Friday, February 8, 2008

The kids are alright.

Happy Lunar New Year, my fellow OOB-lings. I know this blog finds you busy as the proverbial groundhog, preparing for the enticingly warmer second half of the season. I am no exception -- actively embroiled in semester two of Grad School -- and I even made a new friend! She's a lovely young lady from just outside of town and we immediately bonded over the magic word: musicals.

Just as thrilling as it always is to find another fan of the dramatic form, I was equally saddened to hear her alarming ignorance of our beloved OOB. She l-l-loves going to Broadway shows, she tells me, but her classmates cannot afford to go with her. "What about smaller, more experimental theater?" I ask. "Where's that?" was her reply.

I can only describe my reaction as disbelief. My adorable new buddy, my young potential adoptee, was totally unaware of the thriving theater scene all around her. She lives on the Bowery! She's been in the city two years already! How can she NOT KNOW?!?

I understand. My undergraduate alma mater has no theater major. We had to venture into town to find the goods. Let's try to calmly, rationally look at this as opportunity rather than a tragedy. I think the bright young minds of New York City's large academic community are just waiting to experience your shows.

They are already engaged in the pursuit of human experience.

They are highly literate and sit - listening - for a living.

They live a subway ride away from your venue.

They travel in packs. (I wish I were kidding.)

They have a lot of time on their hands and not a lot of money.

They are an excellent addition to your audience. Please, please, please reach out to this city's phenomenal collection of students. This can be an organized marketing push in school newspapers and campus bulletin boards or a more guerilla efforts at the Columbia library steps, Park Row, and Borough Hall Brooklyn. Honestly, I'm not 100% sure about that part. There are more qualified IT staff members to ask. You must have MySpace if you're reading this. All I know is it's what the business students would call "win-win".

Break legs,

Hillary Cohen

Development Manager

New York Innovative Theatre Awards

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