From the standpoint of a Marketing Director, it’s always a priority to make sure tickets are sold and people actually attend your production. However, an equally important task (and some may wager it an impossible one to manage) is to participate in the conversation that continues long after your audience leaves your theater.
Post-show talk backs have been an obvious way to offer an immediate dialogue with your patrons, allowing them to pose their questions to the creative team immediately following a performance. But what about those subsequent conversations, those ideas that crop up after a gestation period?
Our new artistic leadership and our Education Department have made efforts to curate those conversations in a series of events and programming that address the issues explored in our current Mainstage productions and continue the discussion within the community.
EXPOSED: Women You Think Know… at American Stage on Tuesday, Oct 6th at 7pm.
The first of these events for this season is EXPOSED: Women You Think You Know…, a collaboration with Your Real Stories. Founded by Jaye Sheldon and Dr. Lillian Dunlap, Your Real Stories uses storytelling, theater, and media to challenge people to talk and listen to each other across perceived differences of identity, experience, and opinions.
I recently sat with Jaye Sheldon and our new Producing Artistic Director Stephanie Gularte to discuss the collaboration between the two organizations.
This is a really exciting night of two different arts organizations coming together. What will the evening consist of?
Jaye Sheldon: It will feature original scripts based on the lives of three local women from our community. Dr. Dunlap and I have spent the last few months interviewing these women and creating original scripts based on these interviews.
Stephanie Gularte: Then three talented, professional actresses will bring the real stories of these women to life on our stage in a really vibrant way. We’ll follow that up with a lively conversation between the audience, the artists and the women whose stories are being told.
Will there be a tie-in with the themes of our current mainstage production, Intimate Apparel?
Jaye: Absolutely. This evening of theatre … Read the rest
