Back in a December blog post I talked about it being the time for"taking stock and setting new goals," but I never really got past the "taking stock" part of the post. So today's post will look at the second half of the equation: setting new goals.
As always, Hamilton Players will strive to produce high quality shows that entertain and educate. Our goal for 2018 season ticket shows is to increase participation/attendance by actors, volunteers, and patrons. Part of the reasoning behind the selection of 2018's line up was to try to bring new faces to both the audience and the actor/volunteer pools. So far this strategy has been working very well. Chicago, the first show of the 2018 season, is in rehearsal and out of a cast of 22 actors, 11 of them are new to Hamilton Players! The next show, Charlotte's Web, features a 1st-time director and we expect that the final show of the season, 12 Angry Men, will bring in another new group of actors. Each actor new to Hamilton Players brings along a handful (or more!) of new patrons that will attend the show. (Children's shows are particularly good at leveraging attendance as each child has parents, siblings, extended family, teachers, mentors, etc. who usually attend the show...and usually more than once.)
A second goal Hamilton Players is working hard toward is to expand our volunteer program and recruit more volunteers. We now have an official volunteer coordinator and are working to restructure and expand the volunteer committee. The committee instituted training programs for house staff and general volunteers and is also actively recruiting volunteer House Managers to train for show nights.
As far as non-season ticket programming goals are concerned, Hamilton Players is trying to expand the programming and bring in more participants. We are expanding the reader's theater program from 3 to 4 titles a year. We are also adding a 3-day Haunted Playhouse event in October to augment the Mansion Murder Mystery and the Halloween Spooktacular. We are adding another day to the Murder Mystery, so it will now go 4 days and we will be opening ticket sales a day earlier for a special "full table" event for people who are purchasing a full 8 seat table. And we are looking for ways to market and increase the attendance of the Halloween Spooktacular - Hamilton Players' adult Halloween costume party.
The goals for fundraising are much the same as always: raise as much money as possible to support our mission. To that end, Hamilton Players is instituting a plan to do a fundraiser every September. Every other year (starting last year) we will host a gala titled, All the World's a Stage. On ATWAS off years, we will present a performance based fundraiser. Our formal fall fundraising event this year will be Forbidden Bitterroot; a comedy roast and Broadway inspired musical parody.
A final goal Hamilton Players is working towards is increasing awareness in our community about Hamilton Players and our programming. We are partnering with several downtown businesses to have "Hamilton Players Nights" where employees and volunteers of Hamilton Players attend to meet the public and answer questions while the business donates a percent of the evening's proceeds to us. Currently the 2nd Tuesday of every month is Hamilton Players Pasty Night at MineShaft Pasty Co., and Tuesday, February 20 will be Hamilton Players Night at Pizza Hut (in Hamilton).
As you can see, we have a lot going on all year long and the common thread throughout ALL of the goals is to increase participation. The Bitterroot Valley an amazing community, full of talent and compassion, and right now participation levels have barely scratched the surface! Hamilton Players has so much to offer the community and the community has so much to offer Hamilton Players...let's just join forces, spread the joy, and make it a win/win for everyone! See you at the Playhouse!
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