Case Study: Ojai Theatre Festival

The Challenge

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Jon Bernthal, Joshua Bitton, and Isidora Goreshter had a bold dream: launch a professional theatre festival in the small town of Ojai—rooted in community, built with grit, and powered by Broadway-level talent. Along with actor and producer Jon Bernthal, they set out to make that dream real.

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But with no existing infrastructure, no full-time staff, and a newly adopted vintage auditorium, they needed tools that could scale their vision without overcomplicating it.

The Ludus Solution

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Ojai Theatre Festival selected Ludus as their ticketing platform from day one, following a strong recommendation from the team at Rogue Machine Theatre in LA. What they found in Ludus wasn’t just functionality; it was flexibility, speed, and a partner ready to meet the moment.

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Features That Made the Difference

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Waitlist and Sellout Tools

Allowed Ojai to manage overwhelming demand and gather data to plan for expanded capacity next season.

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Flexible Ticket Exchange & Patron Support

Easily moved patrons between performances and honored requests without stress, improving audience goodwill and future loyalty.

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Real-Time Reporting

Helped the team understand sales velocity, waitlist trends, and how promotions impacted behavior, which is helping plan next season.

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Smooth Show Day Experience

With built-in tools for check-in, announcements, and reserved seating, the team could focus on the art, not the admin.

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Real-World Impact

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Sold Out in Under 24 Hours

After announcing on social media, tickets flew. Watching live sales tick upward became a festival memory in itself.‍

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Community Buzz

A local woman approached the team at breakfast and said, “You have no idea what this means to the community… everyone is buzzing about it.”‍

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Student Involvement and Inspiration

Every night, high school students volunteered for front of house—and many watched the show multiple times.

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The Vision Ahead

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Ojai Theatre Festival isn’t stopping. Their goal is to expand to multiple productions per year, offering a Williamstown-style destination festival.

Educational workshops, deeper student involvement, and community-focused programming are all on the horizon.

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Why Ludus?

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No contracts or setup fees

As a first-time festival, Ojai had no red tape—just immediate access to ticketing, reporting, and seating tools without budget hurdles or minimums.

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Live human support (seriously fast)

“Be in contact with the amazing support staff from Ludus,” said Chase. “They are incredible at helping you figure things out and showing you how to implement it.”

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Built-in tools for exchanges, waitlists, pricing tiers, and more

“The platform always has a solution for whatever weird, quirky thing you want to set up for sales or reservations,” Joshua shared. “One thing specifically that was super helpful was the ease to exchange tickets from one show to another.”

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Designed to scale from grassroots festivals to full seasons

Ojai sold out in under 24 hours. With data from the built-in waitlists and sellout patterns, they’re already planning a larger footprint for next year—on the same system, no migration needed.

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Final Takeaway

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Ready to Bring Your Vision to Life?

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Let’s talk about how Ludus can help your team launch something extraordinary.

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Book a Demo | Watch the Self-Serve Tour

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