A Box Office Hit

 

 

InterAct Theatre Company

Founded in 1988 by Artistic Director Seth Rozin, InterAct Theatre Company moved to its current home at The Adrienne in Center City Philadelphia in 1997. Although the theater had produced more than 35 mainstage productions, including 11 world premieres, until 2003 it did not have its own box office.

“We had originally outsourced all ticketing to another ticketing agency,” said Melissa Amster, Managing Director. “Our artistic product is of the highest quality and we wanted to provide as good an experience coming into the theater.” With a $41,400 Organizational Development Fund grant from PCMI, InterAct created a new position for a Box Office Manager and opened its own box office.

 

While the box office has helped save some fees from outsourcing and offers the organization additional administrative support, the biggest impact is on building relationships with the audience. “This person works as an ambassador. You know the person you speak to on the phone will be there every night. It is about more than selling tickets. The box office can track information about people and begin to cultivate donors. In the second year, we now are able to track lots more information and have a much more sophisticated database maintained by the box office manager.”

 

InterAct has arranged for the funding to continue the position. “There is no way we could go back,” she said. “This has created one point of contact for audience members.”

 

The process of creating any new position inevitably has its plot twists. It took several iterations to get the right design for the job and right person in it. “PCMI was very helpful throughout the whole process,” said Amster, who also has attended courses on finance and other topics at PCMI. “They are very supportive, accessible and responsive, taking into account what we needed administratively and helping us figure out what we needed. There is not another funder like PCMI.”

 

 

Photo by

Tim Moyer and Frank X in the Barrymore Award winning production of Thomas Gibbons' Permenant Collection