Help spread the word about the Community Theatre

By Ellen Roeseler
For the VOICE
I was standing at a deli counter at the grocery store the other day, getting opening night treats for the cast and crew of “The Foreigner,” and jokingly said to the gal behind the counter, “you know actors. If you don’t feed them, they won’t go on stage!”
She said, “Oh, is this for a production at the high school?”
And I said, “No, it’s for community theatre.”
And she said – much to my dismay – “I didn’t know we had a community theatre in town!”
I was crushed. The Wisconsin Rapids Community Theatre has been around for 36 years, and there are still people in our community who don’t know we exist. I can’t tell you how many people have told me they didn’t know there was a theater in the Centrailia Center at the Rapids Mall.
Over the years, we have tried every kind of communication available to us – newspaper, radio, television, postcards, lawn signs, email, Face Book, etc. etc., but there are still lots of people who don’t know about us. (Obviously, they are not reading these extremely interesting and well written articles….)
The only other thing I can think of is to get a crew together and go door to door asking people if they have accepted WRCT as their personal local theater. If we had an unlimited budget (and I laugh as I type this), we could try sky-writing, mass direct mail campaigns and produce our own reality show. Even then, there would be those who don’t know about us.
Someone wiser than I coined the phrase, “the best advertising is by word of mouth.” Despite media and technology advancement, the adage holds true. So, I’m asking for your help. Will you witness for WRCT? If you tell 10 people and they tell 10 people and on and on, someday everyone would know there is great local theatre right in their backyard. And if you tell them today or tomorrow, they would have time to grab a couple of tickets for our fall play.
If you haven’t seen it yet, there are still a few performances of The Foreigner left for you to enjoy. And enjoy it you will. This is a very funny show.
Director Linda Garski has brought out the best in Larry Shue’s great script about things and people who are not what they seem. Performances run Oct. 13 to Oct. 15 at 7:30 p.m. in the beautiful WRCT theater located in the Centralia Center. Tickets are only $15, which should come out to about 25 cents per laugh at the very least.
There are still some great seats available, but you’ll get the best we have if you call ahead to reserve them. The WRCT office number is 421-0435; if Cory’s not in, leave a message telling her how many you need and she’ll set them aside.
And please tell your friends. Heck – tell your coworkers, employees, mail carriers, dog sitter, everyone you come in contact with for just one day. One voice will multiply one hundredfold, and together we can spread the joy of local theatre to the masses.
Yes, brothers and sisters, you can change the world.