I returned to the Grange Theatre in Vermont to perform in their fall musical Urinetown. I was also contracted to be the Social Media Coordinator, which I was very excited about! Having worked on Sylvia in the spring, I was getting to know the local community and getting a sense of what content worked best for this audience.
I knew that the theatre liked to post headshots of every actor. I wanted to follow this preference, but also make the content more dynamic. At this point I didn’t know what the vibe of this production would be (in terms of color scheme, aesthetic themes, etc.) so I followed the aesthetic of the original Broadway cast album. I took fun facts from each actor’s bio and staggered posting about their casting.
To announce the show, I conceived, shot, and edited this video of a toilet regurgitating the Urinetown logo. The directing team asked me to also include the cast list with the show announcement, which ultimately changed due to unforeseen circumstances. I unfortunately had to take that video down, but used my clip for the final post when the show closed.
The Marketing Manager designed the show poster. I drew from her vision for some of my posts.
Many of the patrons are older and interested in more traditional content. At the same time I was reaching out to students in the surrounding areas, and wanted to also push funny content to them. I attempted a mix of memes, jokes, and also more polished behind-the-scenes looks.
Throughout the process, the Associate Director gave me specific tasks for content she wanted. From the beginning, she knew she wanted a clip of Lockstock saying his opening monologue, that cut away to rehearsal clips. When costumes were in, I was able to deliver this to her.
There was one matinee with a very subdued audience, save for an enthusiastic couple in the front row. The AD had the sudden idea to take a testimonial video from them. She had them sign release forms, and I came up with questions for them on the spot to prompt them to share their thoughts in sound bites that I could use. We were able to pull it off, but in the future I would like to prepare for this possibility with picking a strong spot in the lobby to film in, and have a microphone ready for the audience to speak into.
This production wanted to focus heavily on the propaganda pushed out by the governing class. I was asked to create these posters: to post on social media, but also re-size to be printed for use in the lobby and ultimately the set! It was really cool to see my original artwork on stage.
A campaign I had a lot of fun with #LittleSallyDoes things. This was a collaborative idea with the actress playing Little Sally, who was working on her laptop in costume and thought it would be a funny pic. Throughout the run, we staged photos of Little Sally doing random tasks, and posted them on the Instagram Story. I am especially proud of how this campaign evolved into specifically showing Little Sally taking on other jobs in the theatre, such as in the lighting booth or at the box office. This was a fun project, and in the end we shared all stories in one video.
I was also able to help grow the follower count once again, this time by over 1,000 people! By contrast, in April I left the account at 1,018, and it only grew to 1,094 when I took over again in August (and had only had 8 posts during that time, even with a show going on).
