I had the pleasure of hearing Patricia Martin speak a few weeks ago on the topic of her book about the RenGen and what it could mean for the theater.

Well, the good peeps at Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago asked Ms. Martin to take her work in a more specific direction.  They commissioned her to study how big brands like Google and Red Bull reach the millenials, the group that all of us are depending on to be the next generation of theatergoers.

The results were published in a free e-book which you can and should download here.

It’s a fantastic study which makes me giddy for so many reasons:

1.  It uses big business as a model, which the theater so rarely does.

2.  It has simple and straightforward takeaways, many of which are easily actionable.

3.  It is focused on how to sell tickets tomorrow, not just today.

But one of the coolest things about this commission is that it comes from a non-profit theater company.  We’d expect the Wolf to commission plays and other artistic endeavors, but to commission a business study shows us all just how committed Steppenwolf is to the survival of what we do.

Read it here.

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