OCT
5

Don’t Ruin Opening Night with Closing Night Blues

By Edith Weiss 

Edith Weiss is the author of several published children’s plays, including six with Pioneer Drama Service.  A lot of Edith’s writing time goes into her stand-up comedy routine, which has taken her all over the country and on three overseas military tours.  Besides writing, she also acts and directs in both children’s and adult theatre. 

You’ve built and painted the set, sewn the costumes, gathered the props, stacked the programs, rehearsed the actors and after weeks and weeks of preparation and hard work, you’re finally ready for opening night.  It’s the first night in front of an audience and everyone is excited!

However, if you’ve decided you’ll only perform the show once, it’s closing night as well, and you have to say farewell to the wonderful cast and all the fun of putting on a show.  All that work, all that time, all for only a couple of hours, then it’s over.  That’s the closing night blues.  It doesn’t have to be that way.  If you possibly can, try to do at least two performances.

I hear what you’re thinking, “Times are hard.  We can barely afford to do this show once!”  Well, yes.  That is very understandable.  But let’s consider those very real budget concerns before giving up on the idea completely.  When thinking about the bigger picture of the budget, the reason you have a budget is so you can put on a show, isn’t it?  It’s so your actors get to experience a live performance.  The purpose of the budget isn’t to create the world’s most beautiful set.  It’s not about elaborate costumes.  It’s not about state of the art lighting and sound.  Yes, those all go into the mix, but in the end it’s about the people involved and their experiences.  And, keeping budget concerns in mind, when compared to the cost of the set, costumes, props, and scripts, the $40, $50 or $80 cost of an additional performance is very, very small.  But the benefits to your school, to the audience, to you the director, and especially to the actors are very, very, big.

Let’s start with the director and actors.  You did your homework, blocking the show and working with set designers to fulfill your vision.  Or, just as likely, you’ve designed and built most of it yourself.  You’ve talked to the actors about how a show changes in front of an audience:  how the pacing changes, how to hold for laughs, how focused you have to be as an actor when you know people are watching.  Getting it right for the live performance for an audience is why you’ve been rehearsing for months.  Face it, there’s nothing like performing in front of an audience, discovering where they laugh spontaneously and hearing how loudly they applaud at curtain call.  What if an actor’s nerves have gotten so in the way that he missed his cue, forgot his lines or neglected to bring an important prop onstage?  For that young person, that is the experience he will remember.  With only one performance, he has no second chance of getting it right and having a wonderful theatre memory.

Do you really want to give the actors just one shot to get it right, to learn what you’ve been teaching?  Once opening night is done, any added performance multiplies what they learn exponentially.  They have a chance to get comfortable onstage and have fun with their characters, the cast and the audience.  Isn’t getting kids confident in front of an audience one of the benefits of theatre?

That extra performance benefits the school as well.  Scheduling multiple performances gives potential audience members an option on which show to attend.  This is important in schools, when grandparents might be travelling to town to see the show or when parents can’t make it due to something going wrong at work or home.  Plus, you’ll be surprised by how many people come to see the show twice.  Giving a discount to people who purchase tickets to both shows is a good way to increase repeat business and might just pay for that extra performance.  An extra night also allows for “word of mouth” – your best advertising, not just for this show, but for the next production, too.

As you can see, the benefits of expanding to multiple performances are many.  So, the question remains...  how do you afford it?  Easily enough, really.  (This is especially true when you’re putting the needs of the kids first and choosing shows with reasonable royalties rather than those Broadway shows that are going to cost you hundreds of dollars more just for one extra performance.)  Do you sell advertising space in the program?  Those spots have a higher value if your show is a multi-night engagement and you can probably sell the advertisements for a larger amount.  Do you charge admission?  Count how many tickets you need to sell to pay royalties for that second performance.  You will very likely be able to afford the royalties and even make a profit.  Can you get a business in town to sponsor the second show?  Or two businesses to sponsor both shows?

There’s one last advantage I want to mention about adding a performance and having more seats to fill.  Theater is the perfect outreach into the community.  Undoubtedly there are senior centers, VFWs or other organizations looking for social or cultural opportunities for their members.  Not only do you broaden the support for your theatre program, you’re making a difference for both the community and your actors.  Touching lives through theatre...  the more performances, the more lives you touch.

That leaves just one thing:  Break a leg, everybody!