Saskatoon’s oldest professional theatre company boosts sales thanks to Creative Saskatchewan’s Market & Export Development program

Saskatoon’s oldest professional theatre company, 25^th Street Theatre, returned to the stage in 2021 with the production of Fruitcake, by Saskatoon-based playwright Heather Morrison. The project was eligible for Creative Saskatchewan’s Market and Export Development grant and reaped the rewards of a solid campaign to raise their profile, reach new audiences, and drive more ticket sales.

“This marked 25th Street Theatre’s return to producing theatre outside of the Saskatoon Fringe Festival for the first time since 1999.

It was imperative that 25th Street Theatre be able to revitalize itself as a professional theatre company to ensure Fruitcake’s success, as well as the success for the company in future productions. 

This program allowed us to reach over 50,000 people across the world through social media. We were able to create high quality, professional videos, and photographs to share with our audience, giving them a behind-the-scenes look at the theatrical process. 25th Street Theatre gained nearly 200 new Followers across Instagram and Facebook and over 4,000 engagements on our videos. 

25th Street Theatre was also able to hire a publicist and social media coordinator thanks to this project. With that support, we received reviews and articles on Fruitcake from outlets like the Saskatoon StarPhoenix, CBC, CBC Radio Canada, CTV News, CFCR, and more.

This extensive media coverage supported the production by boosting our ticket sales, as well as giving 25th Street Theatre the opportunity to reiterate our history and excite the audience about our return to producing live theatre. 

It was important to 25th Street Theatre as well to have high-quality branding and artwork to share on this project. Creative Saskatchewan’s support allowed us to hire a professional artist to create media, poster, and program designs that were shared with our audience throughout this project, including a huge, 4’ x 6’ backlit poster hung outside of the performance.

Overall, Creative Saskatchewan’s support allowed 25th Street Theatre, and the production of Fruitcake, to shine for Saskatoon audiences and beyond as a grand revitalization of Saskatoon’s oldest, professional theatre company.”

Learn more about 25^th Street Theatre here.