{"id":3304,"date":"2018-11-19T15:28:50","date_gmt":"2018-11-19T20:28:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/prlab\/?p=3304"},"modified":"2018-11-19T15:29:44","modified_gmt":"2018-11-19T20:29:44","slug":"pr-lessons-from-theatre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/prlab\/2018\/11\/19\/pr-lessons-from-theatre\/","title":{"rendered":"PR Lessons from Theatre"},"content":{"rendered":"

By: Kaitlin Steele, Account Supervisor at PRLab\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

November 19, 2018<\/strong><\/p>\n

When most people think of ways to prepare for a career in public relations, theatre isn\u2019t usually the first thing that comes to mind.\u00a0 As I near the end of my graduate program, though, I\u2019m still finding ways that my decade of acting has gotten me ready to take on the world of PR.\u00a0 Here for your benefit are just a few of the lessons that have stuck with me.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Know your audience.\u00a0 <\/strong>This lesson has never been so immediate for me as standing under a spotlight, telling a joke I was sure would get laughs and instead being greeted with awkward silence.\u00a0 That\u2019s the blessing and the curse of live theatre: \u00a0you get to see your audience\u2019s reaction in real time. \u00a0It\u2019s vital to know that a reference college students would love will flop with elderly season ticketholders \u2013 and that knowledge is just as important in creating key messages as it is while rehearsing a show.\u00a0 When I\u2019m working on a new PR plan or campaign, I always picture myself looking out on those rows of seats and plan for who\u2019s going to be sitting in them.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Have the courage to be creative. <\/strong>Putting new ideas into the world can be nerve-wracking.\u00a0 Even so, the most rewarding parts I\u2019ve played have been the ones that challenged me to step past my self-consciousness\u2014the kind of parts that would fall flat if I didn\u2019t make creative, potentially embarrassing choices.\u00a0 There was a lot of trial and error in learning to play an unbalanced seer or a promiscuous hippie, just like it takes a lot of brainstorming to come up with the kind of new campaign ideas that will fit your client and their goals. I\u2019ve found that it\u2019s next to impossible to get to the truly exciting ideas if I\u2019m too afraid of looking silly to put them out there.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Tell an honest story. <\/strong>Honesty might sound like a strange concept when applied to pretending to be a different person, but it\u2019s the key to a show that will connect with people.\u00a0 It\u2019s easy to tell when someone is just phoning in their performance, saying the words without meaning them.\u00a0 On the other hand, when actors speak from a real, human place\u2014when Romeo is ugly-crying or a kid in a holiday show is overflowing with excitement for Christmas\u2014it\u2019s impossible to look away.\u00a0 Likewise, the public can tell when a brand is just paying lip-service or trying to be something it\u2019s not to look good. As PR professionals, we have to find the stories that a brand can tell and be true to its identity.\u00a0 Those will be more powerful than anything we could make up.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The show must go on. <\/strong>Things rarely go according to plan.\u00a0 I\u2019ve got an unending list of stories about things that have gone wrong during a show: an important prop forgotten backstage; an actor with a huge cockroach on his leg in the middle of a scene; three cast members leaving the show a week before opening night. \u00a0No matter what, you have to keep calm and think on your feet to keep the show running smoothly.\u00a0 In the world of PR it\u2019s impossible to predict everything that will go wrong or impact your work, but in the modern culture of constant information and connection there\u2019s no time for panic.\u00a0 If you can keep a level head and know the tools you have available, you can handle most things life throws at you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By: Kaitlin Steele, Account Supervisor at PRLab\u00a0 November 19, 2018 When most people think of ways to prepare for a career in public relations, theatre isn\u2019t usually the first thing that comes to mind.\u00a0 As I near the end of my graduate program, though, I\u2019m still finding ways that my decade of acting has gotten […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14737,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[2982,2922,2933,2943,2938,2941,2939,2932,2886,2889,2940,2981,2883],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/prlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3304"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/prlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/prlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/prlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14737"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/prlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3304"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/prlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3304\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3327,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/prlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3304\/revisions\/3327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/prlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/prlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/prlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}