4,432 — Breaking Records & Making Encore History

Hear what our staff and board had to say about the record-breaking news:

Susan Keady, Artistic Director: It’s exciting to give so many families the opportunity to share an afternoon or evening of live theatre. It was fun to see so many high school students in the audience as well as many of our college age alumni cast & crew taking time out on their winter break to see a show and visit with old friends.

How does it feel to break the record for highest attendance in Encore history?

Caroline Schrieber, Programs Manager: Fantastic! The Encore Staff spent a lot of time last weekend badgering our Marketing Manager about how many tickets we had sold. We knew we were closing in on the record, but the moment we sold the one ticket we needed to top our previous highest-selling show was pretty great!

Sara Duke, Executive Director: The Little Mermaid, Jr. was an all-around, great production. The cast, crew and staff worked hard to create a magical experience for children and families, so breaking the attendance record was just icing on the cake. I’ll admit, it was a lot of fun watching the attendance figures increase each day with online sales!

Jerry Gidner, Board President: Extraordinary. During the past several years, since the start of the recession, our attendance numbers have been below where we wanted them. We had done better in the past, and I thought we could again. And we have: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe started our season off with a strong showing – about 2,700 came to see it. Then to follow that with a new attendance record for The Little Mermaid was just so gratifying.

What were your initial expectations for this show? What do you think contributed to the success?

Caroline: Going in, we knew that The Little Mermaid Jr. was going to be a great choice for Encore–it has lots of memorable characters and songs, fun set design possibilities, and it appeals to all ages, from 4-year-old girls who wore their princess dresses to the show, to grandparents who remembered taking their grandchildren to the Disney movie when it originally came out in 1989.

What really made our production spectacular was the team who worked on it. From our highly dedicated adult staff members to our cast who switched easily from tentacles to chefs to seagulls, to our crew who made complicated set changes happen quickly, the people involved really put this show over the edge. It’s due to their hard work that the production turned out so delightfully.

Sara: Originally, I had hoped that we would sell more than 2,400 tickets. Our production of Honk, Jr. had sold 2,149 tickets last January, so I felt that 2,400 was a reasonable goal. We almost surpassed that number in the first weekend! Little Mermaid is a great title (who doesn’t love the songs?!), but I also think that we owe a lot of credit to Aileen Pangan, our Marketing Manager. She has built our reputation in the community over the last three years. Her efforts to increase our visibility by expanding our social media presence, revamping our website, increasing our advertising and connecting with the press has made an enormous difference for our organization.

Jerry: A few years ago, we hired Aileen Pangan, who I call our Marketing Goddess. She has spent 3 years expanding our marketing effort, particularly through social media. She also expanded the number of reviewers of our shows. There used to be one and now it’s 5 to 7 for each show, posting overwhelmingly positive reviews on theater blogs and parenting blogs. And the word has definitely gotten out. Combine that with what we think are high quality shows at very reasonable prices, and it’s a great opportunity for family entertainment. We have a very talented staff, including Sara Duke, our Executive Director, Susan Keady, our Artistic Director, Caroline Schreiber, our Producer and programming coordinator, and a host of other people who work on each show. They are a great team and they create quality shows time after time after time.

What can we expect for Encore’s future?

Caroline: More great shows for great audiences! We had a lot of new patrons join us for The Little Mermaid Jr., and we hope they’ll keep coming back for more theatre by kids, for kids.

Jerry: We hope that the attendance numbers this year are our new normal. More patrons at each show means more revenue, for one thing, which lets us bring programming to more kids. More importantly, it means more young people exposed to the magic of live theater, and for the actors on stage, it means great crowds and an appreciative audience. We have expanded our programming a great deal over the past couple of years and our plans are for that to continue.

Sara: I think we can continue to expect great work from our students and staff – and I hope everyone out there will come and see that work on stage! Theatre is all about team work and I think our record breaking attendance illustrates the amazing teamwork that takes place within our organization every single day. I’m looking forward welcoming just as many patrons to our next production, The Secret Case of Sherlock Holmes.

Click here to read the rave reviews for The Little Mermaid Jr.

See you at the theatre!
#theatrebykids4kids

Photos by Larry McClemons, Blog contributors: Sara Duke, Caroline Schreiber, Jerry Gidner and Susan Keady