About Orlando Family Stage
Serving as a beacon for the arts in central Florida, Orlando Family Stage (formerly known as Orlando Repertory Theatre) proudly serves as the only professional theatre program in Florida dedicated to youth. They empower young audiences of all ages to gain confidence, build community, and discover themselves through stage performance. With shows, camps, and classes happening all year round, they require a robust CRM to manage their ticket sales and cultivate genuine relationships with their patrons. That’s where Leap comes in. Since 2015, Orlando Family Stage has used Leap’s solution for the arts (formerly known as PatronManager) to streamline their operations and focus on what they do best: creating unforgettable theatrical experiences for families.
Since its founding in 1926 as Orland Little Players, this organization is now gearing up to celebrate their 100th anniversary in 2026, and Leap’s software is helping them every step of the way! We met with Executive Director Chris Brown and Senior Director of Operations Kyle Wiehe to learn more about this special centennial celebration, their experience with Leap, and their plans for the future.
LEAP DELIVERS RESULTS
Increase in donations
Increase in ticket revenue
*Data collected from Orlando Family Stage in 2024-25 compared to 2015-16
Celebrating 100 Years of Inspiring the Next Generation
2026 is proving to be a major year for Orlando Family Stage. They’ll be hitting their biggest milestone yet – their organization’s 100th anniversary! As Brown playfully noted, “we’re in Central Florida, so we’re taking the Disney approach to the centennial,” which means a full year of huge celebratory events.
One of the first is their Children’s Book Festival, a three-day festival from February 20-22. Seeing how much Orlando Family Stage values literature, this kickoff event features multiple shows produced from books and over 25 authors speaking on panels. “That’s gonna be a big splash to get people here,” Brown shared. “Creating a children's book festival as another way to be a part of the community and connect the community to what we do.” Following the festival, they’ll be hosting a Prom Centennial Gala in March, a 100-Year Celebration of Artists and Alumni in April, and much more in the coming months to keep the celebration going!
Nurturing The Patron Journey of Orlando Family Stage
As they prepare for their centennial, Brown highlighted that they utilize Leap’s patron management system on a daily basis. With it, they can better understand their audience and build out targeted groups of stakeholders (e.g., families with young children, alumni, teens). “Leap helps us attempt to understand where people are coming into the funnel… and move them to the next step,” he explained.
Thanks to Leap’s software for the arts, they can map out the patron journey with immense precision and build specific programs for patrons in different life stages. As a family-first organization, Orlando Family Stage highly values their patron journey. They want to empower its patrons from childhood to adulthood to achieve their dreams, whether it’s to become a Broadway actor or excel in a career outside the arts. “We're here to help you on your journey, wherever you're going,” Brown emphasized. “Any way that [Leap’s] software can help us build those relationships, that's what it's all about.”
For this celebratory year and beyond, Leap’s technology empowers Orlando Family Stage to continuously connect with their community and host events their patrons are genuinely excited about.
Building Lasting Relationships with Personalized Marketing
With this deeper understanding of their patrons, Orlando Family Stage can use Leap’s marketing integrations to easily spread the word about all their shows and centennial events. Reflecting on a specific example, Brown stated that he’s fallen in love with the BCC to Salesforce feature tied to their email marketing. “I'm in a period of time where I'm sending a gazillion invitations to things… and that's [been] really helpful.” This feature has allowed him to see each individual patron’s history, including the conversations they’ve had and what invitations were sent already. These detailed records on each patron also allow them to create highly targeted audiences for their centennial events and send authentic, personalized emails. “The name of the game is long-term relationship building,” stated Brown. “The software helps us make it personal. It really does.”
Why Orlando Family Stage Partnered with Leap
Within their 100 years, Orlando Family Stage has worked with Leap for the past ten years and counting. They first signed with us in 2015 when Brown began as general manager and when our patron management system was known as PatronManager. “It was such a great tool at the right time in our organization,” Brown shared. “It really came along when we were very spread out, and growing out of our own tracking sheets and Excel sheets.”
Our dedicated arts CRM software has been “monumental” in bringing their departments together as well as consolidating all their data. Brown emphasized that “Leap allowed us to put all of that under one roof.” Reflecting on the past decade, he added, “In an effort to break down the silos of an organization, this has sort of been a technological helper in that.” With a platform of this caliber by their side, Orlando Family Stage is well-positioned for an exciting future powered by unified patron data.
How Leap Grows Together With Arts Organizations
Built by experts in the arts and culture industry, Leap’s patron management solution strives to continuously improve to best fit the evolving needs of its clients. Considering that Orlando Family Stage has been working with us since the early years of our solution, Brown highlights how “this platform has grown so beautifully with us.”
Over the years, his team has given Leap recommendations based on their attendees’ feedback that have helped make our platform even better. This not only goes for their organization, but for all clients in our arts community. Our clients ask, and we make it happen! “That back and forth is very authentic and very real,” he noted. “That is not only building trust with our ticketing platform… but it's also building trust with our patrons.” Since 2015, their timely suggestions have influenced the launch of these features (and more coming soon!):
- Digital membership cards
- Pre- and post-show emails
- Household memberships
- Automated membership communications
- Mailchimp for Salesforce integration with Beaufort 12
- Viewing price levels on their own for the seat selection
- Order sources on the quick order form
- Multiple vouchers on Pick Later subscriptions
Reflecting on the constant evolution of Leap’s technology, both Brown and Wiehe noted how much they appreciate receiving monthly emails about the newly added features of our software and how that consistency is unique compared to other software they’ve used. “It's always really fun to get that regular [email] you can count on,” Wiehe noted. As the world evolves, so do patrons’ preferences. Therefore, arts organizations deserve a platform like Leap’s that grows with those changing needs.
Now, let’s dive into some specific ways this Leap solution is helping Orlando Family Stage improve their operations and enhance the patron experience!
Maximizing their CRM’s Potential with Leap’s Resources
Beyond the platform itself, Orlando Family Stage has found tremendous value in Leap’s resource articles and training materials for day-to-day support. With an extensive library of documentation, answers are always within close reach. As Wiehe shared, “The abundance of materials that are readily available is great,” noting that roughly 98% of any questions he might have are already documented. Plus, if they have any additional questions, Wiehe appreciates how “you can reach out and somebody [at Leap] will be back with you within a few hours about it.” Having a single, trusted source for guidance empowers the team to move faster and feel confident as they maximize their use of Leap’s platform.
On top of this strong foundation of support, Leap also makes it easy for teams to deepen their knowledge of the platform through earning their Salesforce admin certification. After working through the 25 modules, Wiehe earned his certification and noted that the process was smooth. The result is a team that feels well-equipped, supported, and empowered to get the most out of their CRM, both now and as their needs continue to grow.
“This platform just has grown so beautifully with us. …In an effort to break down the silos of an organization, this has sort of been a technological helper in that.”
Chris BrownExecutive Director of Orlando Family Stage