Casa Mañana Theatre is seeking to broaden its appeal with TCU students and faculty as it begins another Broadway season.
Casa Mañana has been producing live Broadway productions down the street from TCU for nearly 57 years.
Casa Mañana began its season earlier this month with a local production of “Fiddler on the Roof.”
Shows to come this season include “On the Pond,” “Rent,” and “Monty Python’s Spamalot.”
Casa Mañana president and executive producer Wally Jones said he is hopeful that this season’s lineup of more contemporary shows will help to attract a younger audience.
“This year we have ‘Rent’ on the lineup which definitely appeals to the young audience,” Jones said. “As well as ‘Spamalot’ which we hope will attract a younger crowd who are fans of Monty Python.”
Exposure for Casa Mañana on the TCU campus has been difficult in previous years, but Jones said they are hopeful that a dedicated social media team will help them connect with a younger crowd.
“Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, that’s where we’re driving a lot of our traffic for the younger audience,” Jones said. “We have a dedicated staff member working on constantly updating our social media profiles in an effort to keep students informed.”
Casa Mañana has also dedicated some showings as student preview nights.
These nights give TCU students and faculty an opportunity to see Casa Mañana’s product at a discounted price.
“Our biggest promotion is our student preview night,” Jones said. “It’s really a great deal. For only $10 you can sit in the front row, and those seats typically cost around $75.”
Casa Mañana’s student preview nights and lower ticket prices are gaining attraction from students looking for alternative weekend activities.
Junior engineering major Blair Tyson says that the discounted tickets will help draw more TCU students to shows this season.
“I love going to the theatre,” Tyson said. “But I’m also a college student, and if I had to choose what to spend money on, play tickets would get booted off of my list as a result of the expensive prices.”
Junior BFA theatre major with an emphasis in acting Jesse Thomason said he believes that student preview nights will be extremely popular among students who have always wanted to attend Casa Mañana shows but can’t afford the high ticket prices.
“Casa Mañana has a reputation for being probably the priciest theatre in Fort Worth, but it also has a reputation for putting on great theatre,” Thomason said. “I think it’s great as a theatre major to see as much theatre as you can, so going to these student discount nights would be beneficial.”
Student preview night for “On Golden Pond” will be hosted on Friday, Nov. 6.
Tickets for the show can be purchased at CasaManana.org or in person at the Casa Mañana Box Office.