4 Easy Ways to Attract a Bigger Audience

1. Have a big cast and crew

   
   

   

   
   

Most people have family and friends who will come support them when they’re involved in a show. So the easiest way to increase your audience is to increase the number of people involved in the show.

People on stage often have more people come than the people backstage, so a large cast is always good for boosting ticket sales. But every person involved usually adds at least a couple people to your audience. So how can you get more people involved?

Are your backstage crew members wearing too many hats? I’ve been in shows where we’ve had 2 crew people doing 6 jobs each. How much better would it have been if we had 4 people doing 3 jobs each? Even better if we’d had 6 people doing 2 jobs each. I’m not suggesting that you cram as many people as you can backstage and have them standing around doing nothing. But if you have jobs that need doing, don’t try to have the absolute minimum number of people doing them. I know the argument is “It’s hard to find people who don’t want to act!” But they do exist! Ask people who audition if they don’t get a role if they’d be willing to help on crew. Ask the actors and the crew if they have any friends who would like to lend a hand. Reach out to your community and make it known you’ll train people on backstage work if they’ve never done them before and are interested in learning.

Even periphery people involved in the show often give word-of-mouth advertising: People who help paint or build the set, people who help with costumes, people who loan you a prop, etc. Especially if their name is going to be in the program, they will tell people about the show and hopefully convince their friends and loved ones to come see what they helped with.

2. Promise Quality

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve invited people to come see the play I’m helping with and they are uninterested until they find out that it’s at the big theater in town that gets all the touring shows. For some reason, when you tell people you’re putting on a play, many people seem to think you’re saying, “I’m going to stand in my yard with a plastic crown on my head reciting badly-memorized Shakespeare.” I think this is a protective instinct of people trying to avoid the menace that is bad theater.

Bad theater is not just boring, it’s painful. Nobody wants to feel obligated to sit through two hours of a poorly done show. Most people would rather miss out on something good than take the risk that they would have to sit through bad theater.

But as soon as I tell people the show I’m working on is at a big theater, I see the fear switch off and suddenly they’re interested in attending. In their minds, performing at a “real” theater means it must be a good show. (It does not, but don’t tell them that!)

You may not have the benefit of performing at a big theater, but there are other ways to achieve the same outcome. If you can demonstrate that you are putting on a quality show, you can overcome people’s fear. (Doing everything you can to produce a good show is the implied first step.)

Use your marketing to highlight your best aspects. I don’t care if your marketing is just pictures you’re putting up on your personal social media. Highlight your strengths! If you’ve got a great set, post pictures of that (Subtext: See? We’ve got a real set because this is a real show and we know what we’re doing!”) If you’ve got a professional hair and makeup person, talk about how long they’ve been in the business and how they designed the looks for the actors (Subtext: “See? We have professionals who have put a lot of thought into the smallest details!”) Post pictures of the actors emoting (Subtext: “See? We have actors who can actually act!”) Make a trailer for your play if you can to show some of the best bits (I know not all play publishers are as open to this as we are!)

Whatever you can show to the public that says, “This is a well-done production” will greatly help motivate people to actually attend.

3. Remove Resistance

   
   

   

   
   

I’m definitely one of those people who gets anxious when I’m going somewhere new. Is it hard to find? Will there be parking? Am I dressed okay? How long am I going to be there? Turns out, this is incredibly common and makes people reluctant to try new things.

The good news is, you can easily lessen this reluctance by addressing the most common questions.

Explain the parking situation. Even if it’s bad, people will feel more comfortable knowing: “Parking is limited, so arrive early.” “Parking garage five blocks north.” “Here’s a map of available street parking.”

Tell them how early to arrive, how long the show is, and if there’s an intermission: “Doors open at 6:30pm and the show starts at 7:00pm. Show runs 2 hours, including 15 minute intermission.”

This may seem like a weird one, but tell them how to dress. The closest some people have been to a stage play is watching an action movie where there’s a plot to kidnap an ambassador at the opera. So telling people they don’t have to buy a designer gown or tuxedo is actually helpful: “Most people wear jeans, but you’re welcome to dress up!” “Dress is business casual.” “The play takes place in 1920, so feel free to dress in period costumes!”

It seems to simple, but if you can help people visualize the evening by giving them this information, they’re much more likely to take action. Don’t talk down to people, but make easy instructions for people who who’ve never been to your theater again!

4. Sell the Experience

People keep going to movie theaters (at least when there are movies worth seeing), even though they could watch that same movie on their own couch. People also eat at restaurants when they have the time to cook at home or could even have food from the restaurant delivered. So why bother leaving your house?

The answer to both of these is the same: the experience. You sit on your couch every single day. It’s routine. It’s not something you do for fun. But going to a movie theater or a restaurant is an event.

Get people excited about the chance to do something different. Theater is an experience they can tell people about. Encourage them to make an evening of it by going to dinner before the show (maybe you can even get a local restaurant to do cross promotion with you.) Going to a theatrical production is not something most people even think about doing regularly, if ever. Use that to your advantage. “If you’re feeling stuck in a rut, give yourself an evening off!” “Need a mini-break? Escape to a fictional world of mystery and murder!” “Come experience a show that will make your coworkers jealous on Monday!”

Don’t assume you can’t attract larger audiences. With a little basic psychology, you may find you’re able to give the gift of theater to more people than ever before!