The roots of Visions & Voices Theatre Company stretch beyond the state of Illinois and across various states of mind. What began as a Texas-based troupe mainly to showcase literary director David Scott Hay’s writing has evolved into a well-structured company determined to create “a balance between the art and the business of art.”

Its 2002-03 season—officially under the Visions & Voices banner—marked some crucial turning points. Artistic director Brian Alan Hill and managing director John Beckman initiated a teaser Internet marketing campaign in conjunction with the world premiere of Hill’s psychological-physics thriller Trivial Pursuits. Then Robert Koon’s Jeff Citation-winning Napa Valley-set Vintage Red and the Dust of the Road earned much critical acclaim and attracted wine aficionados.

Even Mark Glinski’s The Devil’s Sonata, which debuted earlier this year and featured live violinist Susan Voelz of Poi Dog Pondering at Strawdog Theatre, drew sizable crowds—despite a surprise City inspection requiring Strawdog to obtain a PPA license, which meant Visions & Voices could not charge admission.

“I believe we can treat theatre like a business without sacrificing the art,” insists Hill. “When we plan our [two-show] season, we’re looking to program high-quality new work. But we also ask, what is the angle? How can we promote this show to a larger audience?”

This was not always the case. Yet Visions & Voices serves as a good example of a small, not-for-profit theatre that has learned from its shortcomings and has taken active steps toward artistic and audience development.

Visions & Voices began as the New Playwrights Theatre of San Antonio in 1998 and opened with Hay’s Killing Lucifer and Hard Scrambled. After Hay moved to Chicago that same year, he teamed up with actor-director Hill (also from Texas) and scenic designer Beckman (who, at the time, was working at Chicago Scenic Studios, Inc., as a project manager). Later, their individual areas of expertise would shape Visions & Voices into a playwright-driven company with a strong business strategy.

In Chicago, New Playwrights Theatre became Empire Theatre Company and opened with Carolyn Cohagen’s one-woman show No Spleen in early 1999 at Mary-Arrchie Theatre. Then Hay re-mounted his searing Mamet-esque drama Hard Scrambled in a co-production with Terrapin Theatre at Factory Theatre. This year, Hay’s screenplay for Hard Scrambled won Creative Screenwriting Magazine’s “New Visions Filmmaking Fellowship.” In the summer, he directed the film in LA—it’s now in post-production and it stars Kurtwood Smith of “That '70s’ Show” and Richard Edson of “Stranger Than Paradise.”

After Empire staged Hay’s E.A. Poe: The Fever Called Living at the Athenaeum Theatre in 2000, the ensemble began to reevaluate its approach to theatre. Would it continue to involve its small team of artists and move from show to show without a firm game plan, or would it think outside the box?

The artists took a hiatus in 2001, and Hill went off to form his own one-man company, Visions & Voices. Empire merged with Hill’s theatre and, as Beckman wryly remarks, “we needed a new vision and a new voice.” Adds Hay, “It was a chance to start with a clean slate—but not really. Visions & Voices was a new company, but it had a history.”

The leadership triumvirate has more clearly defined its roles and honed its areas of expertise. As literary director, Hay—a resident playwright at Chicago Dramatists—looks for new plays that are “technically feasible to produce” and embody “a specific world, character and language.” He’s not impressed with “ripped from today’s headlines” dramas; the works need to be more universal. And he would like to see playwrights get more national exposure.

Beckman, now manager of temporary exhibits and events at the Museum of Science and Industry, works with the artists and six-member board to develop marketing strategies. For instance, most of their promotions can be found on their revamped Web site, where they offer two-for-one tickets. Beckman prefers on-line promotions to flyers for the ease and efficiency of the Internet. “With a flyer,” he says, “you’re already asking your audience to work too hard.” For Vintage Red, the company generated 20 percent of its ticket sales through its Web site.

“Our goal is to produce good new work,” notes Beckman, “and support it with aggressive marketing and audience development. The teaser ad campaign we created for Trivial Pursuits is an example of a pseudo-guerilla marketing technique of getting under people’s skin. We promoted Vintage Red to wine Web sites and did wine tastings.”

As artistic director, Hill speaks fervently of his determination to “continue in the face of overwhelming odds.” As an actor-director who has witnessed theatre companies fail because of poor organization, he wants smart business decisions to support their art.

Visions & Voices’ logo is a burning bush—reminiscent of the prophet Moses’ encounter with God, who urged him to go forth in the face of impossible obstacles.

“I think theatre chooses us,” contends Hill. “Our mandate is to deliver the message: the relevance of theatre when we are bombarded with TV. I think the biggest lie people buy into is that theatre is inaccessible. It is our mission to convert them.”

Visions & Voices opens its 2003-04 season with the world premiere of Eric Pfeffinger’s apocalyptic dramedy Accidental Rapture, which examines Christian and Agnostic points of view (Nov. 9-Dec. 21). Then it premieres Hay’s [The] Violent Sex, which is more about a man’s early mid-life crisis than the violence and sex of the title (April 25- June 6). Both are at Chicago Dramatists.

These shows represent the theatre’s ability to offset the almost spiritual pull of theatre with highly secular marketing. “Visions & Voices and the burning bush logo were a better branding package for us,” states Beckman.

That’s for sure. On the Visions & Voices website, a merchandising section invites people to purchase coffee mugs and baseball caps. But look closely and you’ll find ladies’ thong underwear available with the catchphrase, “My bush is burning.” Talk about parlaying the sacred into the profane.

Visions & Voices Theatre Company: www.visionsandvoices.org.