Times has been moving many reviews to online-only; and the Tribune famously cut down its news hole last year. You just can't expect print coverage as some kind of birthright at this point in time. I was struck by the remarks of a gentleman representing a theater company, who seemed particularly frustrated by the panel's focus on the web. I'm paraphrasing here, but his question was something like, "What do you do when 90% of your audience is not online?" Um...your organization dies? I don't mean to seem glib, and I didn't get to answer this person's question as thoroughly as I'd hoped in the moment. But if you intend on remaining complacent with the audience you already have, and you're not attempting to attract new audiences: You. Will. Die. It's not about feeling like oppressed artists. But we can't do your marketing job for you. As journalists and as critics, I promise we're all trying as hard as we can afford.

Thanks Cott Mail for the daily info...

Mommy is so PROUD:

Check out this article by Amy Wilson in this month's Baby Talk:

Baby Boy-Crazy!
This mom's home and heart were filled with trains and trucks, skinned knees and SpongeBob. Was there room for a girl?

By Amy Wilson, Babytalk

Kampfire brings the world of Web 2.0 to theatre in NYC

If you do not know what Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Blogging are...well then you probably wouldn't be reading this...but you should also contact me to help you promote your next show.

You can not do it without the new and mostly free world of Web 2.0 and Kampfire is determined to make it easy for people to apply these skills to their promotions.

It is 2009...it is Web 2.0.

Are you following me on twitter: @kampfire
Are you my friend on Facebook? Add me: Katie Rosin (with a cute photo of my kids)
You can see my clients YouTube videos if you look to the right...

More to come on this subject as we move forward into Kampfire 2.0

Variety: Broadway critics leave Gotham

WILL THEATER SUFFER???....YES!

Broadway critics leave Gotham
Pundit departure has theater watchers wary
By GORDON COX
More Articles:
Archival stage material goes online
Richards, Frankel team on 'Hair'
No special treatment for stage-to-film efforts
Week 31 lifted by 'Wicked'
Pinter reshaped modern theater
Revivals boosted British stage in '08
In the Gotham legit world, critical mass keeps getting lighter.

A string of departures in the Broadway critics corps, several of them spurred by the attrition of print media in the struggling economy, has left old-school observers questioning the longevity of theater criticism as a journalistic institution.

With the power of print reviews already lessened by the rising prominence of the chorus of Internet voices, legit scribes find themselves in the same boat as film critics, also prey to the fall of print media.

Will theater suffer? The critics certainly think so. But others in the legit community are similarly concerned, fearing media coverage of theater will become increasingly marginalized and business will be hurt in the long run.