my senior year I had the same problem
what we did was sell ads in the program, going to businesses that the group frequently goes to
ex: we had a coffee house that we always went to either before or after rehersals and asked them they donated like 300 bucks and all we had to do was put their business card in the program
I dont really understand what you mean by promotional items
if you mean stuff that you all can promote the show with a simple write up about the plot and the history of hte show is usually a good thing for a press release then talk about the cast. The internet is great when it comes to press releases, search for your area and see what news media covers it( we had like 12 radio stations, 4 TV stations, and 6 papers including the arts papers) get a contact e-mail from them and e-mail them personally asking if they would help with media coverage.
Many radios and TV sations do interviews with local talent and if you talk to the contact they will usually be able to put a few different people on the air.
We did LSH my senior year and was on a 5 min radio interview one morning while everyone was on their way to school and they re-aired it again durring rush hour, a local Tv station brought in our seymoure and Audrey with Audrey 2(stage 1) and talked about the show's history and they way we made the plant come to life and what experience we got out of theatre, both times they aired ticket information for the show
If your school has a printing class ask if they will help do all the poster stuff, the only thing you have to pay for is the paper more then likely( we printed 500 14x17 posters for under 75 bucks)
If you have anyother questions let me know
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