We’re Listening & Addressing Your Concerns – February 2019
Good day. I hope the arrival of this edition of the Applause, whether on paper or by email, finds you healthy and happy in the New Year.
We often ask you for input and feedback regarding your Palace experiences. As you give us that information, I want you to know, we’re listening. We celebrate the things you enjoy and the positive experiences you’re having, and as you share concerns, we are prioritizing and addressing them.
One shared concern among patrons and staff has been our ticketing. This has been twofold – the space in which we sell tickets and the system with which we sell them. As a result, we engaged a new provider and are launching a new ticketing system before the end of January. This will restore our online sales and offer new options that were not available in the old program. Additionally, we reconfigured the box office layout. The new set up has four selling stations at the counter and allows more of the line to cue up inside rather than outside. We hope you’ll like the improvements.
If you’ve been to the theatre lately and thought it was cold, you’re right! The entire heating system went down right before Christmas at the Palace. We gave that project A1 priority on our “to do” list. I am happy to report, after a good deal of work and money, the “fix” is almost complete. We apologize for the colder than normal temperatures and hope that things will be back to comfortable very, very soon. Thank you for your patience.
And finally, we’ve heard that some of you are having a difficult time understanding the films. The Palace is fortunate to have an outstanding sound man in Mark Meginness. He is aware of the concerns and is ramping up his efforts to improve your ability to hear and understand when seeing a film at the Palace. While I don’t buy into making excuses, sometimes an explanation helps. Film sound is recorded differently than it is played back. The film’s background noise, soundtrack, and vocals are recorded separately but played back as a whole, removing the ability to adjust background noise separately from the voices. Add to that an individual’s dialect and diction and the way the film’s producer has elected to mix the film and Mark’s work is cut out for him. It is a challenge but one that we are up to tackling. We hope you’ll notice a change for the better at your next visit for a film.
We continue to welcome your feedback and the opportunity to work toward excellence. You can reach me at bev@marionpalace.org or go to the website to complete a survey.
Best,
Bev