What a GREAT day we had at McCain Auditorium – great staff, great crew, great audience! This show will definitely be one of the highlights of our fall tour. Everyone here – Tim, Teri, Kyle, so many others who work hard to bring the arts to the Manhattan community – were professional and friendly, making our day stress-free and enjoyable. We thank them for that!
We arrived the evening before and got all checked into our hotel, just across the street from K-State where McCain Auditorium is located. Ticket sales had been very strong for us here so we were very excited about the show. I’m always interested to see how the local media handles our press. We had some great television and radio coverage arranged by McCain and ads were placed in the local newspaper, the Manhattan Mercury. Nolan had forwarded a Media Kit to the paper in September and followed up on it several times. Eventually we were told by the News Editor that the local paper just wasn’t interested in doing a feature on the show but they did place two small listings on the front page for “weekend events.” We realize that we are not the only “news” happening in a community so it wasn’t an issue.
In spite of it the lack of a feature in the local paper, we had a large, enthusiastic audience for the evening performance. From the moment we stepped on the stage, the excitement was overwhelming. The audience was responsive and the volunteers made the show enjoyable for us and the rest of the crowd.
Kyle and his crew were there to meet us as the truck rolled into the loading dock. The stage was completely clear and everything was just as we needed it to be to have an easy day. Load in started right on time.
McCain Auditorium is a beautiful venue of about 1750 seats. I don’t think there’s a bad seat in the house. The entire main floor was sold out and we were sold into the second balcony. No matter where you sit in this place, you have a great view. I was excited that the show was going to have a wonderful aesthetic appeal.
After the show, I had the chance to meet hundreds of patrons who were waiting in the lobby. Everyone was so kind and ready to let me know what their favorite illusion of the evening was. Everyone from senior citizens, young adults, and children were there to say hello. I’m always humbled when people take the time to stick around and say hello.
We want to say a huge thank you to everyone involved with the show (the directors, staff and crew of McCain) and to the great audience that chose to spend their Saturday night with us. We’re off to Nebraska.