Marketing for Men
Tue, 22 Nov 2011, 05:03 pmjessmess27 posts in thread
Marketing for Men
Tue, 22 Nov 2011, 05:03 pmSo we all complain that we have a million women auditioning for our plays but never enough men. I'm the first to say, well write for women, but it's not always that easy. My current production 'Flesh Wounds' for example has an even split, male to female with really good roles for either gender. Girls are coming out of the woodwork, but men? I have more auditioning than roles, but certainly not enough to be picky.
Rather than whinge that there aren't enough men in theatre, or that there are two many male roles, I'd like to ask how can we as theatre be more attractive to men? It's hard to stage explosions, car chases and extreme sports, but surely that isn't all men are looking for in escapism?
'Flesh Wounds' for example, has actually been really well received by all the men who have read it, either during it's panel process with the Old Mill, being assessed through Stages, or the reading and workshop we staged later in preparation for the upcoming season.
Unfortunately all those males are either away during the season or have moved to a different city! Otherwise, they have all expressed they would love to play, what I think are really decent male roles.
My question is this, how do we market to men? What are men looking for from their entertainment? How can we convince men that stage plays are worth both auditioning for, and attending?
These aren't rhetorical questions, all you opinionated theatrical men out there--I want real answers. What makes you sit up and say, 'that's the role I want to audition for?
I'm reading this and trying
Fri, 25 Nov 2011, 01:20 amWalter Plinge
I'm reading this and trying to think of how to answer you. And just for the record Jess, I have actually expressed interest in auditioning now so I suppose I'm actually not in the category of man you talk about.
I'm originally from Tasmania, which many are surprised to hear has a pretty good theatre scene and acting community of young and old and everything in between. And I just don't understand this man drought that you talk about… well…. Actually now that I think about it there is one thing we do different. In Tassie, the theatre companies would advertise audition notices in the paper. It’s where you looked if you were interested, and we had newbie's turning up all the time. Obviously some had let down nicely, but the point is they came.
So maybe if it’s proving difficult simply advertising towards your demographic is the simple (yet I understand sometimes expensive) solution.
as for the question “what can we offer to make theatre more attractive” it’s a difficult question because for most of the people that do theatre, everything that is involved with putting on a show is what makes it attractive. And really if your getting people outside of that category to help out chances are they won’t be very good…