The PR Bible for Community Theatres

If you're like most theatre people, you first got involved with your community theatre for the action on stage or behind the scenes. Then someone said, "Send this audition notice to the paper." And suddenly everything spun out of control, as you struggled to figure out how to get the news out about your production in the best ways possible. Now you can stop spinning wildly and start spinning like a PR pro!

The PR Bible for Community Theatres offers a nuts-and-bolts approach to public relations and marketing with a focus on the unique challenges faced by community theatres or any community-based arts group. Chris Mackowski fills his book with solid, specific tips learned through years of arts promotion. He combines professional advice from community-theatre and media people, personal experience, basic PR theory, and a dash of humor to produce a highly effective and entertaining guide that will help you better communicate with your theatre's audiences, deal more effectively with the media, and reinforce your theatre's place as a vital part of your larger community.

Mackowski takes you through the processes and forms of PR step by step, keeping in mind "The Big Picture"-a PR plan which promotes not just your plays, but your theatre too. For example, he discusses

• the best strategies to take when staffing and budgets are limited
• the pros and cons of various media and how to make the most of each
• the ways in which newsletters, posters, and the Web can shape a theatre's image
• how and when to get editorial attention from a newspaper
• in what sections of papers you should place your ads.

Mackowski provides a range of sample press releases, feature stories, calendar listings, newsletters, and publicity photos-all with annotations-to help get you started and get your shows seen.

Whether you're part of an all-volunteer organization, a large community theatre with a paid staff, or a different type of community-based arts group, The PR Bible for Community Theatres can turn you into a PR pro.