Securing Everyone's John Hancock

If you have been to the theatre before you must have walked through the lobby and had a chance to see all of our lobby posters.  We create a poster for just about every show that just lists the date and time of the show, hoping to get people who are already in the theatre to come back to see another performance.

What many of you may not know is that these posters serve a second purpose.  As we approach our 5-year anniversary we have been brainstorming ideas on how to make the year truly spectacular for our patrons.  One thing that is in the works is an auction of autographed lobby posters.

Before each show, I sneak upstairs to pull the lobby poster down from it's frame and I sneak behind the curtain.  In the green room backstage we have three frames - each holds a season poster which has already been signed by some great stars - including Brian Regan, Jodi Picoult, and Peter Frampton, to name a few.  For the Broadway shows, the season posters are replaced with three copies of the lobby poster and each cast member has a chance to sign it!  For non Broadway shows we ask the artist to sign the season poster and their individual lobby poster.

By the end of this season we will have over 30 acts who have signed the season poster, three copies of each Broadway tour poster signed by the entire cast, and many other singular lobby posters signed by their featured act.  Tonight is Hugh Masekela, world renowned trumpeter and political activist.  I just brought up his lobby poster to be signed tonight!

I will keep you posted as we determine exactly how each of our posters will be auctioned or raffled off.  All proceeds from the auction/raffle will go directly to maintaining the theatre so that we may remain a cultural establishment for many years to come.

Sneak Peek

Happy Friday!!  Today I thought it would be cool if I could share a sneak peek of what is about to be delivered to your house (that is, if you have opted in to receive our mail)... It's our annual Winter Brochure

The theme this year is travel!  We want to take you on an adventure of a lifetime.  This year we chose to highlight some of the more exotic acts like Recycled Percussion and Jack Hanna's Into the Wild!  And we kept some of the standard favorites in there too - Dr. Maya Angelou and Bill Cosby round out the bunch!

Keep an eye out for Hugh Masekela's wide spread arms in your mailbox so that you can learn all about the great line up we have.  

And in case you were wondering - which I know you are - we mail 100,000 brochures out every time we do a mailing. And we distribute another 15,000 throughout Worcester County with the help of our Street Team.

If you know someone who likes to drive around and pass out materials all while making a little money doing it, have them email marketing@thehanovertheatre.org to inquire about Street Team position openings.  With our exotic acts coming fast we will be using the street team more than ever.

Speaking of our exotic show list - have you had a chance to check out the video of Recycled Percussion?  I have never been a huge fan of America's Got Talent, but I do watch the show on occasion, and I distinctly remember seeing the group rock out!  If you haven't seen the video yet, turn up the volume and check them out.  They have a similar act to the Blue Man Group, but they do it all with "junk" and they don't paint their faces.

Shrekify me!

One of the coolest things about working for a theatre in the marketing department is that I have the chance to look at all of the tour's promotional materials.  Today I would like to share with you one of the absolute coolest promotion I have seen (besides flying with Cathy Rigby)  This promotion came with Shrek the Musical.  Shrek is playing at The Hanover Theatre from February 24 through the 26th.  

The video below documents exactly what this promotion entails - a behind the scenes look at how the star of Shrek the Musical goes from human to ogre!  Of course this video is sped up greatly so you don't have to watch it for hours, but the process is so unbelievably cool.  Hard to imagine sitting in a make up chair for two hours to become Shrek, but this guy does it twice a day on Saturday & Sunday... or maybe he keeps the make-up on in between shows, I'll have to find that out!

Now, all you ladies out there, take a moment to think about what your life would be like if it took you two hours every morning to put your makeup on!  I know I would be late to work all the time if it took me that long!  Yikes!!  I can't help but to think the person who plays Shrek must fall asleep in the chair some days!

Take a look at the video, and if you would like to be able to see Shrek go from human to ogre before the show, visit our Facebook page and look for Gingy to learn about how you can win an all access pass to witness the transformation for you and three of your friends PLUS tickets to see the show.