What We Learned from Turning All of St. Paul into a Stage
In 2016, Danger Boat Productions tried something new: What would happen if improv comedy didn’t wait for people to come to the theater…
What if the theater came to them?
10 years later, Brandon Boat reflects on what we learned from “All St. Paul’s a Stage”—and what it means for anyone looking to bring entertainment into non-traditional spaces.
After the Intermission: Theater’s Uneven Recovery
A look at the aggregate numbers might suggest that the Twin Cities theater scene is recovering since the pandemic. Brandon Boat’s deep dive into reported financials suggests a different story.
“How soon should I book you?” The answer is yes.
Do you need to book Danger Boat six months ahead of time? No! In fact, historic data shows that most clients book us within 2 months of their event. But while we can swing quick turnarounds, reaching out early means we can avoid calendar conflicts and make sure your event is a success.
Why Did We Decide to Hire a Full-Time Team?
How and why did our staff triple over the last year and a half? Danger Boat co-founder Brandon Boat explains why we decided to hire a full-time team instead of contractors, how we determined which roles to hire, and what we've learned from the process.
How Sketches of Minnesota Uses Comedy to Build Community
Sketches of Minnesota starts with a simple invitation: come share a meal, tell stories about your community, and watch those stories become comedy.
But underneath that invitation is a larger belief. Communities need spaces where people can gather across differences, talk about what matters, and experience joy together.
To help explain how this project creates impact, we developed a Theory of Change for Sketches of Minnesota.
Finding the Perfect Match: Why We Grade Our Potential Partnerships
In the early years of Danger Boat, we would say yes to working with almost anyone that came knocking. More than a decade later, saying yes to everything is beyond our capacity and is not creatively sustainable.
We believe the best creative work comes from healthy, aligned partnerships. So, to ensure we're setting every project up for success, we’ve developed a client grading system. Here’s how it works.
Can comedy help people learn about serious civic issues? Our audience surveys say yes.
For years, The Theater of Public Policy asked a slightly strange question: What if a serious civic conversation and an improv comedy show had a baby, and that baby cared deeply about zoning, taxes, public health, and democracy?
Between 2016 and 2019, we collected 422 audience surveys across 29 shows at the Bryant Lake Bowl in Minneapolis. We wanted to know if our “chocolate-covered broccoli” approach of mixing hard policy with unscripted humor actually worked.
The results were definitive.
Our Values: How Danger Boat Uses Comedy to Build Connection, Creativity, and Trust
I’ll admit it: early in my career, I didn’t understand the importance of organizational values.
Drafting them took an entire day. An hour might be spent discussing whether you should use “and” vs “or”. Then, once they were finished, they’d go on the website and you’d never see them until the next strategic plan rolled around.
But I’ve come around.