Vacation...

...is approaching! One of the perks about working for a children's theatre is that when the schools go on break, so do we (for the most part). Of course, throughout the next ten days or so, members of the staff will be stopping in to take care of things around the office, to return phone calls and faxes, to send out invoices, collect data, make plans, etc.

Our holiday party last Friday was a great time. We all went to Ambience, where the entire staff got manicures and pedicures--including all the guys who have never had anyone touch their toes, let alone everything else that comes with a pedicure. We brought our own food and were sure to share all our goodies with the Ambience staff, who had a good time as well.

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The name of the game right now at TCTC: Reflect and Prepare.

We're looking back on the year in these final days of 2009, which was (truth be told) not the best year for us financially. Thanks to our generous supporters and donors, we were able to stay in the black, but as we make plans for 2010, we are exploring new methods of publicizing, selling, and creating our shows. It's all about making everything better in the new year.

This does not mean the year was all negative--far from it. We had a successful STAR program in the summer, with one of the largest and most talented "senior" classes in years. Beauty and the Beast, Jr., was a huge smash hit, and Holiday Follies did much better than anyone anticipated, with an original script and ambitious production goals. (How many shows include a bus that splits open down the middle? or Santa's sleigh careening in front of said bus during a snowstorm? or Frosty the Snowman talking into a cell phone?)

As we look forward to the second half of our 2009-2010 season, we feel excitement for Jack and the Beanstalk, which is currently leading all four shows as the best-selling, and Tom Sawyer, perhaps the most literary show we've done in a while. Playwright Kelly G. has adapted the old TCTC Sawyer script for this updated version, which retains Mark Twain's original narration and dialogue.

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That's it for now. Happy holidays from TCTC, and we'll see you again in the New Year!

In the New Year...

...here is what's on our calendar for January (a busy, busy month):

- Jan. 5 - ArtReach returns to rehearsals for Harriet Tubman and the Train to Freedom and Hansel & Gretel, which tour from Jan. 25 - May 30, 2010. If you are interested in booking an ArtReach show to come to your school, community center or theatre, please contact Jen Scott, Business Manager for ArtReach, at 513.569.8080 x21 or Jen.Scott@thechildrenstheatre.com.

- Jan. 23 - STAR auditions for the 2010 summer program, training kids 9-18 in singing, dance and acting. If you would like to schedule an audition for your child, please contact Chris Stewart at 513.569.8080 x23 or Chris.Stewart@thechildrenstheatre.com.

- Jan. 25 - Jack and the Beanstalk rehearsals begin. This is currently the best-selling show of the 2009-2010 TCTC season, and seats are going fast! Please click on the link to purchase tickets for the public shows, and to find out how to bring a class to our school shows, please take a look at our discounts for school matinees.

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Holiday Follies wrapped up nicely with an eventful Sunday matinee. "Eventful," because of the hilarious prank pulled just before the finale by our Artistic Director, Jack Louiso.

During that scene, Bob Herzog (as publicist and idea man Ted Tastic) gave a pre-show speech mostly comprised of shout-outs to our sponsors, ad libs, and spoofs of Jack's pre-show speeches. Jack is of course well-known for saying before every TCTC performance:

"Children, let's use these--" he points to his ears "--not this--" he points to his mouth. "These, not this. Please don't whoop and holler. This is not a circus or a sporting event. This is the theatre. Your neighbors didn't come to hear you talk, they came to hear us talk. If you want to come up here with us, you can come to our auditions in August."

What Bob added to the end of that speech every time he parodied it was, "You know what? Forget about that. Go crazy everyone, enjoy the show!"

The prank: Jack waited just behind the curtain while Bob did the talk. Jack was dressed in the costume of yours truly, a black tux with red bow tie and silver sequin vest. And when Bob got to the line about using these but not this, Jack came out of the curtain, right behind Bob, who continued talking for a good half-minute before realizing he had a visitor. The cast watched on the backstage monitors as Bob saw Jack and stopped talking, frozen in shock. We could only imagine what was going through Bob's mind, but we can say for sure that the effect--not to mention the look on Bob's face--was priceless.

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That's a little bit of feel-good holiday fun from The Children's Theatre. With our holiday party coming up this weekend, we're all gearing up for even more fun times, soon to come.

Happy holidays, everyone!

STAR Auditions...

...will be held on January 23, 2010, a Saturday. Times are from 10:00am until 4:00pm. Of a total 110 slots or so, already 63 have been taken--and I say "already" because I only started taking reservations on Monday.

So: Parents and potential STARs, please give me a call at 513.569.8080 x23, or email me at chris.stewart@thechildrenstheatre.com, to schedule an appointment. Times are going fast. There are more slots open in the afternoon than in the morning, so check your schedules!

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I thought it would be a cool bit of market research if I tallied up some statistics and put them online for the world to see. I was curious as to how many STAR kids want to come back for another year, and how many new folks are we attracting? So I took a close look at my spreadsheet and here are the figures I found:

63 time slots are taken.

34 have done STAR before.

29 have never done STAR.

Of those who are returnees, 22 are girls, and 12 are boys.

Of those who are new, 21 are girls, and 8 are boys.

Most of the returnees are between ages 9-13, and the same is true of the new folks.

Of new kids and returnees, there are only 12 total who are 14 or older.

Now, this research tells me a number of things. First, not everyone has signed up for a slot yet. Second, the reason most of the children who are already signed up are younger is that their parents are scheduling it, and parents tend to be more proactive about this sort of thing than, say, teenagers (who stereotypically want to do things on their own but who also tend to procrastinate). Third, almost a dozen older STAR kids from the 2009 summer will graduate in 2010, leaving them ineligible for STAR enrollment; in other words, we're losing a lot of STAR veterans, opening the door for the younger children to step up.

Further, I am told there is a list of families for whom we have only phone numbers, and no email addresses. This nugget of information got me curious about another aspect of this process, and that is: Are more people emailing to schedule, or are they calling?

48 parents emailed.

23 parents called.

2 teenagers emailed.

There seems to be a discrepancy, right? If 63 slots are taken, how come the numbers come out to 73 appointments? Well, a lot of parents called and then emailed (or vice versa) to ensure their child got a chance to audition. Also, some of the parents who emailed simply asked if their 4-year-old or 8-year-old is eligible for the program; sadly, they are not. STAR kids must be 9 years old by the start of the program in July.

The modified numbers, then, are:

43 parents emailed.

18 parents called.

2 teenagers emailed.

So what have we learned? Essentially, two-thirds of parents will email rather than call to make an appointment, and I expect over the next few days to receive the same ratio of emails to phone calls. If and when I get requests from teenagers themselves, I expect most of them will be in electronic (rather than phonic) form, too.

One final note, by way of encouragement: Tickets are still available for Holiday Follies, which opens tomorrow, and the Breakfast with Santa ($40 for the meal and the show)!

And one final statistic about STAR auditions, too:

30 slots left.