Blue Bridge's Brian Richmond

Birth of a Sales Push

Now that the curtain has closed on the first production for fledgling theatre company Blue Bridge, planning begins in earnest for the future of the company. Preliminary numbers put 2,200 bums in the Mac’s seats for As You Like It—that’s 40 percent attendance—with 800 season passes sold. “I think that’s pretty good,” says artistic director Brian Richmond. “One always wants full houses, but for a first-year operation starting from no audience whatsoever, we’ve done pretty well.”

With two shows to go this summer—Death of a Salesman (July 7-19) and The Fantasticks (August 4-16)—Richmond says it’s now a question of getting the good word out. “We want to build on the loyalty of the 2,000-plus people who’ve already come and get into newer markets as well.” Richmond says that means they’ll be “inundating” Oak Bay for Salesman, as well as introducing their own volunteer “Blue Brigade” who’ll be promoting the shows in the downtown core.

“You’ve gotta be patient,” he says of building an audience. “It’s a terrifying proposition, but it’s only terrifying in terms of money. This is a great idea that will only make the city richer, and it’s been my intention from the very beginning to get it to the point where it can live on its own. I think it’ll take us a few years to get there but I remain filled with optimism about it.”

Regardless of box office numbers, Blue Bridge is still planning another three-show season in the same venue and time slot next year—although Richmond says that decision is ultimately up to the company’s board—but he remains optimistic. “We had no template to plan from going into this, but now we know and we can plan based on that.”