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26 subscribers -- and counting
posted by Cheshire on Wed, Sep 24, 2008
in News
We're only four weeks into the new season, and I keep seeing signs that this is really Impact's year. New seats, a new door, a hit show... it's really frickin' awesome. But coolest of all, I think, is that we introduced season subscriptions this year, and 26 people have already signed up.
Impact, as you know, doesn't have a large budget. In fact, aside from getting our postcards and posters out into the neighborhood, we have no advertising budget at all. So though we always hope to bring in first-time audience members, the majority of our business energy is spent trying to find ways to deepen our relationship with our fans.
This year I've been part of Theatre Bay Area's mentorship program. I asked for Liz Lisle, managing director of Shotgun Players, to be my mentor. Shotgun was once the resident company of La Val's Subterranean -- we took it over from them when they outgrew the space. I thought it would be a natural fit, and it's been fantastic.
One of the things Liz recommended was that we offer subscriptions, which we'd never done before. Though we've usually had four-play seasons, two years ago we had six, and five years ago we had three. It never occurred to us to try to get subscribers, since our programming was so variable. But Liz convinced me that this was something we absolutely had to do -- actually it was more like one of those moments where someone suggests something that seems so right, you can't believe someone hadn't said it before. When I presented it to Melissa, she immediately went for the idea -- same revelatory moment.
Though we were now excited by the idea, we had no idea how many people would go for it. We thought, maybe 10 or 15. So we ordered 25 decks of playing cards (our gifts to charter subscribers). 25 was the minimum order; we figured we'd have enough left over for some company members.
Now we have to reorder, and I couldn't be happier.
I didn't know just how happy having subscribers would make me. But 26 people (and counting) evidently feel good enough about Impact that they're making a commitment to see everything we do this season. They're getting a great deal in the process, plus a nice little gift on top (these cards really are pretty sweet). But with all the competition out there for entertainment, they're telling us they want to spend four nights with us between now and June. That's flattering.
Now, 26 may not seem like a big number; Berkeley Rep has some 13,000 subscribers. But they've been doing it for 41 years. We just started four weeks ago. And with 26, I can meet everyone and make a personal connection.
Thanks to everyone who's subscribed. If you want to join them, you have a couple of weeks left.