Facing an $800,000 deficit, Managing Director Jim Loder says the layoffs shouldn't reflect poorly on the five marketing team staffers who were dismissed, but should instead flag his new approach to selling tickets. Rather than the traditional print-ad approach that ACT (and the two other big local theaters) relies on, Loder says he wants to hire a "guerrilla-style marketer" who has the "skill set to bang on doors and aggressively sell tickets with creative cross-promotions." The layoffs represent a reconfiguration that will make room for the new extreme-marketing position.
Loder says that while ACT's subscription base has grown at a steady clip (about eight to 12 percent a year), the theater--with its estimated $6 million annual budget--was about 5,000 subscribers shy of meeting costs. He says the ticket hawkers will now work on comission.
But others say that ticket sales weren't the problem. The issue, according to an ACT insider who wanted to remain anonymous, was that ACT's shows went way over budget. "You have a managing director who did not control costs," the source says. "He's panicking and blaming us... trying to pass the buck."
Loder does acknowledge that the 400-seat house has been 80 to 90 percent full on average. However, he maintains that--thanks to unavoidable professional overhead--the theater will have to increase its income. Loder has decided to amp the hype machine to reach 95 to 100 percent sales.
