Today we’d like to introduce you to Lauren Elias.
Lauren, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
As a child, I was a big ham! My parents enrolled me in after-school drama classes and I was hooked! As I got older I continued my involvement with community and professional theatre throughout high school and then got my BA in Theatre Arts at Brandeis. After college, I settled in Boston and began to immerse myself in the wonderful local theatre scene. I loved that you could find companies that did all sorts of theatre- new works, musicals, Shakespeare, avant-garde shows. Any type of theatre you could think of, there was a company that had made it their raison d’etre.
However, the one thing that was missing was a company with an all pay-what-can company. I lamented this to my friend, John Geoffrion (my co-founder) over lunch one day and we both agreed it was a huge missing piece (and might be a great way to bring new audiences into Boston theatre). Next thing I knew- I was forming a theatre company! We announced our first season and the rest, shall we say, is history.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Heavens no, it has been a real trial by fire. Nothing can prepare you for finding out everything you don’t know!
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Hub Theatre Company of Boston story. Tell us more about the business.
Hub Theatre Company of Boston is proud to be the only theatre company in Boston with a pay-what-you-can ticket policy for every seat, every show, every time. We recognize that there are many reasons why people might not go to the theatre- it’s snowing, Game of Thrones is on, your sofa is comfy- but we never want money to be a barrier of entry between our art and our audience. This policy has allowed us to cultivate a wide variety of audience members. Of course, we are truly grateful for our ‘regular theatre-going’ audience members.
However, we are proud to have reached many members of the Boston community who never have been to a professional production before. Our “pay-what-you-can-policy” has enabled students from lower-income schools, people from shelters, special needs adults, and broke college kids to come see a live theatrical performance, some for the first time ever. We have had people who are homeless come see our show who can’t pay anything and people who have paid $500 a ticket! We want everyone to be able to see our shows.
Two seasons ago, we presented Love of the Nightingale, a show about rape culture and the silencing of women and were so fortunate to have groups of survivors join us. Many of them came up to us after the show, tears in their eyes as they thanked us for not only telling their story but for creating a theatre company where everyone regardless of money could hear it. Art is for everyone and we are proud to help in this regard.
Further, Hub is proud to organize a community charity drive related to each theatrical production. For example, for our production of Art, we collected children’s art supplies and delivered them to local after-school programs. When we performed Love, Loss and What I Wore, our cast, crew and audience members donated prom dresses to local organizations that help underprivileged girls get the prom of their dreams. Thanks to the generosity of our audience members as well as our supportive cast and crew we have been able to connect with and bring awareness to a wide range of Boston area charities.
Pricing:
- All tickets to all our shows are Pay-What-You-Can! Every seat, every show, every time!
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.hubtheatreboston.org
- Email: info@hubtheatreboston.org
- Instagram: hubtheatreboston
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hubtheatreboston
- Twitter: HubTheatreBos
Image Credit:
Tim Gurczak and Alex Aroyan
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