What's In A Name?

In the UK there are many community theatres still with the archaic title of 'Sometown Amateur Operatic And Dramatic Society' (or similar). I replied to a thread on the www.amdram.co.uk forum suggesting that if these theatres wanted bigger audiences one of the things they should do is to upgrade their names to sound a little bit more professional. My questions to the Australian Community Theatre fraternity are ... 1) Would your potential audiences be put off if they saw the word 'amateur' on your posters and playbills? 2) Is there a naming convention chosen by many or a large percentage of CT's which is seen as beneficial to ticket sales? 3) Has anybody got a story to tell about the name of their CT affecting sales (either improving or reducing sales)? regards David www.playsandmusicals.co.uk

I wasn't going to add to this, because I'm not in the amateur scene, but there's another thing to consider: Many amateur groups have 'inc.' in their name, referring to being incorporated. This is usually done because the company is not-for-profit, and wants to be legally recognised as such. BUT many professional companies are also incorporated, because they too are not-for-profit (but obviously, work in theatre professionally), wanting to put any money back into the company - it's also easier to apply for funding and grants. I've found that in most cases I assume a company with 'inc.' in their name is amateur; but there have been a number of times when I've been wrong in the assumption. I also don't know of anyone who goes to see a show simply because it's advertised as professional or advertised as amateur. They just want to see a show! The Prompt Copy Store www.store.thepromptcopy.com Sticky Apple Legs www.freewebs.com/stickyapplelegs Puppets in Melbourne www.freewebs.com/puppetsinmelbourne Treading the Boards www.treadingtheboards.thepromptcopy.com

I wasn't going to add to

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