Case Studies

Project

In summer 2025, the National Theatre Foundation, the home of Broadway in Washington, D.C., faced a unique opportunity: if they could raise the funds, they could purchase their building from their corporate landlords, ensuring that the National Theatre would forever stand independently on Pennsylvania Avenue to serve regional, national, and global audiences. Time was of the essence, as a conditional pledge was guaranteed if they could raise $1M before August 1.

Emerson Street Media had already been in conversation with the National about their progress towards achieving several key pillars in advance of the Theatre’s 200th anniversary in 2035, so we were a natural fit for this project. The National Theatre Foundation’s team asked us to collaborate on this video to help attain one of their ambitious — but with the right messaging and delivery, achievable — goals.

Approach

We were already familiar with the National Theatre team, their strategic goals, and the importance of the theatre to Washington, which positioned us well to move quickly and with direction on this project.

The video, instead of being geared towards the general public, would be distributed to a select and hyper-targeted group of donors. We were speaking to an audience that was already well-aware of the National, so we worked through our storyboard with the aim of emphasizing the potential impact that building ownership would have on arts and culture in DC and the urgency of this particular moment — an opportunity that may not arise again.

Action

We shot closeups of the theater as well as wide shots, often letting the beauty speak for itself so our audience could see the history that lay in every corner. We also included archival images of stars onstage at the National that showcases its role as a pipeline for top talent. For our narration, we highlighted voices both old and new to the organization through Beryl Jolly, Executive Director of the National Theatre Foundation, and Sandy Wilkes, Board Chair. Their interviews were framed with the space in mind, showing the grandeur of the space and the mass of seats to emphasize the importance of each and every audience member and the communal experience they share when seeing a performance.

Result

The video was distributed to a targeted list of donors requesting their support in the purchase of the building with resounding success. The National Theatre achieved its goal by August 1 and was able to continue its upward momentum of fundraising over $5.5M and purchasing the building in December 2025. ESM’s video helped tell the story of the National Theatre and played a key role in ensuring that the arts will forever have a home there in Washington, D.C.