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  • 1.  How to market Urinetown

    Posted 05-13-2014 10:49
    We are considering Urintown for our musical next year and I'm looking for ideas and/or success stories regarding marketing the show.  How do you get people around the title and explain that it is family friendly?  

    thanks,

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    Nathan Shewell
    Theatre Arts Director
    Indianapolis IN
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  • 2.  RE:How to market Urinetown

    Posted 05-14-2014 08:51
    We had a local homeless shelter that was remodeling their restroom facilities so we had cast members out in the audience before the show collecting "pennies to pee". We raised over $1500. We made sure that our pre-show press releases included information about helping the shelter as well as explaining the concept of the show and how many current topics it covers. Our opening night audience was small, but the word got out how great a show it was. We had a full house by closing night.



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    Suzanne Smith
    Temperance MI
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  • 3.  RE:How to market Urinetown

    Posted 05-15-2014 10:59
    I directed the show last year and we used the original poster idea from the Broadway show. We took a photo of the leads staring with great concern at the title with comments above their heads ("Is that really the title?"  Can we please change that?" etc.) We also invited numerous organizations involved in a huge CLIMATE CHANGE rally to set up tables in our lobby and give a 60 curtain speech regarding them message of the show and its pertinence to their cause. We were asked by the rally director to sing "Look at the Sky" at their event. (great advertising!)  A student had a sculptor of recycled products on display in lobby. In addition, I sent out a study guide to all teachers in our district ahead of time. Hope these ideas help!

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    Sonja Brown, Theatre Teacher
    Phoenix High School
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  • 4.  RE:How to market Urinetown

    Posted 05-14-2014 09:14
    We produced Urinetown in the spring of 2011.  My students were very interested in the show, which helped the momentum. 

    I knew the title would automatically rouse suspicions, so I took the soundtrack and the script to my principal and my district Fine Arts director in the spring of 2010, and explained why I thought it was a worthwhile piece of literature.  We talked about the story line, including the parody and the messages about big business and taking care of the environment.  In addition, I found a local group that was producing the show over the summer and arranged for my principal and my music director to attend with me.  After watching the show, we talked about what things I would change directorally and how I would approach the show.

    The preparation paid off - my principal got 2 parent complaints, which were easily redirected once he asked them to speak to me first.  I asked them to read the script and have a discussion with me afterward, and it was over.

    Marketing - wise, the kids talked up the show th their friends, we put up signs all over the school saying "What is Urinetown?"  that stirred up interest, and I had a very popular teacher play the part of Old Man Strong.  The kids wrote fun annoncements to say every morning the week of the show.  We had full houses, despite having to reschedule the show because of an entire week of snow days.

    Before the show each night, we had our cast of poor people beg for money to use the bathroom ("Penny for a pee, sir?"), and we donated all the funds to a local food bank. (The same one we donated to for TOTS-Eat.)

    We have a moderately conservative community, but they were very receptive to the show because we have a reputation for producing strong, quality work with integrity.  We had an absolutely wonderful time with this show - I hope you are able to produce it!

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    Denise Tooch
    McKinney TX
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  • 5.  RE:How to market Urinetown

    Posted 05-14-2014 10:18
    We really didn't do a lot of targeted marketing for our production (about seven or eight years ago).  Our school auditorium is not suitable for staging most large-scale book musicals, but it's important to our program to do one every year, so for that purpose we always rent one of our community theatres.  In the case of Urinetown, we put up posters around the school and also in the windows of businesses in the trendy, upscale shopping square where our venue was located.  The theatre had just over 300 seats; we had fewer than ten empty seats on Thursday night, sold out on Friday night, and sold out and turned people away on Saturday night.

    If you want to emphasize the family-friendly aspects of the show, you could concentrate on visuals of Little Sally and her teddy bear, and maybe also of the Bobby-Hope romance.  Does your school have some sort of closed-circuit TV morning announcements?  See if you can get Little Sally to go on that show in costume with her bear to promote your production in character.

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    Jeff Grove
    Theatre Teacher and Aesthetics Department Chair
    Stanton College Preparatory School
    Jacksonville FL


  • 6.  RE: How to market Urinetown

    Posted 12-09-2017 11:08
    We did URINETOWN in 2007 and found ourselves in a little bit of a promotional pickle.

    We were given the rights to the show with the caveat that we could not announce the show or promote it by title until after the local, professional (now out of business) dinner theatre had closed their production less than 4 months before ours opened.

    After much teeth gnashing, we agreed and signed the contract. In our season publicity we promoted our show as the "spring musical" to be announced on a certain date.

    In school we printed cheap t-shirts with a student-drawn image and the phrase "Don't Be the Bunny." They were of course yellow t-shirts and we distributed them to anyone who wanted one. The shirts proved to be pretty popular with students and really helped to keep top of mind awareness once we were able to announce the show.

    We embraced the title and simply went for it. Our poster featured a urinal with lots of yellow text. No complaints about it that I know of.

    My students loved working on URINETOWN and I still get comments from the cast about how proud they were of it. The most recent was just last week!

    The only complaints I am aware of were from my predecessor who waged a small but unsuccessful campaign against the show. Her point was that kids singing onstage about peeing was in poor taste. She was probably right!

    It seems to me that URINETOWN is more prescient now than it was then.

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    Mark A. Zimmerman,

    Theatre Director
    Akron School for the Arts
    Firestone Community Learning Center
    470 Castle Blvd
    Akron, Ohio 44313

    Troupe 5570

    mzimmerm@apslearn.org
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