Theater reaches out to blacks

When August Wilson’s “Radio Golf” opens tonight on Broadway in a $2-million production, investors won’t be relying solely on rave reviews to fill the Cort Theater’s 1,000 seats. In an unusually aggressive move, the producers hired five marketing firms to promote the show about an African American businessman who wants to run for mayor of Pittsburgh.

At the time of his death in October 2005, Wilson had won two Pulitzer Prizes and was one of America’s most celebrated dramatists. Commercially, however, his plays have had mixed success on Broadway, whose nickname, the Great White Way, can sometimes be taken too literally.

To reach beyond the typical Broadway theatergoer -- who is a 49-year-old white woman, according to a recent Broadway trade association study -- the producers engaged an array of marketing specialists. Their targets are African American-related church groups, professional organizations and book clubs, among others.

“We’re trying to change the complexion of the Broadway audience,” said Donna Walker-Kuhne, president of Walker International Communications Group, a Brooklyn firm.