How Curious Theatre Company learned to do more with ticketing software

Denver, Colorado

Curious Theatre Company

Producing Theater

Challenge

A legacy system setup, staff turnover, and a lack of centralized knowledge made it difficult to use Spektrix effectively.

Solution

With help from the Spektrix Client Success team, they audited their system, built internal skills, and unlocked new features and efficiencies.

Outcome

With a clearer strategy and more confident team, Curious Theatre Company:

Reorganized 12+ pages of outdated reports
Adopted automation and digital ticket passes
Shifted donations away from third-party platforms to retain more data and revenue

Three members of the Curious team stand on the front steps of their building, a converted church

Based in a former church in Denver, Colorado, Curious Theatre Company is known for producing thought-provoking contemporary plays. With a commitment to new voices and community engagement, the company has built a loyal following for its intimate and impactful productions.

At the 2025 US Spektrix Hubs in Denver, Emily Whalen, Marketing Manager, and Katelyn Sauer, Development & Patron Services Manager, shared their experience of reaching out to Spektrix for help. They spoke about the challenges of staff turnover, inconsistent use of the system, and the need to better understand and apply the tools already available to them.

Their story is a powerful reminder that support and partnership can be transformational.

Like so many theatres, Curious found itself, in 2024, in a financial fight for its life.

The organization had been using Spektrix for nearly a decade, but the team had changed so much that few staff had a full picture of how or why things were set up the way they were. When Emily joined, she was given the task of learning Spektrix, and teaching everyone else - so their technology could help them climb that mountain, and not hinder them.

“We got to this point where we thought, "Oh god, what are we doing?" And there were two options we had. We could wave the white flag, give up, find a new system. We could do lots of different things. But instead, we decided to dig in. Just like we're going to climb that mountain and we're going to make more money and we're going to get more patrons. We are going to make Spektrix work for us.”

Emily Whalen, Marketing Manager

“Subscriptions are down, ticket sales are down. We're all struggling with those same problems. We know there's a mountain to climb, and we're going to climb it."

Emily Whalen

Marketing Manager

Emily and Katelyn connected with the Spektrix team, and were quickly introduced to their relationship manager, Nickasey. Their readiness to seek the proactive, strategic support that’s available to them free of charge as Spektrix users marked the beginning of a deeper, more productive relationship.

That support included practical help from the Spektrix Client Success team, detailed spreadsheets to track their system setup and goals, and weekly check-ins with a dedicated relationship manager to make real progress.

Over time, as their confidence and knowledge grew, those meetings became less frequent - a sign that the Curious team had built the skills to carry their progress forward.

“They brought a team of people that have just been absolutely amazing. It’s taught us how to ask the right questions and get what we need from Spektrix fully. It’s just changed everything."

Katelyn Sauer

Development & Patron Services Manager

They weren’t using key features — until someone showed them how

With so much change and no shared ownership, the team didn’t know what the Spektrix system could really do. Many features, from digital ticket passes to Dotdigital email automation, had been sitting unused.

With guidance from the Spektrix team, they learned how to:

Automate emails and reduce manual work
Shift donations from external platforms to in-house tools
Use digital ticketing to streamline operations and improve patron experience

Crucially, they also learned how to ask better questions. Rather than just turning to Spektrix for tech support, they learned they could work with them to explore what they needed, what they wanted to achieve, and how to use their tools to make it happen.

That shift has helped them grow revenue, improve collaboration, and rebuild trust in the system.

Before the reset, Curious had more than 12 pages of reports - many of which no one understood or used. With Spektrix, they cleaned up their report list, streamlined event setup, and created new processes that worked across departments.

Now, data is helping drive real-time decisions across marketing, fundraising, and patron services.

Instead of relying on a single person to manage the system, the whole team is building shared understanding and ownership.

“It’s been such a breath of fresh air for all of us. We’ve optimized how we look at our data, and we really weren’t doing that before.”

Katelyn Sauer, Development & Patron Services Manager

Curious Theatre Company in Colorado used a mountain theme to illustrate their struggle for survival and attract donors to support their future

Curious Theatre Company’s story is a powerful reminder of what’s possible when organizations treat their software provider as a true partner.

By reaching out, getting support, and investing in shared learning, they’ve gone from confusion and frustration to clarity and confidence.

And as their mountain-themed marketing campaign suggests, they’re still climbing - but now they’re doing it with the right tools and the right support.

Features

Organizations

By Topic

By Type

Improvements

Press Center

Purpose-driven

People-centered

From system struggles to strategic success

How Curious Theatre Company worked with Spektrix to build knowledge, clean data, and improve revenue

Challenge

Solution

Outcome

Reaching out for ticketing support made all the difference

Better understanding their data changed how they work

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