Season Renewals

After 2 days of hard work stuffing envelopes, season renewals are ready to hit the mail. I meant to take a picture while we were working, but I completely forgot, so instead here's a picture of Garrett putting postage on them.

You can see all the trays of envelopes on the floor - that's not even all of them. Marketing Assistant Megan and I had already taken 5 full trays to the post office! That's over 2,800 envelopes that will be going in the mail today!

I certainly could not have done this job alone - I had some amazing helpers that put a lot of hard work into getting this project done quickly. Lots of thanks to Karla (Accounts Payable) for bringing her daughter, Jessicah, in to help. Also, Ellen's (Group Sales) children, Dominique and Jamaal joined us for a few hours. Our Executive Director, Lilli, even came in to help for a while (it didn't hurt that we had movies playing on a little tv set, and she was hoping to see Twilight!). Finally, my husband came and put in some time - he always gets roped into this sort of stuff for the theatre! :)

So, if you are a current season subscriber, check your mailbox this weekend for your renewal packet with all the info about the 09/10 season!

Season Renewal Time

Every spring we at AHT are all a-buzz with plans for our new season. Even though you may be thinking about easter or spring break, we're already planning for next December and the summer of 2010! It's our own personal time spring renewal to pick a new set of shows and get excited about staging them.

Along with picking the season comes getting our season ticket-holders their invoices so they can renew their seats for the coming year. This is one of the biggest parts of my job as Marketing Supervisor. It's a lot of ducks to line up in a row, and a lot of work that often has to be smashed into a short period of time. Our season subscribers may not know it, but we put each renewal packet together ourselves. We don't pay a company to do it for us! We set up shop, often in the rehearsal hall, with up to 7 different "inserts" (brochure, reply envelope, letter from our Executive Director, etc.) and a stack of DVD's to watch. I spend 3 days straight executing an assembly line that gets the new season info out into the hands of our favorite people - our subscribers! I have lots of help, and we push through papercuts, tired arms and dry skin all for the sake of renewals. As repetitive as the process is, it's also a lot of fun, and gets me away from my desk for a few days, which is a nice change of pace.

Right now I'm waiting on our Systems Administrator, Sandy, while she enters every single performance and every season price code into our ticketing system. This is quite a task. Once she gets finished and replicates the season (creates a new season order for each of our current season ticket-holders), I can start my process of pulling lists, merging data, printing invoices and getting all of the inserts ready to go.

All this work just for each season subscriber to get an envelope in the mail from us! This year we have some exciting benefits for our subscribers, and a list of shows that you won't want to miss. If you are a 2008/2009 subscriber, keep an eye out for your renewal packet - it should arrive the 3rd week of April. If you aren't a subscriber and would like information on joining our family, visit http://www.ahtkc.com and click on the "Join our Mailing List" button. We'll be happy to send you a brochure with pricing and details about the benefits subscribers receive.

Stay tuned for our announcement of shows for the 2009/2010 season!

A New, Old Face at AHT

Well, not too old, I hope!

Hi, I’m Morgan Perry the new Publicist at AHT. I just wanted to take a moment to introduce myself to our blog readers.

I’ll be taking over for Susan Dustin who is leaving to spend more time with her fantastic son, Will. This isn’t my first position at AHT – it is actually my 4th! Originally, I interned with Bill Christie to be a Stage Manager - which was a fantastic experience, but taught me pretty quickly that I didn’t really want to be a stage manager after all! During my internship I also worked as the front desk receptionist and, a few months later, I took on the Marketing Assistant position. I then left the theatre to work for a non-profit foundation for a while. Now, a little over 5 years later, I’m back as Publicist and couldn’t be happier. AHT is a wonderful place to work, as well as a great place for an evening of entertainment.

On a personal note I have a 3 month old son, Greyson, who keeps me on my toes; a black Goldendoodle named Tallulah, who looks like a Muppet; and a fantastic husband, Michael, who also spent some time working for AHT. I’m a graduate of William Jewell College, where I got my B.A. in Theatre.

I’ll be posting on here quite often, so if there is anything about AHT that you want to know more about, just leave a comment or email me at mperry6@hallmark.com and I’ll do my best to post about it.

A Special Guest

Rehearsals started this week for Backwards in High Heels, which opens March 6. In the offices we can hear all sorts of crazy tapping coming from the rehearsal hall. These kids can dance!

One of the rituals of beginning a new show is having a Meet & Greet with the new cast. This gives the AHT staff who aren't directly involved in the show a chance to meet the actors, and allows the actors to know who's who in the offices - who does paychecks, whose computer they can borrow in a pinch, etc.

Last night we had a special guest at the Meet & Greet, whom the actors were excited to meet. Bruce Rogers, half brother of Ginger Rogers, was present with stories to tell and a special photo for the star of our show, Vanessa Sonon. Luckily, cast member Sean Montgomery had his camera on hand and allowed us to snap a great photo of the event.

Vanessa Sonon with Veda & Bruce Rogers

Saying Goodbye... and Hello!

It's been a busy week at AHT - we're getting ready to close Menopause and open A Tuna Christmas, the Missouri Highway Patrol has been here all week holding a conference in the theatre and lobby during the day (we've eaten a lot of donuts this week!), working on our holiday gift catalog and packages - it's been crazy!

But, most importantly, this week has been a week of saying goodbye and hello. Our Group Sales Manager, Jo, will have her last day at AHT tomorrow. She's been here for over 10 years, and is a big part of the AHT family. She will be missed dearly. We're also saying goodbye to our Marketing Assistant, Ashley. She is taking a full-time position in retail, which doesn't allow her any extra time to do her duties here.

But, around here goodbye is always followed with hello. Our new Group Sales Manager, Ellen, has been working hard making cold calls and getting the word out about our great 08/09 season. Plus, just last week we had a new Marketing Assistant come in and start training. Ken has a background in restaurant management, but is hoping to eventually find a full time gig doing something with more stable hours. We're happy to have him here, making folks laugh and finding new, more efficient ways to get things done.

Another goodbye we've had to say is to our PR Director, Susan, who recently went on maternity leave. It's really weird not having her here every day, and I know she's going crazy at home just waiting for her new son to arrive. Susan will work from home for a couple of months while she and the baby get into a routine.

We'll also be sad to say goodbye to the lovely women who graced our stage in Menopause The Musical - It's been so much fun having them here! But, our heads are already into the holidays and the new cast - we're always moving forward!

Welcome to the Family!

In the last few weeks we have welcomed a new family member to AHT. Ellen Barnes has joined the crew as the new Group Sales Manager. She is a quick learner and is already taking calls and booking orders for the new season.

Ellen is a Kansas City native and has a background in corporate sales. She lives north of the river with her husband and teenage son and daughter. They recently returned to the KC area after living in St. Louis for a while.

While we are looking forward to having Ellen with us, it does mean that Jo Nolan, who has been AHT's Group Sales Manager for over a decade, will be retiring. Jo is currently helping Ellen learn the ropes, and will finally have the chance to relax and spend more time visiting her grandchildren once Menopause The Musical is over. Our best wishes and lots of thanks go out to Jo and her loyalty to AHT all these years.

Don't forget that any group of 12 or more can get discounts on tickets - just call or email Ellen and she'll take care of everything for you! She can be reached at 816-842-0202 or ebarne2@hallmark.com

Office Dog

Working at AHT is pretty low-key. We are far from corporate, suit-wearing, nine-to-fivers. Most of us are theatre nerds with a penchant for the dramatic. Our offices are not your typical cube-farm, but a maze of rooms, some of which are in the far-reaching corners of the theatre. We really are more like a big family that happens to work together. This being said, visiting actors tend to get sucked into this vibe, as living in the hotel can become quite bland and boring. It's not unusual to find an actor hanging out in the marketing department shooting the breeze.

Recently, we have acquired a furry new family member at AHT, if only for the short term. Our current show stars a vibrant young woman named Hollis Scarborough. Originally from Texas, and now a resident of New York City, Hollis currently calls the Westin Crown Center home while the show is running. Her roommate is a tiny pooch named Henry. Henry is a 2-year-old Papillon Poodle (also known as a PappyPoo). Needless to say, we have all fallen head over heels for him. On the first day of rehearsals, Hollis brought Henry into my office and asked if it would be okay to try having him hang out with us while she worked. None of us had any problem with it, as we are all dog-lovers. Henry was a little apprehensive at first, but quickly warmed up to this group of women fawning over him. In no time he became my shadow and followed me everywhere. I was told that when I leave to go to the restroom or grab some lunch that he whimpers and cries. That made me feel pretty good until I realized he does that for pretty much all of us!

Now that rehearsals have ended and the show is open, Henry's visits have become more sporadic - limited to the few times a week that Hollis gets the chance to venture out of the hotel and go shopping or to appointments. Each day there is some mention by staff members of "I hope Henry comes today!" When he does arrive, everyone knows it. His collar has a little jingle to it that you can hear all the way down the hall, and he speeds around greeting everyone, sniffing to see where you've been, jumping on laps and giving kisses. He always waits outside of Lilli's (our Executive Director) door for her to let him in and give him a treat (in exchange for some 'sit-lie down-jump' action, of course) and then he's off to visit as many people as he can.

It's amazing how one small ball of fur can make people smile and laugh. He really brightens our days and makes our office an even more fun place to be.

(Writer's Edit... within moments of posting this I heard that familiar jingle and went up to the front desk to see Henry giving our Administrative Assistant some love. There's a matinee today, so while Hollis entertains the audience, Henry will entertain us - it runs in the Scarborough family!)