Click bait. It works! You know this already but it’s always good to be reminded what works when you’re trying to make something happen. And how did I come up with this oh, so rare and insightful observation? By making respected theatre actors drop trou for fundraising and having it work.
The problem of how to keep afloat in a “business” where ticket sales barely pay for the software to sell tickets is one that has plagued theatres forever. We can’t go to the Queen anymore (thanks, George Washington) and as I’ve said many times crowdfunding is wonderful but hard. Most theaters have a hard won mailing list and find many different and creative ways to ask their donors and members for money.
The Antaeus Company: LA’s Classical Theater Ensemble has been my creative home for many years. It is a truly special place full of brilliant actors, directors, and designers who come together to keep the classics alive. Classics have an air of stuffiness around them and while some of the members may have very nice jackets with patches on the elbows the people are just as funny and cool as anyone we perform with in PBR soaked alternative comedy clubs. My partner Gabriel Diani and I have been making fundraising videos for about a year that showcase this fun and funny side of the company and the classics.
We started with this introduction from our three Artistic Directors when we were putting up You Can’t Take It With You.
Then we did this one about how Antaeus double casts in order to allow busy working actors to actually do theater.
Next, we did a little end of year appeal with cookies.
The brilliant production of The Crucible was co-directed by two of our favorite people so we made them look like jerks.
The new David Ives version of The Liar obviously had to be about lying.
And most recently was all the nudity.
If you’re not an actor in LA you probably have no idea that there are approximately 17 million small theatres in Los Angeles. I know that seems like a lot, and it is. It’s a great community (check out the #Lathtr hashtag on twitter to keep up) but it’s hard to cut through all the noise to get your company noticed. These videos have helped. They have also reached people who don’t live in Los Angeles and brought in donations from all over the world. I haven’t seen other companies doing much of this so these videos have really stood out. I shouldn’t be telling you about this.
And the nudity one? Well, it’s done the best even thought I think some of the others are funnier. It’s currently at 15,632 views. This isn’t a lot by Internet terms but for an end of year appeal for a small theater company it’s a huge amount. Even with bulk mail discounts a postcard to 15,000 people would cost a lot. The video has also been written about in the LA Times, laist, LA Stage Times, and Broadway World. See? Fun things are fun to share so they get shared. And people like to look at other naked people. That’s the biggest lesson.
About Etta Devine
Etta Devine is an actor, filmmaker, and writer with a script on the 2017 Blacklist and one of 2017's Movie Maker Magazine's 25 Screenwriters to watch. With partner Gabriel Diani she directed, wrote, produced and starred in the feature film “Diani & Devine Meet the Apocalypse” which premiered at the 2016 Austin film festival and won awards from the Mill Valley Film Festival, Spokane International Film Festival, Omaha Film Festival, San Luis Obispo Film Festival, and many others. She co-produced and starred in the horror comedy “The Selling,” ruined classic literature by creating “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Robotic Edition” and is a member of the Antaeus Classical Theatre Company in Los Angeles and the Film Fatales. She recently recorded voices for the popular Frederator cartoon “Bee and Puppycat“ and wrote multiple episodes of its upcoming second season.