Isaac thinks about the "free download" approach to getting people hooked in your creative offering:
The question it seems to me is not what is theatre's equivalent of the free download? The question is what do we do given there can't be a theatrical equivalent of the free download?
I don't know if we don't have an equivalent of the free download. Musicians are willing to give away free tracks because they know that an enthusiastic audience places extra value on seeing the work live, for themselves. If that's the case, then creating some digital equivalent of our work and releasing it for free online would be an equivalent.
I'm not wild about most theater trailers because they tend to be structured as advertisements, rather than mini-performances. Pull quotes, snappy Hollywood-style snippets, etc..
Here's an example of how my company puts out its "free download":
As a preview of an upcoming performance, it allows our audience to consume it, but my company will hope to communicate to our audience that the added value of coming to the performance is the live aspect, the interactivity (and also food. there will be food.).
