The scene machine
Products dispensed by the Centre Stage scene machine may be habit forming. Use only as directed by a trained theater professional. (Click image for larger version.)
Products dispensed by the Centre Stage scene machine may be habit forming. Use only as directed by a trained theater professional. (Click image for larger version.)

Tomorrow, Our Leading Lady makes its third television appearance in five days and the exposure seems to be having a positive effect on ticket sales. Our YouTube promo posted late today also, and half-page ads are running in City People through closing week. Alas, the huge building banner that I blogged about six days ago is still on the drawing board, but that’s an okay place for it to be while we attend to the several large fish now frying in our pan.

On April 20, we’ll announce our 2010-11 “scene machine” season at a special members-only event, invitations to which went out last month. The vending apparatus campaign idea arose from a conversation that J. Michael Craig and I had last week about ubiquity (or was it iniquity?). He mentioned a campaign launched 35 years ago to promote Greenville’s first live remote television van. They called it the “ubiquitous scene machine” and there you go … a marketing metaphor that’s simple, yet layered. Note, too, that the words “art” and “theater” appear nowhere in the ad. Put art and theater on a shelf beside movies, television, nightclubs, Facebook and Wii, and guess where the dust will accumulate. No, friends, we have bills to pay. So we’re in the entertainment business.