A look at what's going on in Trinidad, on H Street, and in the larger area north of Capitol Hill.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
WP: $ Woes Prompt a Change of Plans
According to the Post financial concerns are prompting the award winning African Continuum Theater Company to delay their fall and winter productions, and to plan for a shorter spring season. ACTCo is the resident theater company at the Atlas.
8 comments:
Anonymous
said...
Just got a letter from Theater Alliance,(H street Playhouse) they are having $$$ problems too, and may need to cut back on their schedule.They will be doing some serious fund raising this month.
Not good news, but not a total surprise in a neighborhood like ours. Good incentive for us all to go to the theater and bring friends. Perhaps the opening of other arts oriented options (the gallery on Florida) will help.
at the same time, they could do a bit more marketing.
no one outside of our little hood seems to know about them.
it's great to have an arts facility in our hood, but it's savvy to get the word out.
is that our job, or theirs?
maybe they should hire someone to get the word out.
this is dc. there's no lacking of PR folks without jobs trying to fill up their resumes...
good idea, bad publicity.
that's what brings businesses like this to a standstill.
just look at the theater by the new convention center.
dc is not iowa. you don't "build it and they'll come".
theater is a bit more challenging in an area like ours.
bad management.
i say, because i know.
and i think everyone that participates on inked's blog knows too.
put ads in papers that people read. post events on blogs. get the WaPo to cover events, clean up the hood....
i used to live in a home in georgetown (which i've since sold and moved to NE DC), no one wants to come out to h street unless there's a compelling reason.
i bought a home here because of the vivacity of the hood, with hopes that it would develop along the lines of most revitalized neighborhoods (u street, etc.).
when i lived in gtown, i would never have thought of coming up here to do anything. yeah, some punky clubs, etc. great if your just getting out of your teens and want to show off your tats or vent.
i'd hit free shows at the kennedy center.
cuz they have their shit together, and the marketing is on target.
pls don't ask me to do the theatre alliance's job.
i just want to go and enjoy. i don't want to do pro bono work for a place that may have their timing off...
Theatre Alliance and ACTCO are pretty well known outside of the 'hood as you say. There was great coverage in the WP for Ambition Facing West (it's been extended btw) and both theaters have great reputations. Word of mouth is a legitimate part of the marketing mix - a very effective part so I wouldn't say that these theaters are asking you to do their jobs for them. I think the financial problems are less a lack of marketing and more the difficulty of getting folks out of their usual routines when it comes to going out - as you said about not coming to H St when you were a G'town resident.
p, It's hard to get people to any theatre and the neighborhood here presents a bit of a challenge to the traditional theatergoer but not an insurmountable one. The Studio was in the sketchiest part of town for years but did good work and stuck it out and they now basically own a block in one of the hippest and priciest parts of town.
Theatre Alliance consistently does great work that is acknowledged by all the theatre press in this town but people who are not active theatre goers or who aren't part of this neighborhood will often choose to spend their rare entertainment dollar on something they may perceive as more of a sure bet such as Arena or Shakespeare.
And Theatre Aliance did not ask you to do their job, they asked for some support. Have you seen a show there? Have you seen an ACTco show? Or gone to a concert at the Atlas? These events are advertised, well reviewed and posted about here and on other listserves. Just because it never crossed your wavelength before doesn't mean that the tiny Theatre Alliance staff isn't doing what they can with a limited budget. How you would not know about their show is beyond me. You aren't reading theatre news, fair enough. Lot's of people don't. But seeing as this is a big part of this neighborhood's revitalization maybe it's time you started. It has gotten great reviews.
And you know what? As a concerned member of this community, which you seem to be since you spend so much of you time on inked's blog, the health and well being of these two arts institutions depends upon you and everyone else who lives down here and wants to see this neighborhood thrive and grow into a stimulating, interesting, lively and nurturing place. maybe not your money if you don't have any to spare but good will, good word of mouth and a warm body in the audience could be a start. Both theatres have programs for neighbors that involve free or low cost tickets. Call them and find out.
The Atlas is a world-class building with tons of stuff happening, Theatre Alliance at the H Street Playhouse does top-notch work. The people in this neighborhood should be proud to take their friends to a show and say, "Yeah, isn't it cool to have something like this HERE?"
Or these places could close down and you can be Adams Morgan. You choose.
Go to the Community Day at the Atlas tomorrow, from 2-4 and see/hear some cool stuff and talk to the folks who work there and have chosen to make this place the home for their companies. They need you, inked,hillman and whoever else reads FT regularly to spread the word around the city.
Everyone here on FT waits anxiously for every new bar and restaurant to open but it would be nice if some of that fervor could be refocused a bit on the organizations who were here before the cool bars and restaurants. We need ALL of these places to thrive.
Atlas Neighbor, I should make an effort to see more shows at the Atlas and Playhouse and to write about those. I think what generally happens is that my schedule gets busy and it is easier to see your friends and hit up a bar at the last minute that to plan ahead to see a show. That said, if people happen to catch a show and want to send me a review (or leave it in the comments) I'm happy to repost it here. But I, and others, do get excited when something new opens up around here, so I like to announce new businesses. But nothing can survive if people don't support things and that is true of everything on H Street.
inked, you already do plenty to support both institutions. my comments were directed more towards the many who post complaints and opinions here but have not supported the arts on H as much as they can. i understand. we only have a limited amount of time in a day and money in the bank and it's hard to commit to a theatre ticket. but this end of H has been designated an Arts and Entertainment District. the arts Institutions need patrons to survive and thrive. They also need the neighborhood to grow. The audiences need restaurants and safe streets to make it seem worth their while. The restaurants will need customers who come for the shows.
8 comments:
Just got a letter from Theater Alliance,(H street Playhouse) they are having $$$ problems too, and may need to cut back on their schedule.They will be doing some serious fund raising this month.
Not good news, but not a total surprise in a neighborhood like ours. Good incentive for us all to go to the theater and bring friends. Perhaps the opening of other arts oriented options (the gallery on Florida) will help.
i agree with inked, but...
at the same time, they could do a bit more marketing.
no one outside of our little hood seems to know about them.
it's great to have an arts facility in our hood, but it's savvy to get the word out.
is that our job, or theirs?
maybe they should hire someone to get the word out.
this is dc. there's no lacking of PR folks without jobs trying to fill up their resumes...
good idea, bad publicity.
that's what brings businesses like this to a standstill.
just look at the theater by the new convention center.
dc is not iowa. you don't "build it and they'll come".
theater is a bit more challenging in an area like ours.
bad management.
i say, because i know.
and i think everyone that participates on inked's blog knows too.
put ads in papers that people read. post events on blogs. get the WaPo to cover events, clean up the hood....
i used to live in a home in georgetown (which i've since sold and moved to NE DC), no one wants to come out to h street unless there's a compelling reason.
i bought a home here because of the vivacity of the hood, with hopes that it would develop along the lines of most revitalized neighborhoods (u street, etc.).
when i lived in gtown, i would never have thought of coming up here to do anything. yeah, some punky clubs, etc. great if your just getting out of your teens and want to show off your tats or vent.
i'd hit free shows at the kennedy center.
cuz they have their shit together, and the marketing is on target.
pls don't ask me to do the theatre alliance's job.
i just want to go and enjoy. i don't want to do pro bono work for a place that may have their timing off...
think people, THINK.
Will the ACT be present at the open house? I have an idea about publicity and fundraising that I would like to talk to them about.
Theatre Alliance and ACTCO are pretty well known outside of the 'hood as you say. There was great coverage in the WP for Ambition Facing West (it's been extended btw) and both theaters have great reputations. Word of mouth is a legitimate part of the marketing mix - a very effective part so I wouldn't say that these theaters are asking you to do their jobs for them. I think the financial problems are less a lack of marketing and more the difficulty of getting folks out of their usual routines when it comes to going out - as you said about not coming to H St when you were a G'town resident.
p,
It's hard to get people to any theatre and the neighborhood here presents a bit of a challenge to the traditional theatergoer but not an insurmountable one. The Studio was in the sketchiest part of town for years but did good work and stuck it out and they now basically own a block in one of the hippest and priciest parts of town.
Theatre Alliance consistently does great work that is acknowledged by all the theatre press in this town but people who are not active theatre goers or who aren't part of this neighborhood will often choose to spend their rare entertainment dollar on something they may perceive as more of a sure bet such as Arena or Shakespeare.
And Theatre Aliance did not ask you to do their job, they asked for some support. Have you seen a show there? Have you seen an ACTco show? Or gone to a concert at the Atlas?
These events are advertised, well reviewed and posted about here and on other listserves. Just because it never crossed your wavelength before doesn't mean that the tiny Theatre Alliance staff isn't doing what they can with a limited budget. How you would not know about their show is beyond me. You aren't reading theatre news, fair enough. Lot's of people don't. But seeing as this is a big part of this neighborhood's revitalization maybe it's time you started. It has gotten great reviews.
And you know what? As a concerned member of this community, which you seem to be since you spend so much of you time on inked's blog, the health and well being of these two arts institutions depends upon you and everyone else who lives down here and wants to see this neighborhood thrive and grow into a stimulating, interesting, lively and nurturing place. maybe not your money if you don't have any to spare but good will, good word of mouth and a warm body in the audience could be a start. Both theatres have programs for neighbors that involve free or low cost tickets. Call them and find out.
The Atlas is a world-class building with tons of stuff happening, Theatre Alliance at the H Street Playhouse does top-notch work. The people in this neighborhood should be proud to take their friends to a show and say, "Yeah, isn't it cool to have something like this HERE?"
Or these places could close down and you can be Adams Morgan. You choose.
Go to the Community Day at the Atlas tomorrow, from 2-4 and see/hear some cool stuff and talk to the folks who work there and have chosen to make this place the home for their companies. They need you, inked,hillman and whoever else reads FT regularly to spread the word around the city.
Everyone here on FT waits anxiously for every new bar and restaurant to open but it would be nice if some of that fervor could be refocused a bit on the organizations who were here before the cool bars and restaurants. We need ALL of these places to thrive.
Atlas Neighbor,
I should make an effort to see more shows at the Atlas and Playhouse and to write about those. I think what generally happens is that my schedule gets busy and it is easier to see your friends and hit up a bar at the last minute that to plan ahead to see a show. That said, if people happen to catch a show and want to send me a review (or leave it in the comments) I'm happy to repost it here. But I, and others, do get excited when something new opens up around here, so I like to announce new businesses. But nothing can survive if people don't support things and that is true of everything on H Street.
inked, you already do plenty to support both institutions. my comments were directed more towards the many who post complaints and opinions here but have not supported the arts on H as much as they can.
i understand. we only have a limited amount of time in a day and money in the bank and it's hard to commit to a theatre ticket. but this end of H has been designated an Arts and Entertainment District. the arts Institutions need patrons to survive and thrive. They also need the neighborhood to grow. The audiences need restaurants and safe streets to make it seem worth their while. The restaurants will need customers who come for the shows.
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