Introduction

Theatre Puget Sound invites your participation in our 5th annual Live Theatre Week celebration in the Puget Sound region. This year's festival will take place October 12-18, with Free Night of Theater on and around October 15th and Family Day on October 17th! Live Theatre Week continues to be our most successful audience cultivation program, creating points of entry and accessible programming for thousands of infrequent theatre attendees each year. More importantly, Live Theatre Week provides increased awareness of our regional theatre scene and highlights the value of our work, our artists and our organizations. Please join Theatre Puget Sound and your fellow theatres from across the region as we come together to shine a spotlight on our communities and the true wealth and diversity of our region's theatre offerings.

Why Your Organization Should Participate

Live Theatre Week remains one of TPS's most vital programs as it serves both our membership and the general public and every tenet of our three pronged mission: to promote, to strengthen and to unify.

The festival succeeds at highlighting the strength of theatre as an art form -- a truly communal experience that engages individuals on both personal and social levels and allows communities to gather and share stories. This arrangement provides ongoing and clear value to both theatre organizations and their communities.

Direct Benefit

Live Theatre Week (LTW) events are geared towards getting new people in your doors so that you may begin cultivating a relationship with them that authentically encourages their future participation. Participation in LTW will serve as a highly visible and effective marketing vehicle for your organization that will be cost competitive with any other marketing tool at your disposal. LTW events are an easy, no-risk point of entry for infrequent or non theatre attendees to become acquainted with your organization and what you have to offer. LTW exemplifies a culture of generosity & sharing that encourages patrons to become invested in our collective performing arts community. Getting LTW patrons in your doors gives you the perfect opportunity to demonstrate the value of what your organization has to offer. Once this potential patron understands that value, they will pay for it.

Community Benefit

• Creates bridges between arts, community and business
• Extends collective invitation that transcends cultural, social, racial and economic barriers
• Creates new points of entry for public participation in the performing arts
• Moves beyond the traditional "transactional" interaction to provide unique experiences that encourage a sense of community and ownership
• Offers accessible programming
• Increases awareness of regional performing arts
• Engages thousands of infrequent theatre attendees
• Highlights the value of our region's artists and organizations

What Your Organization Can Do

Host a Live Theatre Week Special Event.

We consider this the most effective component of Live Theatre Week as it involves personal contact with the public - providing them with a unique experience that allows them to get to know your organization and your people. These events can include one or a combination of the following (better yet, create your own unique signature event):

• Open Rehearsal
• Open House
• Reception / Party
• Artist Meet & Greet
• Play Reading / Site Specific Performance
• Workshop

Participate in Live Theatre Week Family Day (October 17th).

Offer free tickets to a family friendly performance or host a special event geared specifically toward families on Saturday, Oct. 17th.

Participate in Free Night of Theater.

Offer a set amount of tickets to a performance on or around October 15* to be given away to the public via TCG's Free Night of Theater national campaign.

*While the official date for Free Night is Thursday, October 15, TCG and TPS recognize that many shows close or open AROUND that date - therefore, you MAY participate & be included in the promotional campaign with a show date between Oct. 15 - Nov. 1.

To participate, please fill out our 2009 Participation Form.

Need some ideas or inspiration?

Read Maximizing Success for Your Organization to help guide your event planning and better position your organization to get the full benefit of festival participation

Host a Table at the Live Theatre Week Kick Off Fair

At the Live Theatre Week Kick-Off Fair the public has the opportunity to take advantage of special offers and raffles, pick up an official festival guide, meet the people behind the participating organizations, check out performances, and pre-register for “Free Night of Theater” tickets before reservations go live on the web.

Last year over 30 organizations participated and more than 400 people attended. It was a tremendous success and patrons spent quite a bit of time browsing the floor and learning about this region’s outstanding arts groups.

For more information or to participate, please call TPS at 206.770.0370.

2008 Festival Highlights

The 2008 Live Theatre Week Festival took place October 13 - 19. Over 3,100 audience members directly participated in a Live Theatre Week event or free performance. The combined marketing efforts resulted in an estimated outreach to over 2 million individuals across the Puget Sound region, providing tremendous visibility and exposure to our performing arts organizations.

2008 Live Theatre Week Participation

• 48 participating theatre companies
• 59 Free Night of Theater performances attended by over 2,500 people
• 32 Special Events attended by over 600 people
• 400 people directly participated in a Family Day event or performance
• Participating theatres donated more than 3,400 tickets for use by the general public, a subsidization of approximately $72,783

Patron Demographics

The Live Theatre Week campaign specifically reached out to new and infrequent theatre attendees. A broad diversity of individuals participated - measured in age, income, attendance habits and ethnicity. The detailed demographics only reflect participation in the Free Night of Theater component of LTW.

• 67% of participants were infrequent theatre attendees
• 76% had never attended their selected theatre
• 45% of participants were under the age of 35
• 56% of participants had annual household income under $50,000
• 22% of participants indicated an ethnicity that was other than White non-Hispanic

Read the full 2008 Live Theatre Week Program Report!

More info & Contact