guerilla theatre meets guerilla marketing

Two nights ago, my friend Julie Fotheringham gave an unsolicited performance at Judson Church. Julie has applied to perform at Judson in an official capacity three times, and has always been turned down. So this time, she showed up and performed for the crowd immediately after the scheduled show had finished.

Some interesting marketing stuff going on here. Julie didn’t do something she’s rehearsed. She watched the whole official show, and then referenced and parodied it in her own piece. She calls her piece a response. In other words, she was using another brand’s positioning to create a conversation, giving her own brand value. She couldn’t perform in the space officially, so she simply re-positioned herself as the performer who performs against the space.

She’s still applying to perform at Judson officially, probably using this piece as part of her application materials. So there’s sort of a Harol Bloom-esque thing going on, in that she’s fighting against the canon in order to become part of it.

She also has an intriguing look and more flexibility than a rubber band, which should help too.

p.s. If you look carefully, you can spot me in the video, near the beginning and then near the end.

p.p.s When the crowd got up to leave after the initial performance, a number of people stayed seated, looking at the performance area, and we immediately recognized each other as members of an audience within the audience. There was a round of knowing looks and smiles.