The ColdTowne Theater Cage Match

ChrisTrew.Com · Post by **ChrisTrew.Com** » November 7th, 2006, 2:18 am

This was discussed in the meeting on Sunday and briefly in the "less shows at the Hideout" thread. I think it deserves it's own.

The ColdTowne Theater would love the opportunity to house the cage match for the following reasons:
- It could get an earlier time slot
- We want an AIC-produced show at our theater so that we can financially support. It would still be a half to the AIC, half to the venue cut.
- We are all very passionate about the cage match. The way it's produced, the way it's marketed, etc. The ball will not be dropped on this.
- There was much hype and frenzy with the cage match when it first started (and had a 10:30 time slot). Perhaps an earlier slot would get more people involved, create more of a party atmosphere thereby encouraging new people in the community to hang out, etc.

Let's discuss!

sara farr · Post by **sara farr** » November 7th, 2006, 3:14 am

Hm. 10:30... why not 10:00pm?

kbadr · Post by **kbadr** » November 7th, 2006, 8:38 am

The Cagemathc was 10:30? I thought it was midnight when it started?

But I agree with Sara. Is there any reason not to make it 10?

I say let CTT have it if it wants it. Enough people enjoy the format that we don't want it to die.

kaci_beeler · Post by **kaci_beeler** » November 7th, 2006, 11:34 am

Friday nights?

ChrisTrew.Com · Post by **ChrisTrew.Com** » November 19th, 2006, 8:23 pm

Friday or Saturday
10:00 or 10:30
Nothing concrete yet when it comes that stuff.

Are there any other opinions on the cagematch moving to the coldtowne theater?

andrea · Post by **andrea** » November 19th, 2006, 8:40 pm

i like the idea of the cagematch being moved to coldtowne. it seems to me that the idea of the cagematch is to develop a following...repeat customers who actually care about who is winning or losing. i don't think that is happening at the hideout. maybe moving to an earlier time slot could make it more conducive to acheiving the cult-like status it deserves.

i love the cagematch. i want it to continue being awesome and to grow into being something even more awesome.

Jules · Post by **Jules** » November 19th, 2006, 8:44 pm

Werd to that, Andrea.

beardedlamb · Post by **beardedlamb** » November 19th, 2006, 9:13 pm

i am opposed to this move for many small reasons, four big ones.

a) i like the idea of CTT developing an identity that is different enough from what the hideout offers so that the audience can better select what they want to see. i think CTT can develop shows, something they have proven they can do, and make them work. to move one from the hideout to CTT removes a show slot from the overall schedule of the AIC's calendar. so long as the choices for an audience member are clearly laid out, and CTT and Hideout do what they can to avoid stepping on toes, what we've got now should work.

b) we just spent a lot of money on marketing for the cagematch for 11:30 at the hideout. the current schedule that we've had for i guess about a year has never really been marketed the way it is right now. people are probably tired of hearing this, but i think we should wait until school is back in session in january and we have a chance to really market to students on or near campus to see if this stuff sticks. even if these flyers get handed out all before any switch that might occur, you're still going to have confused citizens who might be turned off by something telling them to be somewhere and then finding it not there.

c) brass tax, the hideout cabaret has a larger capacity which means bigger audiences and bigger money for the AIC. i'm not totally sure on this but i think CTT maxes out at about half of what the cabaret is capable of holding. this is not a slam on CTT at all. they are different spaces with different vibes, but from a money standpoint, if the show were to take off and start selling out, we'd want our max as high as possible.

d) having 2 AIC productions running simultaneously is dangerous because it's splits up the audience. the AIC is not at a point in it's growth where multiple competing shows is advisable. variety is a huge plus. multiple venues is a huge plus. but, why would we essentially make people choose when they could go to all of it. look at wafflefest vs. out of bounds. out of bounds has grown to where two competing shows is worthwhile. both theatres can do very well even though the festival is making people choose. wafflefest, on the other hand, is currently only local groups and not as much of a draw. would you have liked to split up the decent audiences we had this weekend into the two theatre spaces, thereby making the audiences not so good? wafflefest could have done more marketing and booked both spaces and hoped that everything worked out, but i'm sure we agree that this is not realistic at this time.

a blanket statement about our growth:
the growth of the AIC, as i see it, is not as healthy or voluminous as many seem to think. true, groups are performing in other venues, a new venue has just opened, and there are 7 shows a week at the Hideout. if we were to really sit down and look at the numbers, they're not all that great. classes are being cancelled or under-attended. audiences have been suffering at both spaces, and if one is not suffering, the other usually is at the cost of the other doing well. the truth of the matter is that there is not that huge of an audience for improv in austin right now. i'm not saying we can't get there with quality shows and lots of marketing. i just think we've jumped the growth gun. we've maybe fallen victim to one of our own marketing tactics which is to tell everyone how great improv is doing and how fast it's expanding in austin in order to actually get it to expand. i know this is an unpopular thought. i don't know who else is closeted about their concerns on this... and it does pain me to appear to be speaking badly about our state. i don't mean to badmouth. i'm just trying to objectively look at the situation. i'm very pleased that we're going for broke in a lot of ways and i'm doing my part to support what people see as enormous growth. as the adertising guy, i feel like i'm playing catch-up, quite honestly. i'll be out of money very soon, and it's not like i've spent it unwisely.

------
reading this over, i appear to be a huge ass. i don't think this is pessimism or cynicism. obviously i could be wrong and i'd really like to be proven such by our success. moving the cagematch just seems like a weird thing for me. i am historically very conservative in business and change is difficult for me in that respect.

in the end i'm really all about what we decide as a group is good for the group. if everyone disagrees with me just write my dissenting vote down and make the change. i will support it fully. just like in improv, it doesn't really matter what choice you make so long as you commit to it and everyone supports you.

i feel like a dick,
jeremy

Jules · Post by **Jules** » November 19th, 2006, 9:32 pm

Very good points, Jeremy. The organization needs to keep aware of growth and the city's capacity for that growth and vice/versa.
That's why I'm bugging my contacts about fundraising cause it ain't just like you can ask and you get. You have to have a plan and solid stats behind you and a steady plan for growth.
I'm not entirely convinced that you can't do cage match at CTT, this is definitely worth a lot of discussion.

Andy P · Post by **Andy P** » November 19th, 2006, 10:17 pm

I say do a second Cagematch at 10pm or 10:30pm on Saturday night at CTT. Two Cagematches!!

There are enough people who want to do Cagematches, and you can encourage people who are not on a team or who want to do more improv to get some stage time.

arclight · Post by **arclight** » November 19th, 2006, 10:31 pm

What are the benefits of moving the Cagematch to the players, audience, and venues? I can see moving it to an earlier timeslot making it more popular, but I can't see the location being a huge factor in developing a loyal following.

Marketing campaigns need time to prepare and time to show results; shuffling shows around now before we've distributed the current batch of cards and taken some data on show attendance seems premature, and potentially wasteful of the marketing $$$ and effort we've spent recently.

I'm with jules - I want to see goals for the show and a plan to achieve them before we move the show. If it makes sense, do it, otherwise why spend our limited effort on it?

York99 · Post by **York99** » November 20th, 2006, 3:42 am

I thought it was decided to table this conversation and revisit it in a few months. We can see if the latest round of marketing holds up or if the show needs some sort of shot in the arm at that point.

The improv community has grown and changed in such a short time that nobody really knows how it will look in 8 weeks from now. Even very recently there have been new students, new teams, a new theater, a new school, lots of new publicity and nationwide recognition, new marketing implemented and much more planned, and new tshirts on the way.

I'm not suggesting that people get complacent, but let some things happen organically. Proactivity is great, but reactivity is important, too.

beardedlamb · Post by **beardedlamb** » November 20th, 2006, 11:06 am

York99 wrote:I thought it was decided to table this conversation and revisit it in a few months.

i absolutely agree.

Yorke99 wrote:Even very recently there have been new students, new teams, a new theater, a new school, lots of new publicity and nationwide recognition, new marketing implemented and much more planned, and new tshirts on the way.

let's not confuse ambition with demand.

nadine · Post by **nadine** » November 20th, 2006, 1:27 pm

ditto what justin and jeremy said.

also, if we do something like 10 pm, keep in mind that troupes have shows at the threefer at 8 pm, and if you're scheduled last in the threefer, and happen to have a cagematch that day, making the cagematch at 10:30 allows a less harried drive time.

ChrisTrew.Com · Post by **ChrisTrew.Com** » November 20th, 2006, 1:57 pm

Actually, it was decided to talk about it on the forums this month and then vote in December. So, unless something changes, people can expect to vote on this December 3rd.