UPDATES

Offers are going out to actors for the 2010 Repertory. I hope to announce the cast for our 2010 Season by early next week. I will be in New York City on Wednesday April 21st to attend meetings with playwrights and designers. On Wednesday evening our friend Doug Moss is hosting a CATF New York City BUZZ Party in his downtown loft to celebrate our 20th Anniversary Season. This is our 2nd Annual New York City BUZZ Party hosted by Doug and his partner Roy. I will announce the 2010 Festival Repertory and invite Doug and Roy’s guests to join us in Shepherdstown for the 2010 Festival. Buzz Parties are one of the ways that we reach out and make new friends. They are important audience development events. Last week we had a CATF BUZZ Party in Rockville, MD and we have a BUZZ Party scheduled for Monday April 26th in Washington DC at the Mandarin Hotel.

Yesterday we had a productive meeting on Social Marketing and how to develop marketing ideas using Social Media. Our goal is to more deeply connect with our audience base via the Social network. I am interested in creating new ways to interact with our patron base and discover new friends for our growing Theater Festival. Social Media is participative and I want to invite our audience to be part of the creative process that will help generate content and BUZZ. I hope to find ways using the Social network to create patron-to-patron conversations that will help to “spread-the-word” and tell the CATF Story. Word-of -Mouth is considered to be the most trusted source of information. Social Media sits at the pinnacle of the current trends in consumer-to-consumer conversaton and marketing effort amplification. Social Marketing is a social sport. And I want our Theater Festival to stimulate conversations among our loyal audience base. My goal is to motivate and inspire our base to create AWARENESS of the Festival experience that will inspire others to CONSIDER attending the 2010 Festival. AWARENESS…leads to…CONSIDERATION…which leads to…PURCHASE.

We have an exciting and daring Festival and I want to create CATF EVANGELISTS who will share their Festival experience with their social network/friends/co-workers etc. Please join me in this exciting conversation RE: Social Media. I am interested in hearing your ideas on Social Marketing. Please share your Festival experiences with me by commenting on this blog below. Let’s use this blog to talk to each other.

Ed Herendeen