What a Community Theatre Website Needs

What the site is actually for

A community theatre runs on volunteers and a small budget, and its website does several jobs that a paid staff would split between them.

It sells tickets and announces the season. It finds actors for the next production, and people to build sets, sew costumes and pour coffee at intermission.

It also shows sponsors and donors that their money went somewhere good, which brings it back next season.

This month it has one urgent job: the holiday show. Families plan December outings now, and many of those tickets are bought as gifts.

Who comes to the site

• Ticket buyers for the show that is running now.
• Families planning a December outing with children or grandparents.
• Actors and singers looking for the next audition.
• Volunteers who want to help but would rather not act.
• Sponsors and donors deciding whether to give again.

The second group is the one to plan for now. They want matinee times, the running time, an age guide and whether the hall has stairs, and they are weighing your show against every other outing.

A season page announced all at once

Most community theatres settle the season months ahead. Publish it on one page once the performance rights are secured: titles, dates, venue and a line about each show.

Regulars plan around it, and someone searching in January for the spring musical finds a real page rather than nothing.

Keep past seasons in an archive with photographs, the best evidence a newcomer has that your shows are worth an evening.

A page for every show

Each production needs its own page at its own address, created when the season is announced and kept afterwards. A single Now Playing page, rewritten for each show, cannot be found until the week the previous show closes.

Give every show page the same facts in the same order: dates and curtain times, matinees, the running time with intermission, prices, the venue and who the show suits.

The age guide matters more than theatres expect. A parent deciding whether a seven-year-old will sit through a show needs its length and whether anything in it is frightening.

Credit the writer and composer, and add the cast list and rehearsal photographs as they arrive.

Tickets one click away

Whether tickets sell through an online ticketing service or the venue's box office, the button on each show page should open that show's own ticket page, not a list of every event the service sells.

Say whether fees are added at checkout, mark sold-out performances promptly, and explain how tickets reach the buyer: printed at home, shown on a phone or held at the door.

Give the box office hours for phone orders, and tell December's gift buyers whether tickets can be sent to someone else.

The venue and getting there

Community theatres often perform in halls, churches and school auditoriums that audiences have never visited, so a venue page saves many phone calls.

Give the address, parking and transit, when the doors open and whether latecomers are seated.

Then the accessibility details, stated precisely: whether the entrance has steps, where the wheelchair seating is and how to book it, whether there is an accessible washroom, and any hearing assistance. Link the page from every show.

A worked example

A community theatre company in a suburb stages four shows a season in a church hall, with a family pantomime every December that outsells the other three combined.

Its site had one Now Playing page, rewritten for each production. Last year the pantomime's page went up only after the autumn drama closed, two weeks before opening night.

Through November, families searching for holiday shows found the drama. The ticket button opened the ticketing service's list of every event in the region, and nothing mentioned the hall's front steps.

The box office volunteer spent December evenings answering the same three questions by phone: when, how long, and is there a ramp.

This season every show got its own page in September, with dates, running time, an age guide and a button that opens its own ticket page.

A venue page describes the level side entrance and the four wheelchair spaces. The pantomime's page has been live for two months.

Auditions and crew calls

An audition notice should list the dates, each role with an age range and any singing required, what to prepare, how to book a slot and the rehearsal schedule.

The rehearsal commitment matters most. Two evenings a week and every Sunday for ten weeks is a lot to ask, and people deserve to know before they audition.

Mark old notices closed rather than deleting them, so the page shows the theatre casts regularly, and post crew calls for lighting, sound and stage management alongside.

Volunteers who know what they are joining

A general appeal for volunteers gets few replies. List the jobs instead, from ushers and concessions to set building, costumes and posters, with roughly how many hours each takes.

Then offer a short form asking which roles interest them, and answer within a few days. A volunteer who hears nothing for a month has usually found another group.

Sponsors, donations and the mailing list

Sponsors want to see their names. Give them a page with logos and links, plus program advertising rates and the date the holiday program goes to print.

If the theatre is a registered charity, say so on the donation page and explain receipts. Many give in December, often from a phone, so test the button on one.

Put a mailing list signup on every show page, with an unticked box and a line saying what subscribers receive: the season announcement, on-sale dates and audition calls.

The counter-case

A theatre staging one or two shows a year in a venue whose box office sells the tickets needs less: a season page, a page per show, the venue details and a mailing list.

A new company can start with its next production and add the rest as it has something to post.

Any theatre selling tickets online, though, needs a page for every show with dates, access details and a direct ticket link, published well before opening night.

What to build first

1. Publish the whole season on one page.
2. Give every show its own page and address.
3. Link each ticket button to that show's tickets.
4. Write a venue page with access details.
5. Post auditions with roles, dates and commitment.
6. Add a volunteer form listing the actual jobs.
7. Put the mailing list on every show page.

Step two matters most this month. A holiday show with its own page from September can be found by every family planning December; one rewritten two weeks before opening reaches only those who already knew.

How the same questions play out for a very different business is covered in what a coffee roaster website needs.

Frequently asked questions

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