Dramatic entrance | A conversation with Michael Tobin, co-owner and producing artistic director of the Old Port Playhouse
Photo/Brandon McKenney
Michael Tobin
Old Port Playhouse
Founded: October 2009
Employees: 0
Startup costs: $20,000
Projected revenue, year one: $65,000
Projected revenue, year two: $75,000
Contact: 773-0333
19 Temple St., Portland
www.oldportplayhouse.com
What is Old Port Playhouse?
Old Port Playhouse is a professional, non-equity, 70-seat live theatre and we’re right in the heart of the arts district in Portland. We offer a year-round schedule of plays, musicals and special events. We also have a school of the arts, which is an educational component of the playhouse where we offer a variety of classes and workshops in all the arts, not just theatre.
Why did you decide to launch this business?
Myself and my partner [co-owner Jeffrey Caron] both have been in the arts professionally for about 28 years and we wanted to open this in Portland as an alternative to going to the movies or a bar, because in our opinion, there can never be enough theatre. All the theatres in the area are well represented and we wanted to open something up that would complement them as well. A lot of people raised an eyebrow when we said we were opening a theatre in this economy, but we’ve been very fortunate and successful since our opening, both artistically and financially. We couldn’t ask for a better location, our walk-by traffic is huge, we’re in walking distance from the waterfront and we’re right next door to a garage so we have plenty of parking.
How do you market your business?
We have our own website, which is huge for us, and we also use different print media, television and radio. The most successful has been our website and the written press, and walk-bys are probably second. We advertise in all the newspapers and primarily our focus for paid advertisements has been in The Portland Daily Sun, Portland Phoenix and the Portland Press Herald. The least effective advertising has been posters.
How did you finance this business?
We self-financed through personal savings.
What’s been the biggest challenge running this business and how have you overcome that challenge?
Our initial estimated startup cost tripled from what we thought it would be due to city and state codes for the building. In the end, the city did work with us and help us and that was good because it’s certainly not easy to open up a business in Portland, as it is in other states that I’ve been in.
The biggest obstacle now is affordably getting the word out to the public. Marketing is easy; it’s public relations that’s the issue because nothing is cheap for a new business, so it’s challenging because a small independent business doesn’t have an ad budget that can accommodate what these newspapers want. We’ve been fortunate in focusing our attention on The Portland Daily Sun, which has been an amazing resource because not only are they affordable, but the response and return from those ads has been much more than it has been with the other newspapers.
What are your goals for the future of your business?
To increase our patronage, obviously, to offer more in our education department and to have a strong foundation artistically and financially. We also want to be more involved in the community once time and staffing allows. Our niche is the fact that we are so intimate, so we’re not looking to expand our space. We’re looking into the possibility of going nonprofit; we’re a for-profit and we hear the pros and the cons of that option, so we’re weighing it out. We’re hoping to become just as established as the other Portland theatres over time and we encourage people to support the other arts as well and they do the same for us, which is great.
The down economy hasn’t really affected you then?
No, the one thing we’ve done is we’re cheaper than other theatres in the area as far as our ticket price, because we want everyone to be able to see theatre, and I’d rather have a full house at $18 than half a house sold at $32. One major thing we’re looking forward to is we’re a year-round theatre and the only summer theatre in Portland, so we’ll have a full summer season.
Interview by Mercedes Grandin
New Ventures profiles young businesses, 6-18 months old. Send your suggestions and contact information to editorial@mainebiz.biz.
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