My internship at the American Shakespeare Center has been pretty epic, and I'm so glad I did it.
I was in the office all last week except for Friday--Christina (ASC Marketing Coordinator) wasn't going to be in the office, and so let me know that I didn't have to come in. The only project I had left unfinished was to write a press release about the dogs in the ASC's production of Two Gents. I had such good intentions to work on it on Friday, but alas, the best laid plans...
Thursday night I was invited to go see a production by a local theatre group of three short plays in an evening. The event as a whole was dubbed "Women Under the Influence,"--the first half was two short plays and the second half was the one-act play "Miss Julie" by August Strindberg that was great--I was completely drawn into the story and thought the actors made fascinating choices.
Saturday night I again helped out backstage with the dogs at a performance of Two Gents, hanging out with J.R. Ewing the hound dog. And learned that he's a tad stronger than Tulip was. I lost count of how many times he pulled me in a circle around the hallways backstage.
Monday morning in the office I finished up my press release about the dogs from Augusta Dog Adoptions that are starring in Two Gents. Then I updated ASC's Hoot Suite for the week and made a couple of quick requested edits to the press release.
Tuesday I got to work with Mailer Mailer--the system that ASC currently uses to send out their e-newsletters. Christina gave me three stories that were to be included in the next "E-Blast," logged me into the system, opened up a template for me to use, and then let me go to town with it. I finished that up near the end of the day. I also got to present my Facebook Insights report findings at a marketing meeting in the afternoon.
Trying to figure out how to post things that will attract attention, catch eyes, involve patrons, and ultimately (hopefully) sell tickets is an ever-evolving art, so it seems. After doing the insights report, I discovered that the things that people seem to respond to the most are photos, and they seem to respond well whenever ASC ties in pop culture references to their shows. The marketing office comes up with some pretty great and unique ideas that have been great fun to see. For example, I was here for the creation of this time lapse video (in which I make an appearance! near the end--with Tulip the dog!)
And this "Totally Looks Like" photo comparing ASC's John Harrell to Benedict Cumberbatch of the BBC Sherlock series. So, for a marketing venture they would like to capitalize on in the fall in conjunction with the opening of Shakespeare's King John at the ASC, Christina asked me yesterday afternoon to create a timeline with references to Prince/King John throughout history. I spent a pretty good chunk of time yesterday afternoon and today combing through IMDB and various and sundry other web pages to pull together bunches of links and photos into a successful, cohesive timeline of Prince/King John depictions throughout history. I was pretty pleased with what I came up with, and hope that it'll be everything they need it to be. Christina informed me that she's going to create a web page with the timeline that will go up in the fall.
Over the last week and a half or so, I've come to the conclusion that a good deal of marketing has quite a bit to do with being clever. And maybe, just maybe, some of the cleverness here in ASC marketing has rubbed off on me so that I can infect my theatre marketing job at my school with it.
I'm helping with the puppy dog backstage for Two Gents one more time tonight, then filling up my gas tank, packing up my car, and getting ready to hit the road for my nine and a half hour trek back to Indiana at some point tomorrow.
So, farewell, ASC--it's been real. Well. Actually it's been pretty spectacular. And hopefully, if I get my way, I'll be back someday.
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