I’m Cindi Szymanski, Senior Manager of Brand Marketing & Communications for the largest performing arts center in the country outside of New York. On behalf of everyone at Playhouse Square, please allow me to welcome you to our great city!
Playhouse Square has a total of 11 performance spaces and welcomes more than a million guests each year. We present touring Broadway, concerts, comedy, dance and family shows. Playhouse Square is home to six resident companies: Cleveland Ballet, Cleveland Play House, Cleveland State University Department of Theatre and Dance, DANCECleveland, Great Lakes Theater and Tri-C JazzFest.
Five of our theaters were built in the early 1920s: the Allen, Connor Palace, Hanna, KeyBank State and Ohio. They are beautifully restored and if you like, you are welcome to tour them on Saturday, November 3. Tours are free and depart every 15 minutes 10-11:30 a.m. from the KeyBank State Theatre lobby (1519 Euclid Avenue). Wear comfortable walking shoes; the tours last 90 minutes.
Lessons Learned:
Evaluators might be interested to the answers to some of the following questions:
- How are the Broadway musicals selected for Cleveland? Executive producer, Gina Vernaci, curates the KeyBank Broadway Series. As a Tony voter, she sees all of the productions in New York and then negotiates with producers to create a well-rounded season for Cleveland audiences.
- Who are the audiences and where do they come from? Approximately 10% of the Playhouse Square ticket buyers come from outside a 50-mile radius of Cleveland. This is determined through data collected during the purchase process, where we collect name, address, phone and email. As for other demographics (age, income, gender, etc.), we occasionally distribute surveys but that information is always optional to provide.
- How do ticket prices in Cleveland compare to New York/Broadway? There is a lot of variation in NY ticket pricing, but ticket prices are lower in Cleveland.
Hot Tip:
- Photo Op: In the heart of our neighborhood is a great photo opportunity with the GE Chandelier, the world’s largest outdoor chandelier, suspended right over Euclid Avenue and bedazzled with 4200 crystals. You’ll find a number of bars and restaurants within walking distance and there’s something to fit every taste – Italian, Mexican, Korean, German and more.
Rad Resource:
- Discounted Tickets for performances: While you’re in Cleveland, the national tour of Les Miserables will be in town and our resident company Great Lakes Theater will present performances of Mamma Mia! and Pride and Prejudice. Special pricing is available for AEA conference attendees. Visit this link to learn more and purchase tickets.
Enjoy your visit to Cleveland!
We’re looking forward to the fall and the Evaluation 2018 conference all this week with our colleagues in the Local Arrangements Working Group (LAWG). Do you have questions, concerns, kudos, or content to extend this aea365 contribution? Please add them in the comments section for this post on the aea365 webpage so that we may enrich our community of practice. Would you like to contribute to aea365? Review the contribution guidelines and send your draft post to aea365@eval.org.