The “M” Word

by Guest Blogger Liz Femi

Fringe is in the air. Artists of all ilk are excited to bare their souls on Hollywood stages. But fringin’ ain’t easy. With hundreds of shows vying for audience attention, artists on a limited budget are left with no choice but to don the hats of marketing specialist, fundraiser, and publicist. Oh and of course, back to artist. Right. Each aspect is a feat in its own right, but I’d like to focus on marketing in this post. As someone who had a marketing phobia (I still do to some extent), I understand how marketing may feel like trying to hit a piñata in the dark–with some cruel, invisible entity spinning you astray. The truth is, whenever I feel this way, it’s because I don’t have enough information. I finally owned up to my part in the matter and began digging. In my search for how to market theatre specifically, I stumbled upon Clay Mabbit’s blog: Sold Out Run. The blog alone has an incredible amount of information. When I found out that Clay also wrote a book: Reaching A New Audience, and that the book details strategies to draw audiences of a digital age to the theatre, it immediately piqued my interest.

So we made a deal.

I would read and apply the modules in Reaching A New Audience and write an honest review based on my experience (Clay offered this opportunity in a newsletter to subscribers). Clay provides a ton of ideas in twelve modules, which he describes as ”tactical steps of promoting your show.” He adds, “you can tackle one module a day, one each week, or whatever pattern works for you. Most of the modules can be completed in 20 minutes or less.”

Over the past few weeks, my team and I have been experimenting with Clay’s tactics in promoting my play, Take Me To The Poorhouse, at this year’s Hollywood Fringe Festival. Modules in Reaching A New Audience include:

• Foundation (marketing basics to create a well-oiled machine)
• Your Perfect Audience (how to identify and tailor your marketing niche)
• The Schedule (a detailed marketing calendar with suggested tasks)
• Worth A Thousand Words (“visual ammunition”)
• Use Your Cast (tapping into the talent you already have)

Here are examples of ideas we ran with:

1. Creating memes of characters in the show–

Our Facebook fans enjoy our meme series and we still have several characters to go.

2. We added a blog to our show’s website, as a way to keep the site dynamic and current.

Take Me To The Poorhouse—blog

3. We also shot a trailer, one of the many ideas also echoed in Outreach Nerd, Cindy Marie Jenkins’s Social Media Marketing workshops.

Cindy’s insight has been an excellent complement to Clay’s module because it helps us really fine tune how to use social media to effectively disseminate the content in Clay’s modules. Hopefully the entire process will help quell those old, queasy marketing nightmares. Fingers crossed.

Reaching A New Audience currently retails at $147 and Clay has given me permission to read it for free. $147 is a hefty price to pay for a book. Is it worth it? Stay tuned for results in my follow-up post.

Take Me To The Poorhouse is currently running at the 2013 Hollywood Fringe Festival

Friday, June 14th @8:00 pm

Sunday, June 16th @ 2:00 pm

Wednesday, June 19th @4:00 pm

Friday, June 21st @10:00 pm

Friday, June 28th @ 8:00 pm

Running time: 60 mins

Venue: The Lounge Theatres (lounge #2) 6201 Santa Monica Blvd, Hollywood 90038

Tickets: $10. Available here.

Fringing with Form 1: LOLpera

One exciting theme I saw through my 45+ interviews for the Fringe was the question of form. How, where and why do we create our art? I selected this video interviews from artists who push their own boundaries and deserve a larger audience.

Ellen Warkentine from LOLPERA (co-writer Andrew Pedroza, who unfortunately couldn’t join us)

An absurb opera about cat memes? I initially was snobby about this and so didn’t try to see it. Boy, am I sorry. Not only is Ellen a fascinating mind with whom I want to grab a beer, but tons of people recommend it.

That Old Black Magic on the Fringe

If there is anyone who deserves the term woman on the fringe, it’s Jacquetta Szathmari. I’ve known her since the first year of Fringe, and she is one of my favorite artists to see every year. First she brought the storytelling to stage piece That’s Funny, You Didn’t Sound Black on the Phone. By the way, she never utters those words in her show. This year she’s workshopping a new piece about a burlesque dancer and magician who meet in 1955 on the train to Vegas. Both female, both African-American, and both pursuing their dreams even as they must stick to the “Chitlin Circuit”. Let me just say that you’ve never thought about history more than watching a burlesque Harriet Tubman dance. More is below from the audience reaction/review I posted.

fringey females

I started an experiment this Hollywood Fringe Festival: live broadcast interviews via Google+. You can watch them live on Bitter Lemons , You Tube or Google+, and each is archived for later, too.

Here is a selection of female-helmed Fringe shows who I got a chance to interview. I decided to start with pieces that pass a modified version of the Bechdel test*; essentially, the subject matter does not revolve around men and relationships. I don’t have a problem with those topics, and they can be very interesting, but there is plenty else out there.

*The Bechdel test is meant for film, so the three criteria are: 1) more than 1 female characters (with names), 2) who talk to each other, 3) about something besides men. For plays, specifically some that are only one woman on stage, I modified the definition. It’s still up for discussion, but that’s the best I could create after a lengthy twitter discussion on the topic.

More will be posted soon along with personal commentary on the state of female characters………

An Evening with Marie Curie: Rogue Scientist

This one is sort of cheating, because it specifically deals with challenges of a female scientist. Yet not cheating, because she breaks the mold (or at least tries). I’m seeing it this Thursday!

Ciera Payton on her show Michael’s Daughter

Her story centers around her parents, including an incarcerated father, but she also portrays other women who discuss much more than that. One character includes Marie Laveau, and from talking with her, it seems like New Orleans herself is a character.

Naomi Bennett, director of Tearing the World Apart

What will it take for you to actually change your life and overall purpose?

…..And that’s it. Out of 35 + interviews, those are the four I can distinguish are not solely about men and a female’s relationship to them. This is not a judgement call, and I am seeing some wonderful shows that revolve around relationships. I just find it very interesting and something to consider. What do you think?

Finding a Hollywood Fringe Festival Show through the LA FPI website

Short video on navigating our website to find a Hollywood Fringe Festival show to attend and support Women on Stage, and more specifically, Women on the Fringe! Also some helpful tips once you’re on the Hollywood Fringe Festival site to share and support!

Questions? Comments?

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