The digital program

The paper program used to be the one thing every patron took home. Now most of it lives on a phone, and a few minutes before curtain someone asks a full house to turn those phones off. That contradiction is the whole job of a digital program: give people everything they want to read, at the moments they want to read it, and nothing that competes with the show.

What moves from paper to phone

Anything long, anything that changes, and anything that used to get cut for page count.

• Bios and headshots. No more trimming an actor’s bio to fit a 16-page print run. Set a word limit anyway; readers still skim.
• Full credits. Run crew, dressers, interns, volunteers, the scenic charge artist. Nobody gets cut for space, and nobody should.
• Scene list or musical numbers. Setting, running time, where the intermission falls. This is the page people actually look for.
• Donor lists. Development can fix a misspelled name the same afternoon instead of reprinting or living with it for the run.
• The bar menu. Intermission pre-orders, prices, the cocktail named after the second act. It shortens the bar line, and it sells.
• Notes and advisories. The director’s note, a dramaturgy page, content advisories, haze and strobe warnings.
• What’s next. The next show, how to give, how to subscribe.

The phone irony, and how to handle it

The rule is simple: read before, not during. The program is for the lobby, the seat before curtain, intermission and the ride home. Design it and announce it that way.

Put the link in the pre-show email so people open it before they arrive. Have ushers say, “The program’s on the card, read it now while the lights are up.” Then let the curtain speech close the window plainly: “Your program will be right where you left it at intermission. For now, please silence your phones and put them away.”

Don’t build anything that invites mid-show checking. A scene-by-scene synopsis is fine. A live “now playing” page is not.

Dark mode and brightness in the house

A phone at full brightness in a dark house is a lighthouse. Design for the moment someone ignores the curtain speech anyway:

• Default to a dark background with light text, and no white splash screen on load.
• No autoplay video, no sound, nothing that animates.
• Train ushers to use a quiet word at the end of the row, not a flashlight in someone’s face.
• Make sure ushers know which seats are set aside for access services that run on a device, such as captioning, so they don’t shush the wrong person.

When it goes live

Critics read the program too, so treat the lock before press night as a deadline that matters.

QR placement that actually gets scanned

People scan where they’re standing still with a free hand. Put codes there:

• In the confirmation and pre-show emails, as a plain link. The best QR code is the one nobody has to scan.
• Lobby signage at eye level, near will call and the bar, not on an easel at knee height.
• Restroom lines and the bar, where people are waiting anyway.
• A small card on the seat or in the usher’s hand, if your house allows it and someone owns clearing the cards afterward.

Then three habits. Print the short web address under every code for anyone who won’t scan. Point the code at one stable address and change what’s behind it, never the address itself. And test every sign in the actual lobby light with three phones, including the oldest one on staff. Glare on a glossy sign or glass in a frame kills more scans than anything else.

If your lobby is already tight at the half, keep QR signs away from the check-in line; door check-in without a lobby jam covers the traffic flow.

What should stay on paper

Going digital is not the same as going paper-free.

The opening night keepsake. A printed piece for opening night gets signed, framed and kept. It can be a full program in a short run or a single card with the title, company and date. Put it in the hands of the company and the opening night house. It belongs on the checklist in planning an opening night.

Large-print and plain copies. Keep a stack at will call or with the house manager for anyone who asks: no smartphone, a dead battery, or a plain preference for paper. Asking should never feel like a confession.

Donor commitments. Some major donors or sponsors were promised print recognition. Ask development before you cut the print run.

Accessibility

The most common mistake is uploading the print PDF and calling it a digital program. A designed PDF is a picture of a page: screen readers stumble through it, text doesn’t reflow, and pinching to zoom across a two-page spread is misery. Build it as real text on a real page.

• Use proper headings (Cast, Creative Team, Scenes, Donors) so screen reader users can jump between sections.
• Respect the phone’s own text-size setting, and test at the largest one.
• Give headshots alt text. “Headshot of” plus the person’s name is enough.
• Check contrast in dark mode. Gray on charcoal looks elegant and reads poorly.
• Keep running time, intermission and exits near the top. That’s access information too.

Understudies and last-minute changes

The paper era had the slip: a small insert announcing “At this performance, the role of…” Digital replaces it with a banner at the top of the program, and it can go up at the half instead of being stuffed into programs by ushers at the last minute.

Build the workflow before you need it:

1. Include every understudy and swing bio from first preview. The worst version of this night is an understudy’s family scrolling for a bio that isn’t there.
2. Name one person who publishes changes, usually the company manager, plus a backup. It should take two minutes from a phone and should not require the graphic designer.
3. At the half, the stage manager tells the company manager, who posts the banner and tells the house manager and box office.
4. Set the banner to expire after the performance. Tuesday’s understudy should not still be on Wednesday’s program.

Check your agreements for how and where cast changes must be announced. Some require a specific notice or a spoken announcement in addition to anything posted.

Field note: The error that earns a phone call on Monday is never technical. It’s a donor’s name spelled wrong, or a family foundation missing its “The.” Have development proof the donor list against their own records, not against last season’s program.

Sponsor acknowledgment

Sponsor agreements were written for paper: a full page, a half page, the inside back cover. Translate them before the season starts.

• Agree in writing what placement means on a phone: position in the scroll, logo size, whether it links out.
• Keep sponsor pages out of the path between the cast list and the bios. Readers resent anything standing between them and the people they came to see, and that resentment doesn’t help the sponsor either.
• If your program reports views, share real numbers after the run. Don’t promise numbers before you have them.

Paper or phone, the program has one job: tell the audience who made the thing they’re about to see, then get out of the way.