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Purpose

Last year I wrote and produced a podcast series for the New Jersey Repertory Company. The goal of the project was multifaceted. The folks at NJ Rep wanted to develop online content that would work in conjunction with “traditional” marketing initiatives, driving traffic to NJ Rep’s main website and more importantly to their box office. I was excited by the opportunity to create an online identity for their company. I was using sound as my main tool for ushering in the new marketing initiative, but I wasn’t just looking at the project in terms of its marketing potential. This was a chance for creative content to augment – not replace, the theater experience.

We decided that the podcast should exist in monthly installments, consisting of interviews with directors, playwrights, and actors. Before production commenced, I started researching what other repertory companies were doing with their online resources. However, I realized that there wasn’t really any precedence in the theater world for what we were trying to do online. Instead, my models of inspiration came from both The Metropolitan Museum of Art and WNYC’s podcasts. I liked that you could either listen to the podcast by itself – before, or after an event, and get a behind-the-scenes look at the show’s production.

Anatomy of the podcast

The podcast structure involves a clear introduction by the executive producers at NJ Rep, an interview portion, and a brief conclusion layered over music.

In the introduction, we developed a couple slogans that could be used in other marketing materials at a later time – Repetition being the key to establishing a consistent campaign.

 
In the example above, we used the slogan “the stage less traveled”.

 
In this example above, SuzAnne Barabas, artistic director, introduced herself and emphasized the series title, “NJ Rep Online”.

Musically, rather than composing a single theme song for the podcast series, my goal for each podcast was to compose short cues that shared similar instrumentation, genre, etc., but also (and more importantly) related to the mood of the individual play. I wanted the music to be an auditory preview of the play, but I didn’t want the message to overshadow the content of the podcast interview.

 
Music from podcast episode #2 – bass and piano jazz riff, contemplative and somber.

 
Music from podcast episode #6 – drums, bass, piano, saxophone jazz riff, excitement and change, post WWII America.

 
Music from podcast episode #3 – violin, bass, drums remix of a Franz Schubert lieder, ominous and manic, a contemporary update to 19th century music.

For the interview portion of the podcast, I sat down with playwrights, a director, and various actors, and we talked about their creative inspirations and work flow. Armed with a Sony handheld recorder and a pair of headphones, I conducted interviews on the rehearsal stage as well as less ideal locations. For one interview I sat in the lobby of The Julliard School with playwright Zayd Dohrn, balancing the “ding” of the building’s elevator while trying to maintain a well recorded conversation.

My main goal for the interviews was to edit them down to two and a half minute pieces, so that we could captivate listeners attention, but also leave them wanting more information.

At the end of each podcast, SuzAnne Barabas (artistic director) elicited a call to action from listeners by detailing NJ Rep’s subscription plan, layered over background music.

The New Jersey Rep podcast received a lot of great feedback, and helped start an experimental marketing campaign for an experimental theater company. If you are interested in listening to some of the podcasts, you can stream them from the podcast site here: NJ Rep Online

Podcast Episode #2 Ames Adamson
 

Process, Projects musical composition, New Jersey Repertory Company, online marketing, podcast