How I Learned To Drive Roadshow notes 2

We did our stuff at Sunway Pyramid yesterday. It was initially meant to be at SS15, but we quickly discovered that Saturday lunchtime is a dead time at that area - even Asia Cafe was quiet! The great thing that came out of that was a contact we made, with The English House (website under construction), who's interested in collaborating with TOS on stuff. They also take in part-time teachers, so that'd be an interesting lead to follow up on.We (eventually) ended up at Sunway, at the J.Co entrance. We negotiated 5 minutes with one of the many guards there, and did our stuff - it lasted longer than 5 minutes and we caught the interest of one of the mall management staff, so we scored our biggest point: permission, practically almost an invitation, from them to do our stuff there. Coolness.

Didn't collect too much, but the results were good for a virgin act. Now we have to plan our mall strategies - where we place ourselves based on our target market, based on where they'd go.

Also got to try out our new acts: Mexican wave-based tableaux, and word-/emotion- based tableaux. Not bad, I think it looks great. Hoping Nick/Amelia will come out with the pictures soon.

Ah yes, best part! I was having a good private laugh whilst performing as I saw a bunch of chef-hatted staff of a nearby restaurant ardently watching us. I thought that we even got the attention of some chefs. After we retired for a break and a debrief, lo and behold - they started doing their own tableaux, promoting their restaurant. Blatant and shameless ripping off!

But what can I say. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

How I Learned To Drive Roadshow notes 1

We planned a roadshow for TOS to raise funds as well as to publicise HILTD today, at Pusat Bandar Damansara (PBD). The intention was to set up an area opposite Menara Millenium (as it had decent office crowds) and put up a show - skits, mimes, physical theatre, tableaux, whatever theatre-/arts-related that could draw interest from a crowd. We'd have some performers doing the show, and some sandwich-board wearing people going around talking about the show and collecting donations.
We started with some difficulty - a couple of performers cancelled 25 minutes before we were to meet for briefing, and we almost gave up for lack of participation. After some brainstorming, we decided to proceed with just the sandwich boards and 1 money-collector - if nothing else, get the word out there about the show. And so we did.

We made 2 rounds around PBD handing out leaflets about TOS and the show, and me banging away at the metal pail with coins. Rhythmically lah. We found that it was really effective at generating interest in the show, while not so conducive for getting money - after all, who wants to be approached randomly or during lunch for donations? We then proceeded to set ourselves up at an open square in the middle of PBD, initially to rest.

We then proceeded to do tableaux to make use of the space and our time there. With our sandwich-board clad people spread around and me with the donation pail, we made poses and stood rather still for interminable amounts of time until we decided to change positions, in synchrony. More or less. And we had Nick Chin (who joined us at some point) go around and explain the situation to random onlookers, many of whom proceeded to pop a donation into the pail. Great job Nick!

We didn't make all too much, but I think we did a good job in getting the image of HILTD into people's minds. And we got the attention of a marketing company based there. And some encouragement from passersby. Lots of valuable experience, too.

So what did we learn?

• sitting still and asking for donations is better than going around demanding it
• putting on a show (even if a very still one, like a tableau) is worth a donation
• sandwich boards are better still than moving
• Malaysians aren't used to impromptu shows, so having someone explain it helps lots
• people enjoy shows and this kind of free entertainment

Some ideas for the next one:

1. Spread out tableaux with a nominated caller (to call out changes or even themes), a money-collector and leaflet / postcard distributors. Some of the performers will wear the sandwich boards. "Explainers" will go around the crowd and tell them that it's okay to take the leaflets and postcards and give donations, and talk about the show.
2. Lined-up mime show with a nominated caller + money-collector - every time someone donates, the caller will call out a word or emotion or a phrase (eg "Thank You!", "Joy!", "Selamat Hari Raya!") and the mimes will change position to reflect it one-by-one, Mexican-wave style. Another option is for the donor to pull up a list of lines from the script (eg "For blue balls") and the caller read it out, for the mimes to perform. We could even do that as a "selective pricing" thing - RM10 donations means a script read, or whatever.
   
3. TO BUILD A CROWD: we have 1 or 2 music-making instruments (ideally percussions) at the central location making some music. We could have some physical theatre going on. Then people with sandwich boards and leaflets/postcards could begin at far ends of the location and slowly make their way to the centre, informing people of a show. We could have a nice climax once all the sandwich-boards are there, culminating in a tableau that segues perfectly into the next show.
4. Physical theatre: we could have fluid sessions of these - nominate a director, who then nominates a musician, and then tells a story. Eg I could go, "Alfred, take the drum; Kelvin in the centre. You are in a jungle... now, Amelia jump in - you're a gorilla wanting to scare Kelvin away." etc etc.

Oookay that was much longer than expected. Anyway interesting day.

(extracted from my blog here)

Inspired marketing phrases

So we were discussing marketing and publicity for HILTD (that's How I Learned To Drive) one day and the topic of another play came up. That chat inspired us of the following phrases to use for marketing purposes:

• Starring the multiple-times Cameronian award-nominated Writer, Mark!
• Starring the multiple cast of the multiple Cameronian award-winning musical, Broken Bridges!
• Starring the multiple cast (2) of the multiple-times Cameronian award-nominated musical, Tunku!
• Produced by the company who produced the play that stars the Cameronian award-nominated Best Supporting Lead (Azmir), The Oral Stage!
• Starring one of the 50 CLEO bachelors of 2008, who almost won a subsidiary award, Johann!
• Come find out what happened to the Eye-Lined One!
• Is "Goonting" a real surname? Step backstage and see for yourself!
• Featuring the future winners of the BAFTAs, Oscars and Golden Globes!
• Highlighting the future winners of the yet-to-be-announced Malaysian Actors Association Awards!

Okay so I made some of them up.