Theater League’s New Marketing Manager
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But these concerns haven’t dampened Barger’s enthusiasm so far. “I’m basically an optimist,” she says. She came to the job May 1, bringing with her a discipline that comes from nearly a decade in the corporate sector. She worked at Flair Communications and at the Foote, Cone & Belding ad agency before leaving Chicago seven years ago for Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where she toiled in promotions and public relations for Hanes Hosiery and then for RJR/Nabisco promoting Life Savers, jobs that helped prepare her for the cash-starved world of Chicago theater. “Some of the products I worked on had only pennies available, relatively speaking, for marketing purposes,” she notes, “so we were forced to be more creative.”
In Winston-Salem, Barger also got involved with a local community theater group, her first contact with the theater business. She helped the group increase its programming and generate more revenue, lifting the company out of debt. With that feather in her cap and a newfound passion for the arts, Barger packed her bags and headed back to Chicago, hoping to land a marketing job in the arts.
Don’t be surprised if I Hate Hamlet, the Broadway comedy starring Nicol Williamson, winds up at the Royal George Theatre Center after Lend Me a Tenor has run its course. Royal George operator Robert Perkins, who is also a line producer for the New York I Hate Hamlet, said there are plans for a Chicago production that probably wouldn’t include Williamson. The New York notices have been mixed, but most critics agreed the show had considerable entertainment value. Word of mouth is said to be strong, though weekly box office grosses have been slow to build.
