Whether you’re a big commercial theatre company, regional theater, community theater, conservatory, or high school, picking a season should never be random and thoughtless. The shows an organization produce are integral to how it's perceived by potential theater-goers. When choosing a season, it’s important to keep the actors and director in mind, as well as the type of theater-goers you’re trying to attract.
Read MoreThe idea of "theatre" is a fascinating concept. People actually choose to bare their souls on stage, allowing themselves and their audiences a chance to experience life through a different lens. They put their bodies and mental health into a state of constant exhaustion while learning lines, perfecting choreography, and mastering songs. We always find ourselves as theatre-lovers romanticizing over the lights of Broadway and the stars we see perform on the Tony Awards.
But what about the "unsung hero" of theatre--community theatre?
Read MoreI want you to imagine something. Imagine huge crowds of people filing into a special venue to witness a display by professionals working at the highest tiers of their field. The tickets were expensive, the seats aren’t quite comfortable, the drink prices are outrageous. Specialized, high-powered lights illuminate the playing area and loud music fills the air. The professionals emerge, dressed in specialized clothing and equipment, and begin their hours-long display. The action is intense, sometimes exciting, sometimes heartbreaking, and about halfway through, there is a break for everyone to recover and chat. When it’s all over, the crowd will cheer for a job well done and grumble if their expectations weren’t met, but they’ll probably go to a similar event in the future. Those same fans will gather around their televisions once a year in a celebration of the best of the best, usually with friends, food and drinks at the ready.
Now, here’s my question: did you picture a Broadway show, or a sporting event?
Read MoreIt's 2019, and we have a lot of issues. Theatre and art are rightfully being accepted and respected as part of the conversation about our feelings and the problems themselves, as well as changing policy and, well, the way we live.
In reaction to the news and national events, we open up our computers, and we create; we gather our friends, and we create; we get on stage, expose our guts, and we create. We create plays and work that responds to this new world we're in, the very one we attempt to change through art and creation.
That's awesome. Really, it's awesome. But it also could potentially create some issues.
Read MoreAs an actor in community theatre in a city in Australia I come across some… interesting directors. As a director of youth theatre I’ve definitely made a blunder or two. Thus I watch and analyse directors I work with in order to improve my own practice. This series will explore the various downfalls I’ve experienced or witnessed and how to fix the situation. In part one we’re looking at casting calls. These have needed to evolve over the years to move with the times. Unfortunately, we have directors in community theatre (and probably professional too) that haven’t kept up.
Read MoreDear Parents,
Your child just came to you and said they wanted to major in theatre in college. Now this might seem scary to you. I'm here to tell you that you that's it's ok! It's ok to be scared. However, you should take into consideration in how your child is feeling. Your child is taking a risk. And it is a wonderful risk filled with fun times, new experiences and so much stress. Your child is going to need you now more than ever! Their worst fear right now at the moment is telling YOU! The last thing they need to hear is your protests and attempts to persuade them into a new major.
Read MoreRecently I involved myself in an online controversy by making derogatory comments on the boards usually fastened to theatres. Some board members responded in a fury. One said that boards do the best they can with what they’re given. Theatre, he reasoned, “(I)s a dying art form.”
Now regardless of whether board members work hard, a problem exists when someone attached to a theatre thinks that the art is dying. And this indicates a widespread problems with U.S. theatres.
Read MoreFor a medium built on community, collaboration, and connection, I fear I am experiencing and witnessing a lot of scarcity minded behavior in the theatre. As I travel and direct around the country I am seeing more and more artists, myself included, being asked to work for less and less compensation. Worse so than that what often people report to me or I hear from potential employers is that as much as they would like to hire someone, they just don’t have the resources. “We accept volunteers!”
Read MoreFor many people, the beginning of a new year also marks the time of year in which people try to come up with resolutions, in the hopes that these specific goals in their lives will have been achieved by this time next year. Those of us who are highly active in theatre most likely have already come up with such resolutions related to theatre. However, there might be a few additional ideas for resolutions that some of us might not have thought about and should be willing to consider to make their year in theatre even better than last year.
So without further ado, here are just a few New Year’s resolutions – in no particular order – for all of us in the theatre community to consider…
Read MoreSo frequently in my rehearsal rooms, or in my classrooms, I hear theatre artists decry politics. There seems to be an idea that one must learn their craft in a hermetically sealed bubble, lest the influences of the banal and mundane workings of the outside world impose themselves upon the art. In the theatre, though, nothing could be farther from the truth.
The fact is that ALL theatre is political. The Public Theatre’s Oskar Eustis has said that it can be no coincidence that theatre and democracy were invented in at the same time. He says “I think that theater is the democratic art—it's no mistake that they were invented in the same city in the same decade. It's the proper place to exercise democratic virtue, for the contesting of different points of view, identifying with other people, what citizens need”.
Read More
