the LEON ACORD website

I was thrilled to learn, last week, that Theatre Asylum has extended the run of Carved in Stone until September 5.
 
Alas, joy was soon replaced by exhaustion as I began all the work that then needed to be done – new postcards, new banner, update the website with tickets for our new dates, update the Facebook fan page and all the on-line event pages, more email blasts, updating our box office database. And Laurence is doing even more than I am!

I don’t think I’ve ever worked so hard to sell a show! It seems every day my “to-do” list grows longer, not shorter. But with the economy still in the crapper, I’m finding that every waking hour not on stage is spent trying to get the word out to every single prospective theatre-goer in Los Angeles.

Speaking of which, theatre in LA is so much different from SF. Because SF is geographically so small, marketing a show is easy. After the initial PR push for opening, you're done! But LA is HUGE! Its a daily battle, getting the word out.

Friday evenings in the Bay Area are a BIG theatre-going night. In LA, not so much. I thought perhaps, with LA’s notorious Friday-evening traffic, that folks just don’t want to venture out. But a friend pointed out that all the traffic means people are going somewhere. He opined that in a “party town” like LA, Friday nights are for bar-hopping. But SF is a party town, too – perhaps there, folks wait to hit the bars until after a show.

Conversely, you can’t give away Sunday matinee tickets in SF. Yet in LA, Sunday matinees have attracted some of our biggest audiences. Again, I think its about traffic – driving on Sunday afternoons in LA is almost a joy, so folks would rather wait for a matinee.

Ironically, the few hours of rest I get are when we’re actually performing (once the hour-long chore of make-up is finished, that is)! I couldn’t ask for a more talented cast with which to work. If I ever fall asleep on stage, I know they will cover me! Actually, they’d probably milk my slumber for all its worth. In addition to their wonderful performances, each has, in his or her own way, helped make the show the success that it is. Its such a terrific group of actors, I’m so glad we’re going to have (at least) eight more chances to play together!

My niece Charlotte flew out from Indiana to catch what was supposed to be our closing weekend. Thankfully, she brought a friend, rented a car and is a bit fearless about driving in LA, so I didn't have to play "tour guide" too much. It meant so much that she came out to see the show; even more that she loved it. We went to Cantor's for dinner afterwards with some of the cast, and she was thrilled to see the lead singer from Buck Cherry--I'm so glad she saw a celeb!

We later bonded a bit at a tattoo parlor called Freak Chic on Melrose, where she had the nickname I gave her ("Bon Bon") inked onto her hip. I swear, the girl is a masochist -- she was actually smiling as the artist worked on her! She wanted me to get one, too, and I was this close -- but then we ran out of time! Whew!