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

If you don't put amateur theatre on the posters, the audiences tend not to understand the actors are not being paid and think everyone is doing really well. General audiences, outside of theatre circles, don't know what community theatre means.

I haven't seen the word amatuer in anything other than really fine print on a poster for years unless it's part of the company name and names like that were never as popular in Oz as in the UK. I am not sure that the name really makes that much difference. Companies like The Adelaide Repertory Society will not and never should change their name. A lot of the Light Operatic Societies have lost the Light Operatic bit Northern Light Operatic Society changed their name to Northern Light Theatre Company back in the seventies. both Mayfair and the Metropolitan Societys simply were known by the capitalised name, "Mayfair" or "The Met". Do the general public actually understand the difference. I know that people I have spoken to in Adelaide will only go to shows at The Arts or The Festival Centre because they are good. Do they know that most of the shows at The Arts are amatuer (not all) and all of the shows at the Festival Centre are professional? I don't know. Where am I going with this? You know I have no idea. Signing off now. Is that all there is? Well if that's all there is my friend, then let's keep dancing. www.tonymoore.id.au

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

Damn double posts! 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