GO Getter: Rachel Peacock-Young

Little Theatre's marketing guru is a showstopper on stage and a show-starter off of it.

Rachel Peacock-Young is the embodiment of what Springfield Little Theatre is all about. A 10-year volunteer before taking over as marketing director in April 2006, Rachel has appeared in 22 productions and even met her husband, Matt Young, onstage during South Pacific. Now, even though she spends her days promoting SLT productions and events, she finds time to audition: Most recently she was in Godspell. Rachel took some time to talk with us about being the publicity pusher for the “new” Springfield Little Theatre.

How does this compare to last year, so far?
Last season, all of the artwork for the season was planned ahead of [my joining the staff]. I had to go with what it was. That’s really my strong point—having the vision and making it work.

What are some Rachel Peacock-Young touches we might be able to see this season?
I would say the main marketing this year is completely different than it’s ever been. We used real life pictures on all of the posters and postcards… It used to be a logo on a page, with some color in the background. This year my thought was to make it like a movie poster. Gypsy has a boa and lights; Just So Stories has the animals on it, and an open book. For A Tuna Christmas, we knew Mark [Gideon] and Beth [Domann] were going to be in it, so their pictures are actually on the poster.

What’s up with the season opener being a strip tease for the second straight year? Is that an accident, or sort of a “Hey look what we did [with The Full Monty], we’re going to do it again [with Gypsy]?
We have a play committee that selects what we’re going to do. It was probably some of both. We had lots lots of people say “When are you going to do Gypsy again?” We last did it in 1992, and it just so happened that it fit in this time slot.

You aren’t going to do Showgirls next year, are you?
I haven’t seen the list, but I doubt if that’s on there at all.

For a town the size of Springfield, you have quite a bit of theatre competition. At least three universities, high school shows, the Vandivort right next door, and a big national touring stage in Juanita K. What, as a marketer, do you do? Because people still flock here.
To get the new people in the door, I think we’re doing shows like The Full Monty, and bringing Gypsy back with lots of fun and spunk and energy. And we’re doing a little more edgier things like Tick, Tick... Boom!, which is from the creator of Rent. A lot of younger people know what that is.

So it’s not like doing My Fair Lady once every three years? I mean, that’s a great show, but…
You have to have that too. We try to do a season that will hit every angle at some point. Young kids, people who want to see the classics... We try to do a range of shows so that there’s something for everyone.

Aren’t you sort of in the event-throwing business, too?
Oh yes. On October 31 we’re doing Rocky Horror again [with Moxie Cinema] because we had such high demand for that. We’re moving to The Shrine with it. It’s going to be huge. … We also did the Ozarks Air Guitar Competition, again partnered with the Moxie ... [Air guitar] will be moved to April so the college kids will be in town.

Landers is something of an institution. Do you get any blowback from traditional supporters as you expand into things like air guitar competitions?
People understand this is just growing … our board’s been all for it. It’s really about reaching a younger audience; and honestly, if we can get them through the door one time, they’ll come back.