I saw John Proctor Is the Villain on Broadway recently and loved it . . . but what I also loved was what they did before the Broadway run even started.

And it’s something I think every theater maker, producer, and marketer should pay attention to . . .

They Gave Away the Rights FIRST

Before John Proctor Is the Villain even set foot on a Broadway stage, the team made the decision to release the performance rights to high schools, community theaters, and colleges.

Normally, you debut on Broadway, then you tour, then you license to regional theaters, then you let the high schools have their shot.

Not John Proctor.

As the author, Kimberly Belflower said, the play is about young people and for young people . . .  so they prioritized young people.

The result?

By the time John Proctor hit Broadway, there was already an army of young people who knew the show inside and out. Students who had performed it, stage managers who had called the cues, parents who sat in the audience and watched their kids on stage.

They had a connection. And emotional connected (which is what every marketer strives for when pitching a product to a consumer.)  And when the Broadway production opened, those fans wanted to see it again. 

By releasing the rights early, they build an audience without spending any money (in fact, they make money off those productions).  It wasn’t about audience-building isn’t about marketing, it’s about ownership.

When you give someone a piece of a story, when you let them live it, breathe it, perform it . . . they don’t forget it. They fight for it, they root for it, they buy tickets for it.

It follows the same formula I used with some of my most successful marketing initiatives:

Step 1.  What is the show about?

(Ex:  Godspell is about a community coming together.” – Stephen Schwartz)

Step 2.  Do something/anything that demonstrates that.

(Ex:  Crowdfund Godspell – bringing together the largest community of Broadway Producers and Broadway Investors ever.)

John Proctor Is the Villain didn’t wait for audiences to find it, it went straight to them and gave them their story first.

Because the story is theirs.