'Playbill' is no longer the official progam cover for SHN!

[Joviedamian]

Posted: 8/31/13 at 11:45pm

Interesting...I just heard in order to cut cost, SHN (in San Francisco) has decided to no longer use PLAYBILL as their official program provider. SHN has now, started to produce their own independent programs/playbills.

One of the most exciting things about the PLAYBILL cover, is that it made me feel like I was at a Broadway play/musical even though it was on tour. SHN is a major regional/Broadway style house/company...I wonder if other regional houses will do this to support cost cutting.

I wish I had a picture to show you of what one looks like, but I do not at this time. I just have a few friends who are currently seeing a show and quickly text me about the change.

What do you think? Do you think that part of the experience is having that branded PLAYBILL program in your hands...or some in-house made program?

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 8/31/13 at 11:51pm

I prefer getting a playbill for touring shows. I actually didn't realize Playbills were such an expense. I thought the ads offset the majority of the cost, but maybe that's only for Playbill and not the theatre? I have no idea how it works.

[Joviedamian]

Posted: 8/31/13 at 11:54pm

Yeah! Same here, CATS. I am just very surprised by the move to do that. There is just something about getting that PLAYBILL that just feels great. My friend said he we would text a pic later after the show on what one looks like...but he says that it looks like an 8X11 thin program that something your high school would produce. We shall see...

[CapnHook]

Posted: 8/31/13 at 11:58pm

Playbill is simply a magazine that productions use and insert their program information into it. It's fascinating that the value of having the trademark yellow logo at the top of the cover is simply sentimental/historic. Without it, a production seems less "official."

[Joviedamian]

Posted: 9/1/13 at 12:03am

CAP I don't think the production is less "official" because they don't have it. But I know for some, historic tradition is that branded playbill. It's all part of the experience. My friend just told me that the new SHN playbills is cheap and thin and he plans to throw it away afterwards. If he had an official playbill, he would keep it as a souvenir and maybe get the cast to sign it.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 9/1/13 at 12:14am

More and more touring houses are switching to local print companies. Playbills keeps asking for more and more money from the touring houses, and a lot of them are choosing to go local and cheaper for their programs. I always prefer a Playbill, but I am fine with any type of program.

[Joviedamian]

Posted: 9/1/13 at 12:25am

bwayphreak, that is so good to know! Sad that Playbill keeps asking for more money. I know many community theaters and some regional houses in SF use something called " Theatre Publications" it looks just like a PLAYBILL program but publications listed at the top. They are a very good company and have the support of the community to keep cost low to support the theaters!

Below you will see what most regional and community houses use!

http://www.amazon.com/Cybill-Shepherd-Signed-Playbill-starring/dp/B00884TBZ0



Updated On: 9/1/13 at 12:25 AM

[Joviedamian]

Posted: 9/1/13 at 12:32am

How does one post a pic on here...I can show you what that new programs look like! :)

[After Eight]

Posted: 9/1/13 at 12:55am

"It's fascinating that the value of having the trademark yellow logo at the top of the cover is simply sentimental/historic. Without it, a production seems less "official.""

Playbills didn't always have that trademark yellow band. Prior to 1958, the covers had no band, and often presented logos of the show. I find some of them to be more attractive than the Playbills we know today. Nor were the bands always yellow. 1958 had bands of varying colors. In 1973-1974, they changed the band to three vertical stripes of pink, orange, and yellow.

[Phantom of London]

Posted: 9/1/13 at 8:30am

They could always charge for a Playbill on the road, say 3 bucks.

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 9/1/13 at 8:41am

"I prefer getting a playbill for touring shows. I actually didn't realize Playbills were such an expense. I thought the ads offset the majority of the cost, but maybe that's only for Playbill and not the theatre? I have no idea how it works."

The theaters don't benefit from ad revenue in Playbills. Playbill would. It would work just like any other magazine.

Considering the majority of Broadway shows use Playbill, I'm not surprised they're such an expense.

[PastorErnst]

Posted: 9/1/13 at 8:48am

For as long as I can remember, Playbills were never distributed at any of the theatres in Toronto. Mirvish Productions uses Programme because it is published by Mirvish Media - it's all in-house. The quality of the Programme has gotten better over the years, but it took a lot of feedback over a few seasons before it improved.

Personally, I don't see a need for the Playbill brand outside of NYC. If anything, it makes the ones I get in NYC that much more special and unique.

[DEClarke]

Posted: 9/1/13 at 10:01am

Interesting...I just heard in order to cut cost, SHN (in San Francisco) has decided to no longer use PLAYBILL as their official program provider. SHN has now, started to produce their own independent programs/playbills.

I always figured for tours the Playbill came with the show. I didn't realize the individual theaters were having to pay to have those printed and shipped to them. That's crazy. That must have really upset Houston;s Hobby Center when we had WICKED in 2010. For that production (I worked front of house), we had one set of Playbills for ONE week. They featured Donna Vivino as Elphaba. Then for weeks 2-5 we had a different set with Jackie Burns as Elphaba. Once Donna Vivino left the show, we had to destroy all the left over Donna Vivino Playbills per the request of the tour company/producers/whatever. If the theatre is paying for these, why couldn't they be sent back to the printers and just have the cover changed and cast info pages changed? The articles and adds stay the same for a month or two anyway.

Personally, I don't see a need for the Playbill brand outside of NYC. If anything, it makes the ones I get in NYC that much more special and unique.

I like having Playbill outside of New York. I appreciate being able to read the articles in the Playbill before a show starts. I think keeping the Playbill exclusive to NYC is snobby and pretentious. Getting a Playbill with the name of the NYC theater printed in that Yellow Box on top should be enough to make the NYC Playbills "special and unique."

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 9/1/13 at 11:19am

"For that production (I worked front of house), we had one set of Playbills for ONE week. They featured Donna Vivino as Elphaba. Then for weeks 2-5 we had a different set with Jackie Burns as Elphaba. Once Donna Vivino left the show, we had to destroy all the left over Donna Vivino Playbills per the request of the tour company/producers/whatever. If the theatre is paying for these, why couldn't they be sent back to the printers and just have the cover changed and cast info pages changed? The articles and adds stay the same for a month or two anyway."

If the cast list was part of the Playbill, it wouldn't make sense to rip out those pages and replace them and have them reprinted. It was probably more cost effective to just destroy them rather than have them shipped back, changed and shipped out again. Also when printing materials, people usually print in bulk. The amount they'd print probably exceeded the amount you had left over.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 9/1/13 at 12:41pm

Yeah, the amount of work to manually remove and replace pages would be just insane, both in man hours and thus cost.

"They could always charge for a Playbill on the road, say 3 bucks."

Equity requires that a free program, which includes bios, be provided to all audience members. I doubt that many people would be willing to pay for a Playbill, which would pretty much be what they would have to be given free surrounded by a bunch of ads with a few stories.

It really does make more sense for road houses to create their programs in house. Then they can actually customize it to their city and get whatever ad revenue that they can generate.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 9/2/13 at 12:32am

I remember when SHN used to use "Performing Arts" magazine, which was 8.5 x 11 and unwieldy.

[heytravistravis]

Posted: 9/2/13 at 4:41pm

Last week I asked my boss at the York Theatre (Off-Broadway theatre in NYC) why they made their own programs instead of getting Playbills. She said that it was because the printers needed all the show information months in advance; and the cost wasn't an issue, just time.

Maybe this is just because the theatre is relatively small, but I'm curious to know what a unit of Playbills cost to print.