Mark Brian Sonna, founder of MBS Productions, sent the following letter to Dallas Voice regarding the city of Addison’s refusal to promote his company’s latest production, Vampire Bros and Werewolf Lesbians on a city-owned electronic billboard:
Since 2005 my theater company, MBS Productions, has performed at the Addison Theatre Centre. In the 18 years I’ve done business with Addison I have never encountered a problem till now as our production of Vampire Bros vs. Werewolf Lesbians is about to open on October 19th.
Addison has a large electronic billboard that straddles Belt Line Road. On it events, plays, festivals are advertised. Prior to that banners were placed over the street displaying such events. When the electronic billboard was installed, the city made it available to the different organizations for free as a way to promote the events within the city. Knowing this I submitted ads to be run every time we had a play. The only problem I encountered was when I submitted the ad for our Burlesque Nutcracker in which the image of a dancer in a corset was included. They deemed it too risqué. I swapped out the image of the male lead in a tutu and the ad ran without a problem.
The ad created for Vampire Bros vs. Werewolf Lesbians by gay-owned LMH Designs who does theater design from Plano to College Station, depicts two shirtless men from the chest up in front of a full moon background where two women werewolves can be seen in silhouette. I asked the artist who did the illustration to make it look like a 1950’s/1960’s pulp fiction novel cover that could be found at grocery stores, bookstore, etc. Nothing explicit is shown in the ad.
This ad was submitted on Oct. 1 and was rejected. No explanation as to why. I inquired if it was due to the title. I received a response on October 2: “Marketing would get in trouble with the name alone.” I replied that the only word I could see they would have a problem with is the word Lesbians, but I pointed out that it was a descriptive word because the story line is about werewolf lesbians. Lesbians is not a derogatory term, but if it was perceived that way from the marketing department, they were clearly indicating they had a problem with homosexuality.
A day later I received a response. It was the image of the poster that was problematic to them. The silhouette of the female werewolves was too suggestive along with the fact that the men didn’t have shirts on.
On Oct. 3, I altered the ad to include only the faces of the two men and removed everything else, and re-submitted it.
Silence.
I place calls with the coordinator at the Addison Theatre Centre who has been the in between passing my concerns between myself and the marketing department. He has been equally frustrated with this issue since it has never been a problem with our company before.
On Oct. 13, I finally get a response forwarded to me:
“Third party rentals are not guaranteed space on the billboard for marketing, as it is reserved for Town produced events/activities and they have decided not to post it.
I am sorry for the inconvenience, let me know if you have any further questions.”
I would have accepted this if it weren’t for the fact that there are currently two “third party rentals” displaying their productions on the billboard.
I inform my liaison that I will be contacting the marketing department directly.
I call Mary Rosenbleeth who oversees Marketing and is Director of Communication. I informed her of my concern regarding the billboard ad. I am told that they only promote “family friendly” events. I point out that they have promoted “Oktoberfest” which is a known event that involved drinking. To which the reply was “yes, but we set up a children’s area”. I also mention that they had no issue running my Burlesque Nutcracker show that has been presented for over a decade, has received the National Nutcracker Award which gave much positive national and international press and prestige to Addison, and I even received a letter from the mayor of Addison commending us on such an honor. “I didn’t know it was an adult show., we may not be able to run the ads for it anymore,” was her reply. Which is a disingenuous answer because the word Burlesque implies adult entertainment.
She then said that an “Amber” would get back to me and took my number, she would check on city policies.
I have not heard back. The show opens this Thursday.
In summary here are problems from what has transpired:
First, the inconsistencies of the “problem” with the ad. At first it seems to be the word Lesbian, then when confronted they switch it to it being the “image”, when resubmitted, they switch it to being an issue of it being a “third party” ad. When it is pointed out to them, they switch it to it not being “family friendly.
Second, the length of time in responding makes it seem as if they are trying to run out the clock.
Third, the ad itself is rather innocuous. Last year they had no issue with my Theatre of Death show that had a realistic photograph of a human skull.
Fourth, they frequently have put up signs for Addison Improv which is an 18+ venue and is a “third party” vendor.
Fifth, for a show that runs only for two weeks the response time has been unacceptable.
What am I to conclude from all of this?
It is the word Lesbian. That is the only outlier based on what has been on those billboards currently and in the past.
As an independent small theatre, we depend on as much free advertising as we can get because the cost can be prohibitive. These billboards have helped with our attendance in the past. Now the city of Addison is actively “silencing” our show, and it has affected our ticket sales. This show should be selling out because there are many LGBTQ+ people that live in the Addison area that this show would appeal to. But as it stands, outside of our direct marketing none of the residents know this play will have its premier in just a few days. In a time when the arts is suffering, they are actively silencing us by not letting us promote our show. They are sending a message that certain members of their community don’t deserve to be informed of events that might be of interest.
Addison in 2011 was named as one of the most gay friendly cities in the state of Texas. Their current actions now indicate otherwise. If I could move to another venue I would, but contracts are signed, and theatre venues are booked out a year out at a time, so I am stuck there for the rest of my season. And now I was threatened to have the same experience with my annual Burlesque Nutcracker which has been a North Texas staple since 2007, and which curiously enough, it was the marketing director at the time that asked me to create a Christmas themed show.
— Mark-Brian Sonna
