It's been 7 MONTHS since we opened Hester's Theatre of Magic so I wanted to share some thoughts, updates, and feelings about the process!
First, I need to answer the question I get all the time! Why is Hester's Theatre spelled THEATRE and not THEATER. The simple answer is theatre is more associated with performing art venues versus theater being a movie theater. There's also regional differences where the UK uses theatre and the USA uses theater but mainly we wanted to differentiate ourselves from movie theaters and be unique!
7 Months?! Wow! It's strange because building the theatre seemed to take forever but after we opened, 67 shows and 7 months have flown by in what seems like far less time. We built the theater in about 10 weeks which is shockingly fast for what we accomplished. 16 to 18 hour days, no days off! That was just to get the doors open! 7 months later and we still make improvements every weekend including hanging art, curtains, tweaking lighting, streamlining things, trying to figure out the flow of the show. The work never stops and it never will because we want to give you the best value and the best experience!
Since we opened, we've become specialists in lighting and cue software, concessions, running a soundboard/audio equipment, cleaning, keeping things restocked, more cleaning, managing inventory, marketing, sales, customer service, balancing the budget, payment processing, collecting and remitting sales tax, ticket inventory software, among many other things.. it's a lot of work!
And then I step on stage and it doesn't feel like work anymore...
And that makes it worthwhile!
In the last few weeks we've switched Ticket Providers (Ticket Tailor is awesome! If you are a venue looking for a great ticket company, message me and I'll share a referral link that will give you free ticket credits to try out the program). Ticket Tailor allows us to give you a better checkout experience, makes it easier to receive and find your tickets and we can even sell popcorn and merch during checkout which speeds up the check in process at the theatre.
There's so much more to share on thing's we have planned down the road but for now, those will have to be our secret!
Thank you to everyone who has supported us by buying a ticket, sharing a post, spreading the word, leaving us a review, or giving us words of encouragement! We're thankful for all of you!
Alright, it's time to go get ready for show #68!
Chris
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