Our audience development project with Broadway show ‘Stick Fly,’ was fun and productive. We were excited to be asked by noted producers Nelle Nugent and Reuben Cannon to help with spreading the word about this awesome show during January 2012. We targeted African American and Caribbean audiences including sororities, college alumnae groups and professional organizations. We were successful in expanding the audience and increasing revenues by organizing five ‘theater parties’ –selling only premium orchestra seats! A faith-based group of over 100 ministers and deacon boards generated messages ‘from the pulpit.’
The play, written by Lydia R. Diamond, was set at an upper class African American family’s vacation home on Martha’s Vineyard. The cast included: Dule Hill, Mekhi Phifer, Tracie Thoms, Reuben Santiago-Hudson, Rosie Benton, Condola Rashad, Jerome Preston Bates, Don Guillory, Gretchen Hall, and Zakiya Young. Alicia Keys, also a producer, composed original music.
