Goodman wants to know: What kind of subscriber are you?

Going through the mail bag, I discovered the Goodman’s season brochure and discovered an interesting approach to marketing the season’s offerings. As in typical, the brochure offers three tiers of subscriptions — all eight plays, five plays or three plays. What’s not typical is the way the shows are bundled: “The Ultimate Cultural Adventure” (all eight), “Theater on a Grand Scale” (five) and “Strong Women, Strong Voices” (three). As the title suggests, the latter includes a world premiere by Lynn Nottage (directed by Kate Whorisky); a world premiere by Naomi Iizuka (directed by Lisa Portes); and a new play by Chicago’s own Rebecca Gilman (directed by Wendy C. Goldberg). Seems this would appeal to the large proportion of theater patrons who are women. “Theater on a Grand Scale,” on the other hand, focuses on major productions, including Tommy Tunes Turn of the Century and Brian Dennehy in Desire Under the Elms. This approach is much more creative than simply offering number-of-show-based packages, and gives the potential subscriber a couple of themes that might draw their interest. As a matter of fact, I’m interested!